Foreword

During my neurosurgical residence at Massachusetts General Hospital, I was appalled that the methods of choice for helping patients with chronic pain included cutting the front half of the spinal cord or destroying the frontal lobes (lobotomy).  This had been the preferred approach for over 30 years.   I discovered that cordotomy, cutting the front half of the spinal cord, had a complication rate of 130%:

         100% of the patients would never have another sexual orgasm
         10% would become paralyzed on one side of the body
         10% would lose bladder and bowel control
         10% would develop a new pain far worse than their original problem - post-cordotomy syndrome - for which there was no treatment!

And lobotomy destroyed the personality forever!  The only other approach, narcotics and tranquilizers, destroyed the personality almost as much as lobotomy. 

Shealy, C.N., Borgmeyer, V. and Thomlinson, P.  (2004)  Reduction of free radicals by electrical stimulation of specific acupuncture points.   Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine, Vol. 13, No.  3, pp.  251-259

As I finished my residency and joined the faculty at Western Reserve Medical School, I dreamed of finding a non-destructive approach to chronic pain.  Over a three year period I proved my theory that we could control pain by stimulating the dorsal columns of the spinal cord (DCS), the back part, and later by electrically stimulating various areas on the skin - Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation, TENS.  Both are now used world-wide.   Although DCS certainly can be considered in difficult cases, I quickly decided that even though it carries a small surgical risk, it should be undertaken ONLY in extreme circumstances.  I knew very early that patients with extreme anxiety and depression, often worsened by narcotics and tranquilizers, were not candidates for another surgical procedure.   I ruled out 94% of the 400 patients sent to me each year for DCS!

In 1971, I started a Behavioral Modification program for Pain Rehabilitation.   Within a year, I had a 75% success rate in the first 400 patients.   I then learned about Autogenic Training and Biofeedback, incorporated them into the program, and soon achieved an 85% success rate in patients who had failed every known conventional approach.   This program led me in 1978 to found the American Holistic Medical Association, joined within two years by the American Holistic Nurses Association.  

Over the years I treated well over 30,000 chronic pain patients, using the broadest possible holistic approach, with an ongoing success rate of 85%.  The major reason for developing Holism was to reincorporate the Spiritual component to healing.   Three hundred years ago, “Science” rejected everything spiritual and most things emotional!   Fortunately in the 1960’s, Humanistic Psychology and Transpersonal Psychology opened the door to reintroduce the critical role of all things Spiritual.

I am delighted to recommend Dr. Karen Kan’s Holistic approach to help you achieve pain relief, safely and efficiently!   We have come a long way and this book offers you the benefits of our last fifty years of scientific progress, the return of common sense and the role of Spirit in our essential well-being.

C. Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D.

President, Holos Institutes of Health
Professor Emeritus of Energy Medicine
President Emeritus Holos University Graduate Seminary
www.normshealy.com
www.holosuniversity.org