fluid wash for an enhanced effect, particularly to
subdue irritation or relieve pain. For example, an
herbal douche that may be helpful in cases of
vaginitis may contain calendula flowers, pau
d’arco, tea tree oil, white oak bark, squaw vine,
mild white clay with hazel bark and leaf, and sage
or vinegar in one quart of water. Ordinary saline
solution is an effective nasal douche for congestion
caused by allergies or colds.
See also HERBALISM.
dowser, medical The term derived from the
name given in 1838 to people who used divining
(or dowsing) rods to find water or other natural
resources, which now refer to individuals who use
a dowsing instrument, such as a pendulum, to
locate and diagnose a physical malfunction or dis-
ease. Also known as medical radiesthesia, medical
dowsing corresponds to a certain psychic ability of
the dowser, who reportedly receives intensified
energy in the form of involuntary muscle tremors
or movement in his or her hands as the dowsing
device is held.
See also VIBRATIONAL MEDICINE.
drama therapy Methods or techniques involving
role playing, acting out stories, and other activities
geared toward helping individuals improve rela-
tionships, social skills, and personal issues. Drama
therapists guide groups in the creation of drama as
a way to address factors including awareness and
sensitivity, behavior, imagination, team effort, and
general understanding of interpersonal interaction.
People with a wide range of physical and emotional
problems may benefit from drama therapy.
dreams, diagnostic; healing The concept of
dreaming—constructed in the right brain as
opposed to the literal construction of left-brain
thinking—as a way to connect with the higher self
and as the source of dream-symbol interpretation
that may possibly help in the diagnosis and treat-
ment of illness. Some therapists and alternative
medicine practitioners recommend keeping a
dream diary (dreams can occur during waking or
sleeping hours) to determine patterns of symbols or
ideas. Some spiritual philosophers and advocates of
various types of vibrational medicine maintain that
the dream state provides the opportunity for an
aspect of our spirit to leave our physical body and
have direct experience with another dimension of
existence, which may be referred to as an astral
plane. This may offer insights into the true nature
of health and illness and add to the entire body of
information on mind-body medicine and healing.Dunbar, Helen Flanders American psychiatrist
(d.1959), who was a founder of the subspecialty
called consultation-liaison psychiatry and a propo-
nent of mind-body medicine. Dunbar also believed
that mental, social, and environmental factors
affect physiological functioning. The daughter of a
physicist, Dunbar earned her undergraduate
degree at Bryn Mawr in 1923 and her medical
degree at Yale Medical School in 1930. She later
acquired the degrees B.D., Ph.D., and D.Med.Sci.
After spending a year in Europe, she became affili-
ated with Columbia University and the Presbyter-
ian Hospital, where she was appointed psychiatrist
to the medical service. She was a member of the
American Psychoanalytic Society and authored
more than 80 books and articles. Her work was
influenced by ancient physicians and philosophers,
the work of Cannon and the flight or fight
response, Selye’s theory on the general adaptation
syndrome, and other 19th- and 20th-century
researchers who sought scientific evidence of what
Dunbar called, for want of a better term, “psycho-
somatic” medicine. She studied 600 patients with
heart disease, diabetes, and fractures at Presbyter-
ian Hospital, and in 1936 discovered that psycho-
logical factors had a significant effect on the causes
of the disease and the disease process. This led her
to coin the term “accident-prone personality.”
Dunbar also conducted research by providing per-
sonality profiles (later known as “personality con-
stellations”) that connected chronic disorders such
as asthma, migraine, ulcerative colitis, and peptic
ulcer with certain personality types.
At the same time, Chicago psychoanalyst Franz
Alexander theorized on a “specificity hypothesis,”
saying that specific but unresolved emotional prob-
lems caused chronic tension, dysfunction, and
finally structural changes in certain organs. Dunbar
believed that the disorders were not “specific” but
complex, and she did not accept Alexander’sDunbar, Helen Flanders 35