Doctors claim T.M. cures

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33941, 6 September 1975, Page 13

Doctors claim T.M. cures

A cure for many psychiatric illnesses, rehabilitation of criminals, a decrease in crime rates, and mental and physical health for all without the need of a physician. These are just a few of the claims for transcendental meditation made by two doctors visiting Christchurch. The doctors, Byron Rigby, a psychiatrist at Guy’s Hos- \ pital, London, and David \ Doner, an assistant professor * \of medicine at Boston Uni- ’ 4 V-ersity Medical Centre, are visiting New Zealand to

speak to private and public meetings on the virtues of transcendental meditation. Both doctors are on leave from their positions to visit New Zealand and Australia in this “Year of Fulfillment of the World Plan,” the fourth year of a drive to gain converts, decreed bv leader of the movement. Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian monk. Although public meetings are part of the trip, the visit appears to be a full scale assault upon the officials in health, justice and government. Yesterday, Dr Rigby spoke at a meeting of prison staff at Christchurch Women’s Prison, which was attended also by the superin-

tendent of Rolleston Prison (Mr C. Bird) and a prison chaplain, Mr D. Prince. Later in the day he spoke at a Sunnyside Hospital staff meeting, and other meetings in the schedule are with doctors at Christchurch Hospital, the staff at Tokanui and Auckland hospitals, lectures to post-graduate medical societies in Wellington, Palmerston North, and meetings with doctors in other towns. Some of these meetings are at the request of the International Meditation Society. Mr Bird was asked to attend the meeting to “hear some important facts, which he could not afford, to miss.” He expressed reserved interest in what he had heard

but said that he needed more information before he could evaluate the claims of the meditators. The meeting at Sunnyside Hospital was also called at the request of the Society. The superintendent of the hospital (Dr E. Hall) said that Dr Rigby talked to about 35 nursing and medical staff. The talk left him interested. and he would like to know more about it. Nowhere he said, did he hear mention of one claim made by the society and attributed to the doctors — “that N.Z. psychiatric hospitals could be empty within a year.” One study cited by Dr Rigby was that of the decrease in crime in some cities in the United States. Those without meditators showed an average increase of 7.8 per cent in serious crimes in 1972-73. Similar sized cities that had an average of 1.0 per cent of meditators in the population, had a fall in the crime rate of 8.8 per cent, a difference of 16.6 per cent.