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Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine

An important but short-lived organization founded in California in 1970 with the basic belief that spirit and matter are a unity. The academy held that the true nature of healing must be sought in that unity and the interrelationship of body, mind, and spirit in health and disease. Treatment of disease should be directed at the whole person, and any lasting healing of the physical body should synthesize mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. This belief restates traditional Hindu yoga teachings in a Western context.

The academy served its membership by offering symposia, workshops, and publications (including APM Report, published quarterly for members). Investigating paranormal and unorthodox healing, the academy presented its research findings to both professional medical and lay communities. It sponsored seven major symposia between 1971 and 1974, primarily in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, as well as Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Other activities included one-day seminars on acupuncture and biofeedback and nine two-day acupuncture workshops. In June 1974 the academy presented a symposium on nontraditional approaches to treatment of the developmentally disabled, sponsored jointly with the Division of Retardation of the state of Florida's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. The academy laid the groundwork for the formation of the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978.