Self-healing, an object of conciliation
At the end of the analytical work carried out during the HOMEOCSS project (2018-2022) on the controversy of homeopathy and the notion of placebo effect, the concept of self-healing and the body-mind relationship have emerged in the discourses of the scientists studied having opposite visions. A proposal for conciliation was then proposed and published. This conciliation proposes that self-healing be a point of convergence of opposing visions, by becoming a new scientific field institutionally established, thus allowing to rescale the controversial debates. In doing so, it would notably replace the placebo effect in an identified scientific field, and would make it possible to scientifically inform, among others, people who are turning to non conventional approaches.
The Self-Healing project is a conciliation project that follows on from the HOMEOCSS project. It was established as an Independent Research Institute (IRIA) from 2022 to 2025 and is now becoming IRICSS's Axis 2. The project group, made up of 21 researchers, aims to conduct multidisciplinary research from scientific, medical, and societal perspectives.
For this purpose, 6 objects of study have been defined:
- the subject of study 1 on the scientific, medical and societal study of care practices and care pathways involving self-healing factors.
- The objects of study 2, 4, 5 and 6 will focus respectively on the analysis of representations about self-healing from school/student audiences, the general public, scientists and prescribing physicians.
- The subject of study 3 will focus on the analysis of the media sphere and the concept of self-healing conveyed.
The objectives of the project are to: 1) Work in a logic of conciliation facing visions that may oppose each other in order to find a common point of balance 2) Conduct multidisciplinary research on the subject of self-healing and its limits, 3) Define the concept of self-healing, 4) Participate in a reflection around the use of self-healing in an ethical way in medical practices, 5) Build training modules on this concept.
This project does not aim to promote non-conventional practices and/or non-drug interventions. The unique challenge is to better understand and define the scientific concept of self-healing, in order to determine a common framework while pointing out the existing limits to the notion.