I don't have the experience or knowledge in this area to offer an adequately informed medical opinion, but, I've read anecdotal accounts that affirm the power of positive thinking, and I've applied that in general to my way of living, with generally beneficial results ( for me anyway ). One of the first things I applied it to was improving my memory.
For example, when the word I'm looking for isn't coming to mind, instead of saying, "I can't remember." I started saying, "I don't recall what it is right now, but it will come to me later." Sure enough, it never seems to fail. It's as if I've told my brain that it's in there someplace and to start running a search for it. It might take a few seconds or minutes or hours or longer, but it always surfaces.
Another example is that I rarely get ill, but if I do, and it starts to drag-on longer than I expect, I just say to myself, "I've had enough of this. I'm going to get moving and kick the crap out of whatever this thing is". Then I just just will myself to get up, go outside, get some cardio happening, and imagine how that is speeding up all aspects of my metabolism, including my self-repair systems — and it seems to work.
Obviously, there's some stuff that requires external treatment, but even the success of those treatments seems to be enhanced by the same sort of personal
will to persist.
The bottom line for me when it comes to medicine, is that the ideal treatment is the kind that works whether you believe in it or not. It's even better if it works when you
don't believe in it — like blood transfusions, or the antidote to a poison. With treatments that good, all the psychological support systems in the library are irrelevant. I wish all treatments were that effective, and I see no reason why someday they can't be.
To answer Alex's question, do I believe Bierman's account of him helping to normalize a patient's heart rhythm using his method? I see no reason to doubt his word. I've experienced similar arrhythmias, and I know in no uncertain terms that my mind was able to affect the condition. There's also extremely powerful evidence that making a connection with another person directly affects heart rhythm.
All in all, it seems very positive to me. At the very least, I don't see how it could harm anyone. If it were widely implemented, I think it would likely result in an overall improvement to the medical system. My only caution would be to not become a purveyor of false hope that causes patients to avoid solid science based treatment that they later find out would have benefitted them.