- Half a drugs power comes from thinking it will work via NPR
- Proof that group meditation can change the world via spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com
- Meditation transforms roughest San Francisco Schools via sfgate.com
- Scientists finally show thoughts can cause specific molecular changes to your genes via tunedbody.com
- Can you actually get sick from being cold? via gizmodo
- This yoututbe video will hurt you when you watch it via gizmomdo
And the most exciting news so far this month! MKHuggins is back!
kind-ism 
So this raises the question, Are Christian Science healings (when they occur) sometimes the result of placebo effect? I was healed of warts years ago. I later learned that warts are often removed through hypnosis. So, is Christian Science hypnosis?
The idea of a mind-body connection for healing/health is hardly new, a decent (and footnoted) overview can be found at http://naturalhealthperspective.com/tutorials/history-mind-body-connection.html, equally interesting http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/books/review/Groopman-t.html?pagewanted=all, MBE takes many of these ideas and adds an unhealthy layer of warped religious philosophy and dogma. Is there a mind-body connection? The placebo effect seems to imply there is something going on. I’m no expert, I just found these articles to be interesting!
I LOVE stuff like this! Thank you, Kat!
Some of the sources are a bit closer to oogie-boogie science than I am comfortable with, however, I think the basic ideas have some merit and are worth exploring further.
My problem with the “think/pray yourself better” is that it implies that those who fail to do so are at fault, and sick people have enough to deal with without the added feeling of failure if/when they don’t get better. Yes, mental state can play a role, but to say health is 100% tied to that does everyone a disservice. Also, I’m not sure how it would apply in children.
Oh! No one should ever feel guilt because they’re sick – never, never, ever. But I’ve heard of cases where that actually happens – where someone is pretty much told if they’re not getting a healing there must be something wrong with their thoughts. Insanity.
About children: Okay, I’m going to share this with you because I think you’ll get this. As my sons were growing up – they experienced some pretty quick healings in CS, and they were mostly healthy, anyway – but, if there was ever any doubt, if I ever felt fear for them, I think – BECAUSE I’m a Christian Scientist – I was even more conscientious about getting them to the doctor – I knew if something went wrong, blame would immediately come to me, just because I’m a Christian Scientist. If other peoples’ children came to serious harm because they, in all innocence, didn’t believe the child needed to see a doctor – there’d be no talk of neglect or abuse or anything – but I knew if MY child should come to serious harm, my way of life would be seen as the culprit.
Motherhood was and is the best thing I’ve ever experienced – what a gift! What a blessing! But I have to admit there’s a part of me that’s really relieved my sons are now adults and are responsible for their own health.
It happened all the time, it was often the subtle, “your exterior is a reflection of your mental state” — so you’re fat because you’re having bad thoughts, you have glasses, or need braces, or are having horrible cramps because YOUR THOUGHT isn’t in alignment with God. If the child was having developmental delays it was clearly the fault of the parent’s thought, etc. It could be pretty toxic.
I 100% get where you’re coming from with the lifestyle as the culprit. We actually had a conversation about this in one of the former-CS facebook groups — our conclusion was that medical neglect is medical neglect regardless of the motivation. CS should not be singled out anymore than any other “religion” or “lifestyle” (anti-vaccination/”alternative” health/voodoo), and really, when it comes to children’s health, if there’s any doubt, most pediatric offices have an on-call triage nurse who can help answer questions, and err on the side of caution (we may also be a bit bias having had CS childhoods and left).
That said, you seem to have taken the responsible route, many CS I’ve known have either hidden the child (or adult) away — hide the failure to heal, or paraded them around as if nothing was wrong (even if something OBVIOUSLY was). My mother often bragged that my sister and I “never missed a day of school from illness” … yeah, that’s because she sent us to school with an extra box of kleenx in our backpacks and didn’t think “a few sniffles” (the flu, what was likely bronchitis, etc.) should keep us home. The big exception was the chicken pox and that was only because the school nurse told her we had to stay at home.