My passion is to transform the traditional medical system in this country. I have started the process by providing the foundational information of the newsletter for the past four years.
The next step will be to further improve this website by making it interactive. I also hope to help you to identify qualified health care professionals who can guide you through the individualized details of the healing process.
It is clear that a support structure would also help the process. So a third step could be to provide you with an opportunity to talk to others like you who are interested in natural healing and who share the same medical concerns. I am considering starting the first nationwide network of alternative medicine self- help support groups.
I have identified Dr. Andrea Zojourner, a clinical psychologist, to help coordinate this project. We hope to disclose the details of these support groups in the near future. In the meantime, we will whet your appetite with some literature as to the value and purpose of support groups.
The most comprehensive analysis of self-help groups ever done in America found that health concerns are the most frequently cited reasons for joining a support group. And the research clearly showed that participation in support groups could have powerful, positive benefits for physical and for emotional health. Self help groups specifically for people coping with illness make up about 40% of the self-help movement. The other 60% is made up groups for coping with substance abuse, bereavement, parenting, personal growth and a myriad of other issues
People with a wide range of medical concerns are seeking and offering support by meeting in small groups with others who have the same medical condition. Such groups allow sufferers to gather information most valuable to them -- stories of similar experience and endurance. Support groups offer participants unique opportunities for disclosure, empathic connection and the shared goals of psychological adjustment to the diagnosis and other life disruptions that come with illness.
The social context of illness is important and self-help groups are particularly relevant at this juncture in history because of the gap between the high cost of health care and the unmet needs of patients.
American Psychologist February 2000
Comments by Dr Andrea Zojourner, Clinical Psychologist
It is important to note that the researchers in the above study canvassed four major metropolitan areas to find out how many support groups already existed for twenty particular medical conditions. The researchers found over 12,500 support groups relating to that list of twenty medical conditions in just those four cities (Chicago, Dalles, New York and Los Angeles).
The researchers point out that "It is important to bear in mind that as a measure of basic value to participants, participation is its own index of success: Groups without value cease to exist. Members vote with their feet.