More and more hospital departments are opening their doors to practitioners of alternative and natural disciplines. Art therapists, sophrologists, aromatherapists, fire cutters, mindfulness meditation practitioners etc... now work alongside hospital staff for the well-being of their patients.
When hospitals call on firebenders
Many oncology departments have some somewhat special contacts in their repertoire, ones that are only half-spoken in this ultra-medicalized field: magnets and firebenders.
Indeed, many doctors today recommend such practitioners to limit the effects of radiation or chemotherapy.
The same is true in the burns department where the magic of certain hands still amazes even the most skeptical.
Mentalities are changing, some doctors accept that not everything can be explained: "As long as it is for the good of the patient and it works! "they admit.
Art therapy as a psycho-emotional support tool
Music, singing, dance, clowning, theater, writing, graphic and/or plastic arts, photography... the art is in essence therapeutic. There are countless studies demonstrating the effectiveness of art therapy in psychotherapeutic fields. From managing emotions, to reclaiming one's image, this discipline is a stepping stone in the resilience process.
Psychiatric institutions, cancer institutes, pediatric and geriatric services, many hospital services offer group workshops adapted to different audiences, including different forms of disability.
Aromatherapy to manage emotions
Oncology and gerontology departments sometimes resort to using essential oils as a complement to conventional treatments. Still very discreet in France, this practice is however more common in Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.
The essential oils are diffused in the patients' rooms or used during wellness massage. The benefits are such that the use of anxiolytics has decreased in the geriatric institutions that have tried the experiment. The patients are relaxed, the air is purified and perfumed!
Hypnosis to short-circuit pain
Hypnosis has been well established in the hospital environment for several years now, to the point that some anesthesiologists are training in it. Today, it is common to be offered anesthesia under hypnosis for benign operations or for invasive examinations.
Patients recover faster from surgery, are less nauseous and have a better recovery when operated on under hypnosis.
In addition, hypnosis is also proposed to limit the use of painkillers. Its principle being to modify the state of consciousness to create new "mental" circuits, this practice is well adapted to pain management.
Sophrology to learn more about yourself.
Group sessions of sophrology are sometimes proposed in the establishments accomodating a public in psychological distress: people reached of a cancer, of depression, of the disorder of the food behaviour, etc... Sophrology will then help these people to reconnect with their interior world, to visualize positive situations, to reappropriate their body, to locate it in the space
Mindfulness meditation for living in the moment.
The first to import the meditation in the hospital environment was the psychiatrist Christophe André. This form of meditation is totally secular and invites the participant to experience the present moment, the here and now.
Each sense is awakened to discover the world as it is, in a purely objective way. This helps the patient to take a step back, calm the mind, live in the moment and calm their anxieties.
It has been proven that meditating stimulates the immune system and therefore participates in the healing of the patient.
Other disciplines such as yoga, foot reflexology, wellness massage, and phytotherapy are gradually beginning to interest nursing staff, from teachers to caregivers. It is interesting to note that these are often the same people who, in the course of their personal lives, have already used this type of complementary support. Once tested and approved, many end up training to accompany their patients in a different way.
However, the budgetary situation in France is such that hospitals, despite the interest in these practices, cannot afford to offer these complementary therapies within their establishment. Their field of action is therefore limited to the recommendation at the risk that the patient does not follow it because all these natural therapies are not covered by social security or only by some mutual insurance companies...