---
title: What Is Mind/Body Medicine? (archived)
url: https://mbmi.org/archive/mind-body-basics/what-is-mind-body-medicine
description: The institute's definition of mind/body medicine as archived from mbmi.org: self-care grounded in science, and why it said the field is not alternative medicine.
original_author: Mind/Body Medical Institute (later Benson-Henry Institute)
archived_at: https://web.archive.org/web/20090211172402/http://www.mbmi.org/basics/whatis.asp
---
# What Is Mind/Body Medicine? (archived)

The page set out what the institute meant by mind/body medicine and how it wanted the term to be understood.

- Original author: Mind/Body Medical Institute (later Benson-Henry Institute)
- Original URL: http://www.mbmi.org/basics/whatis.asp
- Captured: 2006-04-25 to 2019-01-29 (40 snapshots)
- Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20090211172402/http://www.mbmi.org/basics/whatis.asp
- Current guide: https://mbmi.org/mind-body-basics

## What this page said

The institute defined mind/body medicine as based on the connection between thoughts, the body and the outside world, drawing on medicine, psychology, nutrition, exercise physiology and belief to strengthen natural healing. It described the result as self-care that complements surgery and drugs.

The page insisted the field be called complementary or integrative and never alternative, arguing that its interventions had scientific support and that unvalidated alternative treatments would not be practised there. It said studies show that between 60 and 90 percent of physician visits are for stress-related complaints, and credited more than 35 years of work by Herbert Benson and colleagues with helping thousands of people reduce stress that can cause or worsen conditions such as heart disease, infertility, gastrointestinal disorders and chronic pain. Those figures are the institute's claims as of 2009.

## Key points from the original

- Defined the field as self-care alongside conventional treatment.
- Rejected the label alternative medicine.
- Cited the claim that 60 to 90 percent of doctor visits involve stress-related complaints.

> “Mind/body interventions are scientifically proven” — Institute website

This is a historical record, not medical advice.