for more wholistic and integrative therapeutic strategies to support and ease the burden on conventional mental health treatments .
One of the integrative therapeutic strategies that could offer this support is osteopathy . According to Lemley , 7 Andrew Taylor Still did not invent osteopathy in 1874 , rather he discovered a universal truth - the law of matter , mind , and motion . This discovery was after several personal tragedies which inspired his desire for deeper knowledge and understanding of nature ’ s finest work - the human design . Still was a visionary like many of his time and was progressive in 19th century western culture in his approach to the treatment of disease using manual therapy techniques . Osteopath and author of From The Dry Bone To The Living Man , 8 John Lewis reported from his biographical research that ‘ Still was not introducing a manual therapy for a narrow range of musculoskeletal complaints . He was presenting a new paradigm for health , a new philosophy that can be universally applied . We are not islands but parts of nature , parts of the whole , and nature ’ s laws are absolute and unchanging ’.
In a period when women were still unable to vote , Still was committed to progressiveness in wholistic health and education , shown by his insistence on allowing women to also study osteopathic medicine in a co-educational setting at the A . T Still University in Kirksville , Missouri . One of those female trailblazers was Jeanette ‘ Nettie ’ Bolles . She graduated in 1894 as the first female osteopath and continued to see patients in private practice until her retirement . She also held many positions in professional organisations during her career . She was a pioneer in many respects : her most notable positions included first female faculty member at an osteopathic college , founder of the Bolles Institute of Osteopathy , Vice- President of the American Osteopathic Association on two occasions , first editor and publisher of the Journal of Osteopathy , first osteopath to practise in the state of Colorado , founding member and serving three times as President of the Osteopathic Women National Association . 9 She was also offered an appointment to the State Medical Board by Governor John F . Shafroth , but turned the offer down because the board did not recognise osteopathy . 10
In 2013 , Lewis 8 stated that ‘ many external pressures continually draw osteopathy away from its roots , while at the same time there is a lack of knowledge about the importance of those roots . When we understand Still , we see that the outcome of treatment does not depend on statistics but on developing our hands , minds , and senses as sensitive instruments . Every case is unique , complex , and multifactorial , and we must have the knowledge , skill , and art to remove the precise cause of the problem – in matter , mind , or motion .’ The osteopathic approach to mental health is based on the core belief that by addressing structural and functional imbalances in the body and influencing more coherent integration it is possible to positively influence mental and emotional states . Robert Lever 11 ( p 47 ) explains in his book Mind , Matter and Motion how all experience , and especially trauma , is processed by the whole person , and ‘ traces of this are potentially reflected in the patient ’ s mind-body complex ’. A physical examination and thorough medical history are performed , considering aspects of the patient ’ s emotional influences and the effect of their environment on their current physical conditions to be imperative to patient management and outcomes .
Lever 11 ( p 25 ) further explains that osteopaths ’ skills are developed in the ‘ subtle signs observed in patients ’ movements , demeanour , voice production and communication ( verbal and otherwise ); subtle details are observed in appearance and tissue responses ; gross and subtle expressions of motions , motility , oscillation , and energy are noted . We open ourselves to the interfaces ’. This highlights the importance of taking aspects of the patient ’ s physical lesion and incorporating them into the larger treatment perspective and whole-body function . By listening to the patient ’ s story and relying on what is interpreted from a physical examination and palpation of associated tissues , the practitioner can formulate a more specific treatment for that individual . Lever 11 ( p 32 ) explains further that ‘ assessing the patient ’ s tissues and somatic dysfunction might compromise these elements beyond structural and mechanical ingredients of the tissues involved ( irritability , responsiveness , degree of chronicity ), and the dysfunction itself may reflect aspects of the patient ’ s experience that go beyond the physiological ( to encompass the emotional and traumatic )’.
According to Atoe et al ., 5 1 in 3 primary care consultations can be about medically unexplained symptoms . This strengthens the case for further understanding of the biomechanical link between the musculoskeletal system and mental health as the potential missing puzzle piece . This is pivotal in appreciating how osteopathic and associated musculoskeletal therapy interventions can contribute to supporting conventional mental health therapies during the growing crisis . Reflecting this notion is the King ’ s Fund , 12 which stated that ‘ a high proportion of people with long-term physical conditions continue to be diagnosed with mental illness ’. Some early psychotherapists began connecting emotions to the body system . 13 Wilhelm Reich , a student of Freud , considered the psyche as a mind-body functional unit ; in his view , the body attitude reflected the psychological attitude . The psychotherapist Alexander Lowen 14 also discussed similar concepts and believed a long-term negative emotion could affect the body ’ s response , altering the patient ’ s posture .
One of the most powerful ways to work with the physical body and influence mental health is through balancing the complex and integral network of fascia , postural biomechanics , and respiratory interfaces . It is well established that acute and chronic stress produce negative
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