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Question

The New Age movement seems to have much to say about health and spirituality. A New Age friend of mine, for instance, recently urged me to use herbs for my asthma and also gave me a crystal pendant which he said would "balance my energies." Is the New Age approach to medicine just a modern version of snake oil or is there some value in it?

Answer

The New Age bears one common trait with Christianity. There are so many different variations. Some New Age thinkers draw heavily from Native American traditions, others from ancient Celtic ones. Some New Age practitioners focus on energies, others on herbs. When someone says they are a New Ager, they may could be talking about Native American spirituality, Wicca, channelling, or even contact with extra-terrestrials.

Some of the health guidance you may find within the New Age movement (crystals, for example) may simply be further examples of the power of the placebo effect. (Recall that a placebo is an inert chemical substance given with a suggestion that it will have impact medically). Placebo therapy demonstrates strongly that one's expectation of being helped has a great impact on the outcome of a medical intervention. On the other hand, some herbs do indeed appear to have medicinal value. Other New Age approaches to health have their roots in Eastern medical traditions which are very different from our Western school of medicine, but also highly effective.

In approaching any New Age concepts about health, I would suggest you keep an open but critical mind. Ask for resources to study. Read original sources, not interpretations. At some level, of course, what matters most is whether you find the crystals, herbs, etc., helpful. In that regard, I will admit to having concocted an herbal tea for asthma and other respiratory disorders. I and a few others with whom I have shared the recipe swear by it!

If you are interested in studying about some of the roots of the New Age movement, "Madame Blavatsky's Baboon" might be of interest to you. The author, Peter Washington, provides useful insight into several spiritual leaders such as Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, and Krishnamurti, whose work has inspired various threads of the New Age movement.

03/14/98

Richard B. Patterson is a clinical psychologist in private practice in El Paso, TX. He is the author of three books on psychology and spirituality.