Interaction Between Physician
Proc. of the 4th Intern. Sympos. on Fundamental Osteopathy.
St.Petersburg, 2005. p.95-97.
INTERACTION BETWEEN PHYSICIAN (HEALER) AND PATIENT (A PHYSIOLOGICAL CONCOMITANT)
Inna A. Vartanyan
Laboratory of Comparative Physiology of Sensory Systems
I.M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry Russian Academy of Sciences, St-Petersburg, Russia .
12 doctors and healers, 15 their patients, 3 manual therapists and 4 their patients, 8 healer-simulators and 4 patient-simulators and 20 control subjects (totally 66 persons of both sex) took part in the investigation. Sensory and sensory-motor characteristics were investigated before and after treatment or its simulation in pairs - doctor (healer) - their real patients, manual therapists - their real patients, healer-simulator - patient-simulator. The following sensory characteristics were analyzed: tactile and temperature thresholds, acoustic sensation, the time of auditory-motor reactions. In the pilot investigations of 5 pairs (10 persons) brain electrical activity on weak acoustical signals were estimated.
Individual data were investigated and statistical estimation of sensory characteristics was fulfilled to determine the reliability of differences and correlations between different characteristics (ANOVA and ANCOVA). The results made it possible to make the following conclusions:
1)In pairs doctor (healer or manual therapist) and patient changes of initial level of tactile and temperature thresholds were always registered, the changes of auditory thresholds being not detected.
2)The direction of changing in sensitivity thresholds is different with different healer techniques. Soft techniques (contact, contactless, mixed) are followed by differently directed changing of tactile and temperature
thresholds in pair healer - patient. Initially high sensitivity of a healer reduces during the treatment, while low sensitivity of a patient increases. On the contrary hard techniques of manual action are followed by the increase
of tactile and temperature thresholds of patient and the decrease of thresholds of manual therapist.
3)Sensory-motor reactions during the interaction of healer and patient also had statistically reliable changes: the reaction time of patients increases and that of healer decreases. However, during the interaction of manual
therapist and patient the thresholds of sensory-motor reactions increase in both of them.
4)Healers-simulators, imitating movements and touches of real healers as well as their patient-simulators less of all are subjected to any statistically reliable changes of sensitivity thresholds and sensory-motor reactions time.
5)The pilot investigations of brain evoked potentials on weak sensory (auditory) stimuli make it possible to suppose the synchronization of electrical processes in the brain during the realization of positive contacts in friendly
pairs of participants. And on the contrary, during the interaction of pairs, not positively related to each other and to the investigator, the desynchronization of brain electrical activity up to total suppression of evoked
potentials takes place.
6)The data obtained testifies to statistically reliable changes of objective sensory characteristics during the interaction of the doctor and the patient, as well as makes it possible to suppose changes in the structure of electrical
brain activity, depending of the emotional-motivational factors of doctor-patient interaction.
7)There are reasons between mechanisms of realization of soft techniques and hard manual interactions. Different directions of changes of tactile and temperature thresholds in pairs to suppose essential differences of healer - patient and manual therapist- patient can be used for the base of such supposition.