Spontaneous healing
Spontaneous healing is the healing of an illness without therapeutic measures. In principle, any acute illness can heal spontaneously, while chronic illnesses almost never go away without external influence. Even malignant tumor diseases can heal on their own. The basis for spontaneous healing are the body's own repair mechanisms or, in the case of infectious diseases, the defense system that leads to the elimination of the pathogen. With all hereditary diseases, genetic defects and abnormalities, spontaneous healing is not possible.
In oncology , self-healing is differentiated from spontaneous remission or regression. Many types of tumor are only expected to heal spontaneously if the person concerned shows no signs of illness five years after the diagnosis. The phenomenon of "unexpected recovery" is also a topic of modern cancer research. A long-term cure cannot yet be derived with certainty from a remission. In kidney cell carcinoma , melanoma , lymphoma, and neuroblastoma in infants and young children, spontaneous tumor regression is more common than in other cancers.
Spontaneous healing, like the placebo effect , can skew studies on the effectiveness of medical interventions. They are also often used as evidence of " miracle cures " or " alternative " healing methods. Numerous methods, drugs and dietary supplements are offered that are said to be able to mobilize the " self-healing powers ". According to the current state of knowledge, no recommendations can be made as to how spontaneous healing could be brought about. Therapy offers that promise otherwise are therefore described by experts as dubious.
The mechanisms of spontaneous healing are the subject of current research, with numerous approaches being examined, from " psychoneuroimmunological " mechanisms to immune reactions to hormonal changes.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Beat Spring: Assessment of the course in homeopathy: disease dynamics and patient guidance. Georg Thieme Verlag, 2009 ISBN 978-3-8304-7351-0 , p. 34.
- ↑ a b c Spontaneous healing in cancer Cancer information service of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg. November 3, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
- ↑ Manfred Eberhard Heim: Spontaneous remissions in oncology: theoretical models and clinical findings. Schattauer, 1998, ISBN 978-3-7945-1813-5 .
- ↑ Yvonne A. Maurer: Healing miracle: intervention of God, biological stroke of luck or folk myth? Springer, 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-30651-8 .