Areas › Your body › Touch and bodywork
The same treatment in two different clinics can go two different ways, and the difference is often the people. Kind, unhurried staff who explain things get better results.
So when you refer someone, or choose somewhere yourself, ask about that as well as the equipment. Do they remember your name, do they answer questions without sighing, is anyone in the room with you. If a course of something has not worked at one place, it is fair to wonder about the place before concluding the treatment is useless.
Qur’an and Sunnah
'you were gentle in your dealings with them' (Quran 3:159), and the verse says harshness would have driven people away. How something is delivered decides whether anyone stays for it.
فَبِمَا رَحۡمَةࣲ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمۡۖ وَلَوۡ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلۡقَلۡبِ لَٱنفَضُّواْ مِنۡ حَوۡلِكَۖ فَٱعۡفُ عَنۡهُمۡ وَٱسۡتَغۡفِرۡ لَهُمۡ وَشَاوِرۡهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡأَمۡرِۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمۡتَ فَتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَى ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
By an act of mercy from God, you [Prophet] were gentle in your dealings with them- had you been harsh, or hard-hearted, they would have dispersed and left you- so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them. Consult with them about matters, then, when you have decided on a course of action, put your trust in God: God loves those who put their trust in Him
Qur’an 3:159read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
In a randomised trial, couples given oxytocin before a difficult conversation communicated more positively and had lower cortisol afterwards. It shows how closely relational warmth and the body's stress response are tied together. That was a drug study in couples, so it supports the general link rather than saying anything about clinic staff.
Ditzen B, Schaer M, Gabriel B, Bodenmann G, Ehlert U, Heinrichs M. (2009). Intranasal oxytocin increases positive communication and reduces cortisol levels during couple conflict.. Biological psychiatry doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
How you are treated changes how you respond to what you are given.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
There is a route the calming nerve takes through you: eyes, then jaw and mouth, then throat and neck, then shoulders and chest, then belly. You can visit each stop in turn and simply notice what is there.
Body based approaches have been linked with better physical and mental health, easier relationships, and in some settings lower use of painkillers and psychiatric medication.
The first time you slow a rising panic with your own breathing, something changes that no amount of reassurance could have changed. You have evidence now.