In the immensely popular trend toward natural therapy for good health, the impression is given that herbs and supplements are the foundation. But really effective treatment must deal with the cause of the disease and not just the symptoms. The cause of the large majority of sickness is found in the way the person is living, in other words the lifestyle. It is this that must be corrected by the approach presented above. This requires teaching new habits that will be continued for a lifetime. It is true that herbs are often therapeutic and are used in a good program of treatment like ours, usually for a number of weeks. But even if the course of herbal treatment is discontinued, the new lifestyle must continue.
A most important factor usually left out in modern medicine is that of attitude. The attitude of trust and confidence is central for healing. This concept is recognised in a sort of general way in modern medicine but usually is given the misleading name of “the placebo effect”. One can appreciate the attempt to separate the therapeutic factor of the patient’s attitude from all the other factors in a treatment program. However, it is slightly misleading precisely because it focuses only on the thinking /feeling of the patient without regard to the validity of the healing method and the trustworthiness of those caring for the patient. The real situation is that the attitude of the patient is bound up with validity of the method as experienced by the patient in the results and how trustworthy he finds the treating person to be in clear explanations about the treatment and kindness in its application. So the therapeutic value of the patient’s confidence results not just from his initial internal state of mind but more importantly from what and in whom the confidence is placed. And that external/objective reality and its results are affecting the confidence of the patient throughout a health program. So the patient’s confidence is important but the direction of the confidence is even more important.