Benificial effect of pulse diagnosis

[Guest guest]

The relation between effective cure and mind was hinted at by this

author at:

http://health.ayurveda/message/4029

 

When a patient approaches a known vaidya, who has cured some ailment

earlier, Vaidya can note the change in pulse after the end of

consultation session. The change tells the positive development in

the unbalance of doshas. The pulse rate used to reduce a bit (3-5

counts/min). Even blood pressure drop by few milimeters of mercury

can be noted. The phenomenon can be traced to psychological setting

of the patient, the change being more prominent, if patient had

visited vaidya on a number of occasions. The Vaidya examining the

pulse causes a touch and touch by a familiar and well wisher person

is always reassuring. It coools the mind and this state is reflected

in reduced pulse rate and b.p.

 

This phenomenon which was known to this author, is now scientifically

investigated by researchers in another setting.

 

A University of Virginia neuroscientist has found that women under

stress who hold their husbands hands show signs of immediate relief,

which can clearly be seen on their brain scans. "This is the first

study of the neurological reactions to human touch in a threatening

situation, and the first study to measure how the brain facilitates

the health-enhancing properties of close social relationships,"

writes Dr. James A. Coan, author of the study.

 

Coan, an assistant professor in the U.Va. Neuroscience Graduate

Program and the Department of Psychology, conducted a study involving

several couples who rated themselves as highly satisfied with their

marriages. Coan and colleagues designed a functional MRI (magnetic

resonance imaging) study in which 16 married women were subjected to

the threat of a very mild electric shock while they by turns held

their husband's hand, the hand of a stranger (male) or no hand at

all. The MRI was able to show how these women's brains responded to

this handholding while in a threatening situation.

 

The results showed a large decrease in the brain response to threat

as a function of spouse handholding, and a limited decrease in this

response as a function of stranger handholding. Moreover, spouse

handholding effects varied as a function of marital quality, with

women in the very highest quality marriages benefiting from a very

powerful decrease in threat-related brain activity, including a

strong decrease in the emotional (affective) component of the brain's

pain processing circuits.

 

Coan is expanding his functional MRI studies in collaboration with

the U.Va. Department of Radiology, to continue his exploration of the

neuroscience of emotion and close social relationships.

 

The message is clear. Accompany your spouse if you are visiting a

health care professional, or he/she is undergoing some procedure. MRI

is especially something which causes fear in the minds of women.

 

 

 

Source

"Lending a Hand: Social Regulation of the Neural Response to Threat"

James A. Coan, Hillary S. Schaefer, and Richard J. Davidson

Psychological Science

Volume 17 Issue 12 Page 1032 - December 2006

Online abstract at:

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-

9280.2006.01832.x