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Healing vs. Treatment

ByAdam O’Brien PhD

Wounded Healers Institute’s Transformative Approach

In the journey toward well-being, the Wounded Healers Institute (WHI) draws a crucial distinction that reshapes our understanding of recovery: the difference between “Healing” and “clinical treatment”. This distinction is not merely semantic; it’s foundational to their transformative approach and dissociative understanding.  

Clinical treatment, as commonly practiced, often focuses on an individual, driven by external mandates like legal requirements or insurance. Its primary aim is to “fix” a presenting problem, often addressing symptoms rather than root causes.  

In contrast, Healing, as conceptualized by WHI, is a process that “actually involves the individual and joins people together to process and share Healing intentions”. Doing vs being with and healing for, are the key differences that WHI points to. Its purpose extends far beyond symptom alleviation, encompassing:  

  • Self-actualization: Unlocking one’s full potential.  
  • Spiritual, moral, and ethical development: Fostering inner growth and integrity.  
  • Resolution of developmental and attachment traumas: Addressing deep-seated wounds from the past (intergenerational, betrayal, and moral injury).  
  • Navigating normative dissociation and universal addictions: Understanding and transforming everyday patterns that hold us back.  

This process emphasizes direct experience and conscious existence as pathways to transformation.  

The role of a Healer at WHI also differs significantly from that of a conventional therapist. Healers “sit with” and heal “for” clients, offering supportive presence rather than requiring specific actions or adherence to external directives. They operate from a “qualitative, phenomenological, and experiential model”. Critically, WHI Healers do not engage in diagnosing (where there are none), as this practice is seen as contributing to stigma and elitism within the mental health field and greater society.  In fact, WHI research has undiagnosed citizens and pathologized industries and professions for diagnosing (O’Brien, 2025), where the field of medicine, law, and psychology are still figuring out where psychology begins and the biology ends (O’Brien, 2023a).

WHI contends that a system predominantly operating from a quantitative, logical framework may be “morally underdeveloped and unequipped to ethically practice the craft and art of Healing”, as evidenced by psychological science. They argue that the system’s procedural emphasis often induces unconscious stress in clients, prioritizing “normalcy” over deep, transformative healing. This distinction highlights a philosophical divide, suggesting that genuine, holistic well-being may require a shift in priorities from profit and compliance to profound, individualized care.  

This understanding of “Healing” sets the stage for the “Path of the Wounded Healer” program. The program is about moving beyond simply managing problems to truly transforming lives from the inside out. This blog also represents the start to the difference between psychedelic therapy and psychedelic care (O’Brien, 2023c; O’Brien, 2024a; O’Brien, 2025).

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References

O’Brien, A. (2023a). Addiction as Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Phenomenological Investigation of the Addictive State. International University of Graduate Studies. (Dissertation). Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/

O’Brien, A. (2023b). Memory Reconsolidation in Psychedelics Therapy. In Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/

O’Brien, A. (2023c). Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2024a). Healer and Healing: The re-education of the healer and healing professions as an advocation. Re-educational and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2024e). Path of the Wounded Healers for Thrivers: Perfectionism, Altruism, and Ambition Addictions; Re-education and training manual for Abusers, Activists, Batterers, Bullies, Enablers, Killers, Narcissists, Offenders, Parents, Perpetrators, and Warriors. Re-Education and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2025). American Made Addiction Recovery: a healer’s journey through professional recovery. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

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