Reference

Robert O. Becker, MD has written two useful books on this subject, The Body Electric and Cross-Currents (New York, Tarcher / Putnam, 1990). In Cross-Currents he describes with care the research he has been doing for many years on the electrical system of the body, how modern culture's use of electricity affects the body, and how some applications of electrical current can affect healing. He is a cautious scientist, who has been consulted by governmental bodies and power companies. The book is well annotated and referenced.

Energy Medicine

Becker thinks that physical manipulation, healers who hold their hands near the patient's body without touching it, Acupuncture, (possibly) Homeopathy, Vitamins, and trace elements are all effective because they affect the body's electromagnetic energy system. He uses the term "energy medicine:"

"The idea of an energy medicine that postulates a common basis for all of these disciplines has arisen lately because of new discoveries in biology that cast serious doubt on strictly mechanistic concepts of life and seem to reintroduce the old idea of a body energy. These discoveries are not "vitalistic" in the sense that they prove or even hint at some mysterious, unknowable life force. Rather, they reveal the presence of electrical and magnetic forces at the most basic levels within living organisms." (p.8)

For more about using electromagnetic energy for healing, see Healing with Energy.

Not a romantic notion

Becker is concerned that we need to pay attention to the scientific evidence for the body's electrical nature, and not make general, mystical assumptions about "body energy" as the proponents of "vitalism" did in the 1600s, and as modern "new-age" thinkers are still prone to do. It seems to me his concern is well justified by case after case he cites where sloppy thinking has resulted in harmful uses of electricity, or poorly designed research that clouds our knowledge.

See also my pages

• Electromagnetic Pollution
• The Body Magnetic
• Electromagnetic Sensitivity
• E-Healing: Healing with Energy
• Support