Creative expression and self-healing techniques in the treatment of asthmatic children

Non-traditional approaches to personal integration have been employed by researchers as a method of non-medical healing, with mysticism and physics drawn closer together in the same scientific field of study (Coxhead: 1976). The approach to personal change presented in this study is based on the position that through healing, as a creative force, an individual can attain integration on all levels of being (including the body, mind, and spirit), promoting a higher level of personal integration (Svihus and Johnson: 1977). Research and speculation suggests that the asthmatic condition may be due to the emotional nature and attitude of the individual, along with parental and environmental influences. The intent of this study is to examine the use of play and the channeling of energy, as a non-traditional therapeutic approach as a means for alleviating the symptoms of the asthmatic child. The author maintains that healing energy can be directed by thought towards healing or improving a particular health condition, with each person having the ability to heal him/herself. The ability to heal is often obscured due to blocks in the unconscious. The removal of these obstructions is the beginning of the healing process, with creativity viewed by the author as a healing force. Play, as creative expression, can be a means for realizing the healing potential. Two case studies are presented. They provide a profile of two asthmatic children and their participation in play oriented exercises. Seven sessions, using visualization, Tai Chi, and art therapy techniques, comprise the methodological features of the study. Interpretations of the series of drawings produced by the children are reviewed, along with the subjects’ responses to the other exercises. While evaluating the youngsters progress during the two month study period, it became apparent that parents and siblings are an intricate part of the child’s environment. Because parents were purposely not included in the sessions, their interference disrupted the original study plan. For this reason the results of the study do not lend strong support to the use of self-healing techniques in the treatment of asthmatic children, although some success was demonstrated using play as a means for self-expression with subsequent emotional release. The use of a parapsychological approach to alleviating the symptoms of asthma in a child seems to require an intense one-to-one correspondence with the asthmatic and his/her immediate family. This correspondence does not lend itself to a casual treatment setting.