The Philosophy of Positive Health ~ Dr John Diamond

Excerpt from holistic psychiatrist Dr John Diamond's website.

Five of the primary tenets upon which Dr. Diamond’s approach to positive health are:

1. The critical importance of the reduction of stress and the balancing of the concomitant emotional attitudes. Disease is seen as arising from stress that causes a general reduction in Life Energy and specific energy imbalances throughout the body.

2. The essential role of primary prevention — prevention before pathological change, either mental or physical. At this early stage the energy imbalances may be described as fluid or dynamic and readily amenable to correction. If the stress is prevented, if the mental attitudes are changed, then primary prevention will be possible.

3. The individual's responsibility for taking charge of his own health and his own way through life. In this context the role of the so-called doctor is that of teacher — to explain and to help the individual to see exactly what he is doing to lower his own healing energies. The individual has superimposed maladaptive behavioral patterns upon himself which have pulled him away from his natural, "normal" state, and he must recognize and alter them.

4. That great healing forces exist within us and in nature to enable repair to occur once the stress is reduced and the negative attitudes are corrected. It is recognized that natural methods are essential since unnatural methods often diminish Life Energy. While these unnatural methods may provide symptomatic relief, they ultimately lower the Life Energy, retard the true healing process, and ignore the stress and the attitudinal problems that are at the base of the disease patterns.

5. That most problems begin at an energy level. The first physical manifestation of imbalance within the body is at an energy level and corrections can be made at this level. On top of this are the metabolic, environmental, structural and nutritional problems that also require attention.

When a man is perfect in his own nature, body, and soul, perfect in his harmonious adaptations and action, and living in perfect harmony with nature, with his fellow-man and with God, he may be said to be in a state of Health. The broad philosophy of Life Energy enhancement includes as a goal the achievement of positive health. To assist in achieving this, one is taught the insights and understandings and the methods of preventive medicine, including nutrition, psychological insights, bioharmonics, and psychoaesthetics. Psychoaesthetics is a field of work in which Dr. Diamond has developed techniques for assessing the effects of works of art, poetry, music, architecture, craftsmanship, body movement and dance, gesture and posture on the physical, mental and emotional functioning of the individual. In addition, there are techniques for stress reduction via the aesthetic experience.