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 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2007) |
| Chromotherapy | |
|---|---|
| Intervention | |
| MeSH | D016500 |
| Energy medicine - edit |
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| NCCAM classifications |
| See also |
Chromotherapy, sometimes called color therapy, colorology or cromatherapy, is acomplementary medicine method. It is said that a therapist trained in chromotherapy can use light in the form of color to balance "energy" wherever a person's body be lacking, whether on physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental levels. The practice has been labelledpseudoscientific.
Color therapy is unrelated to light therapy, a scientifically-proven form of medical treatment forseasonal affective disorder and a small number of other conditions, and photobiology, the scientific study of the effects of light on living organisms.
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[edit]History
Avicenna (980-1037), believed color to be of vital importance in diagnosis and treatment, discussed chromotherapy in The Canon of Medicine. He wrote that "Color is an observable symptom of disease" and also developed a chart that related color to the temperature and physical condition of the body. His view was that red moved the blood, blue or white cooled it, and yellow reduced muscular pain and inflammation.[1]
American Civil War General Augustus Pleasonton conducted his own experiments and published his book The Influence Of The Blue Ray Of The Sunlight And Of The Blue Color Of The Sky, published in 1876 about how the color blue can improve the growth of crops and livestock and can help heal diseases in humans. This led to a birth of modern chromotherapy, influencing scientist Dr. S. Pancoast[importance?] and Edwin Dwight Babbitt[importance?] to conduct experiments and publish, respectively, "Blue and Red Light; or, Light and Its Rays as Medicine" and "The Principles of Light and Color".
In 1933, Hindu scientist Dinshah P. Ghadiali[importance?] published "The Spectro Chromemetry Encyclopaedia", a work on color therapy. Ghadiali claimed to have discovered the scientific principles which explain why and how the different colored rays have various therapeutic effects on organisms. He believed that colors represent chemical potencies in higher octaves of vibration, and for each organism and system of the body there is a particular color that stimulates and another that inhibits the work of that organ or system. Ghadiali also thought that by knowing the action of the different colors upon the different organs and systems of the body, one can apply the correct color that will tend to balance the action of any organ or system that has become abnormal in its functioning or condition.[2]
Throughout the 19th century "color healers" claimed colored glass filters could treat many diseases including constipation andmeningitis.[3]
Practitioners of ayurvedic medicine believe the body has seven "chakras," which some claim are 'spiritual centers', and which are held to be located along the spine. In New Age thought each of the chakras is associated with a single color of the visible light spectrum, along with a function and organ or bodily system. According to this view, the chakras can become imbalanced and result in physical diseases but it is believed that these imbalances can be corrected through application of the appropriate color.[4] The purported colors and their associations are described as:[5]
| Color | Chakra | Chakra location | Alleged function | Associated system |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | First | Base of the spine | Grounding and Survival | Gonads, kidneys, spine, sense of smell[citation needed] |
| Orange | Second | Lower abdomen, genitals | Emotions, sexuality | Urinary tract, circulation, reproduction[citation needed] |
| Yellow | Third | Solar plexus | Power, ego | Stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas[citation needed] |
| Green | Fourth | Heart | Love, sense of responsibility | Heart, lungs, thymus[citation needed] |
| Blue | Fifth | Throat | Physical and spiritual communication | Throat, ears, mouth, hands[citation needed] |
| Indigo | Sixth | Just above the center of the brow, middle of forehead | Forgiveness, compassion, understanding | Eye, pineal glands[citation needed] |
| Violet | Seventh | Crown of the head | Connection with universal energies, transmission of ideas and information | Pituitary gland, the central nervous system and the cerebral cortex[citation needed] |
[edit]Criticism
Chromotherapy has been deemed pseudoscience by its critics, who state that the falsifiability and verifiability conditions necessary to deem an experiment valid are not being met, and therefore that it has not been proven that introducing colors is the key element in the healing process which is healing its patients. Chromotherapy has also been criticized for selection bias in statistics of success for the treatment. It has also been suggested that the placebo effect may be a key factor in the healing of some patients, which could be tested for by a chromotherapy control group.[6]
Photobiology, the term for the contemporary scientific study of the effects of light on humans, has replaced the term chromotherapy in an effort to separate it from its roots in Victorian mysticism and to strip it of its associations with symbolism and magic.[3] Light therapyis a specific treatment approach using high intensity light to treat specific sleep, skin and mood disorders.
[edit]See also
[edit]References
- ^ Azeemi, Y; Raza SM (2005). "A Critical Analysis of Chromotherapy and Its Scientific Evolution". Evidence-Based Complementary Alternative Medicine 2 (4): 481–488. doi:10.1093/ecam/neh137. PMC 1297510. PMID 16322805.
- ^ Mary Anderson, Colour Therapy, The Aquarian Press, 1986
- ^ a b Gruson, L (1982-10-19). "Color has a powerful effect on behavior, researchers assert". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- ^ Parker, D (2001). Color Decoder. Barron's. ISBN 0-7641-1887-0.
- ^ van Wagner, K. "Color Psychology: How Colors Impact Moods, Feelings, and Behaviors". About.com. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- ^ Carey, SS (2004). A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method. Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-534-58450-0.
[edit]External links
- Color+Therapy at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
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