The Dysponesis ProjectSM LLC
www.dysponesisproject.com
Study Commentary:
A randomized Clinical Trial of Acupuncture Compared with Sham Acupuncture in Fibromyalgia,
Ann Int Med 2005, 143:10-19
A member of the Community Acupuncture Network
. . . . Serving the downtown Seattle and Denny Regrade Neighborhood
, , , ,Treating pain, stress and related functional disorders
Other Local Community Acupuncture Network members
Remember, despite the rhetoric
or philosophy, acupuncture always works at some level.
What is needed is the intention and a safe quiet place for
internal selfhealing.
Community Chi (Beacon Hill)
Jordan Van Voast, LAc
Sam Wery, LAc
Amber Blankenship, LAc
2524 16th Ave. So, Suite 301
Seattle, WA 98144
206 860-5009
www.communitychi.org
The Pin Cushion (Capitol hill)
Julie Johnson, LAc
1202 E. Pine Street Suite 103
Seattle, WA 98122
206 324-3650
www.thepincushion.com
The Community Acupuncture Project
of Columbia City
Angie Hughes, LAc
Sonja Sivesnid, LAc
3811B S. Ferdinand Street
Seattle, WA 760-6064
www.acupunctureforall.org
North Seattle Community Acupuncture
Steven Knobler, LAc
10212 5th Avenue NE Suite 120
Seattle, WA 98125
206 524-6428
www.northseaforme.com
Capitol Hill Neighborhood Acupuncture
Chris Huson, LAc
Leslie Dalaba, LAc
David Lerner, LAc
126 10th Avenue E.
Seattle, WA 98102
www.christopherhuson.com
Crossroots Community Acupuncture
Marit Hanson, LAc
418 N. 30th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
206 659-4990
Shoreline Community Acupuncture PLLC
Mary Baskin, LAc
Jenefer Christian, LAc
18505 Firlands Way N.
Shoreline, WA 98133
206 542-1700
www.shorelineacupuncture,org
THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION . . . . STAY TUNED
What is dysponesis and why do we call ourselves The Dysponesis Project?
Dysponesis is a term created by two Seattle research physicians in the early 1960s, George B. Whatmore PhD MD and Daniel R.Kohli MD. Dysponesis (Dys - bad, faulty, or wrong; ponesis = effort, work or toil) is considered faulty, ineffectual, or misdirected expenditure of energy, or effort, that is characterized in “functional disorders”; that is, errors in neurophysiological signaling with the absence of related structural pathology. This results in a “logical” conduct or compensation but rooted in prior error of context. Common clinical presentations of functional disorders are headache, backache, ill-defined somatic pains, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety. The underlying “pathology” is often considered to be “stress”. This was published in 1968 (Whatmore GB, Kohli DR, 1968, Dysponesis: A neurophysiological factor in functional disorders, Behav Sci 13, 102-124) and 1974 (Whatmore & Kohli: The Physiopathology and Treatment of Functional Disorders, Grunne & Stratton, New York 1974). Whatmore and Kohli are considered one of the fathers of modern biofeedback instrumentation.
The name, The Dysponesis Project, has been taken to pay homage to the work of Whatmore & Kohli and to promote an obscure term (dysponesis) into being a familiar household awareness.
While Whatmore and Kohli described dysponesis in regard to the logic of feedback control in biological systems, dysponesis also applies to micro, macro, and global-societal scales. Misconception, and misperception (errors in signalling) can result in subsequent logical conduct, with eventual consequences ranging from the unexpected to the disastrous. Dysponesis is found in global-cultural avenues in advertising, propaganda, and political persuasion with the intentional, or unintentional, biasing of logical conduct in a certain direction by manipulating context, misrepresentation, incompleteness, or disinformation. Indeed, the rigors of the scientific method is specifically intended to counter the tendencies toward dysponesis (faulty or unproductive expenditure of energy, ie effort).
Dysponesis has been often expressed in the arts, such as playwright Arthur Miller in the 1953 production of “The Crucible”, and in the satirical extreme in Stanley Kubrick’s 1963 film “Dr. Strangelove”.
A possible contemporary example of global dysponesis in health matters, might be the growing observation of numerous ill-defined health irregulaties (“functional disorders”) that seem to be ameliorated with the removal of wheat-glutin from the diet. Sometimes it’s dairy, or soy or . . . It is unclear whether this might be a problem with modern proprietary hybriding of seed, or a problem of product processing, or an individual problem of metabolising wheat products.
Whatever the origins, the consequences of what seemed like a good idea at the time now has global ramifications that affect more than individual nuisance affliction but also impact the livelihoods of those in the foodchain of production as well as the investors in that foodchain. Similar ideas have been advanced for dairy processing and pasteuriztion and incidence of autoimmune conditions. Or, inclusion of mercurial thimerosal in vaccines and incidence of neurological and behavioral “functional disorders”.
Does one need to know about, or believe in, “dysponesis” to get value from our services? Absolutely not. However, some will be curious and interested in this point of view. Stay tuned.
The Dysponesis ProjectSM is the service mark for the logistical and support umbrella
for a group of allied healthcare practitioners based in Seattle (known as “The Dysponesis
Project LLC”), who each have independent practices, and have a common interest and
focus in addressing “functional disorders”, and characterized by (described as) .
. .
Research analysis of group and individual outcomes (042) of (1) personal coaching
(education) services of the field of biofeedback (personal internal self-regulation)(041)
and (2) percutaneous and physical sensory interventions of physical rehabilitation
(modulating cognitive and autonomic neurofeedback), namely through, and commonly
known as, acupuncture, biofeedback-qi gong, massage and lymphatic drainage, diet/aroma/phytotherapy
(044).
© 2011 The Dysponesis Project LLC and John August Rau
For more discussion about dysponesis and the work of Whatmore & Kohli, click here.