Customer Reviews

Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d

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"Everyone's so in the dark when it comes to feeling good, whether it involves chronic illness, pain, aging, depression, or just flat-out stress. In fact, stress is the new medical word for feeling lousy, and reducing it is the new holy grail, what everyone wants. People know that they don't feel good, and they're not getting answers about how to feel better from their conventional doctors." - From the book

Featured in the indie film What the Bleep Do We Know!?, pharmacologist Candace Pert, Ph.D. discovered the opiate receptor and authored the book Molecules of Emotion. In her newest book Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d, Dr. Pert synthesizes her knowledge of peptides ("molecules of emotion"), the psychosomatic nature of the bodymind, and her personal journey from traditional, governmental scientist to a (self-proclaimed) "New Age diva".

The reason peptides are molecules of emotion, says Dr. Pert, is because substances that are found in the emotion center of the brain are also found throughout the entire body. While the popular Western model propagated both the myth of the blood/brain barrier, as well as the idea that the mind is in the brain, studies have shown that peptides (and hormones) are found in the brain, the organs, and bone marrow. For example, insulin is found in the brain, not just the pancreas--which opens up inquiry into whether diabetics could perhaps generate insulin from the brain center. And, because "brain chemicals" are found in cells throughout the body, Dr. Pert asserts that the "mind" is actually our entire body--which is why bodywork modalities such as massage, chiropractics, and craniosacral therapy are so effective at resolving emotional issues. After all, says Dr. Pert, cells store memories.

While Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d contains some potentially life saving information (for example, the addictiveness of sugar, and the dangers of excitotoxins such as MSG and aspartame, as well as trans fats), the title of this book is misleading. Rather than provide practical ways of putting cutting edge research into practice for the purpose of "feeling good", this book is more of a memoir of Dr. Pert's dysfunction and insecurities meshed with lecture excerpts, travelogues that read like a bad romance novel, and her clashes with her friend and co-writer Nancy Marriott. Many times throughout the book, Ms. Marriott urges Dr. Pert to "stay on track" and provide readers with practical information based on the science. Dr. Pert, growing frustrated with Nancy's exacting focus, replies "Just trust me! I'm taking the readers on a journey *with* me--and the book will write itself!"

Don't get me wrong, there's some great information and observations in this book--but other books, scientists, and spiritual teachers have covered most of it. Some of the solid, helpful tidbits include:

* "Studies have shown that rats will work as hard to receive a mouthful of sugar water as they will for an injection of cocaine!"

* "If your diet is low in fiber, and trans fats aren't carried out of your body, they can build up inside your intestinal tract, blood vessels, and brain. A full 70 percent of your brain is composed of fat, so just think about how that buildup can make you feel!"

* "Yes, it's funny how we all make up stories to describe so-called reality when incoming information hits our higher brain. And of course, we all get to create our own version of what's going on! But this is so important, this ability to either blame others or take responsibility for our actions, which are both decisions made at the level of the frontal cortex."

* "When you touch or press the body, that pressure transduces an electrical charge through the matrix. It's called `piso-electrical forces', a concept from physics 101."

* "...how you think and feel--your emotional state at any given moment--can actually impact the movement, division, and every other activity of your cells in much the same way as your internal juices and pharmaceutical drugs do. This is a central idea of my theory of emotions, that there's a physical substrate for your feelings, just as there is for the action of drugs and their effects in your body."

* "MPD is usually considered a pathological condition, but I believe that normal people like you and me have many subpersonalities, with one more dominant than the other, depending on which stimuli are influencing us."

* "Neural nets are formed by beliefs and visions, not by external data or sensory input alone."

* "The data shows that tumor progression--or regression--can be highly affected by attitude, but it's absurd New Age fascism to blame people's thought patterns for their cancer!"

As I mentioned before, Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d contains ideas found in other books--ones that are far more developed and useful. For example, the concept of different "selves" is not new (see Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss and the Voice Dialogue work of Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone) while the power of the present moment has been popularized by Eckhart Tolle. The idea of "making up stories" is present in Toltec spirituality (e.g. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz) and The Work by Byron Katie (Loving What Is).

I admit, I had to literally *force* myself to read this book. (Why? Because I wanted to review it and I won't review books I don't read cover to cover.) I found the "romantic" dialogue describing clothing and her surroundings at various spas and gatherings to be irritating, as well as her "name dropping" and personal chronicles of dysfunction and relationship dramas (her father whom she discovered in bed with a blonde bimbo as a child, her husband, her co-workers, her son, her co-author...). Also, I was exhausted just *reading* about her over-achieving nature to always be the "best" in everything and trying to prove her worth (perhaps even to her readers)!

Some of her contradictions seem borne of guilt or from enmeshment in "the system" (First Chakra fear of ostracization from colleagues and/or lack of funding from governmental medical institutions?). For example, on page 82, she tries to use science to justify leaving kids in daycare due to the "demands of work" by saying that "human children have evolved naturally to spend hours each day with each other, as well as caretakers other than their moms, and I always felt quite content to leave my kids at well-run day-care centers." This didn't ring true to me and I actually wrote in the margin "Does she feel guilty?" Lo and behold, she confesses to sending her *son* into therapy but admits he was the most emotionally adjusted of the whole family. In fact, when talking about "restoring our mother/child bond" on page 205, she says "Part of my attachment came from my awareness that throughout his young life, he'd suffer from a lack of attention as Michael and I pursued our Peptide-T dramas, something I saw happening only in hindsight." Bingo.

Speaking of Peptide-T, the AIDS drug her and her husband are working on marketing, much of Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d reads like an appeal for funding for this drug and its dissemination. While this is noble, it doesn't have much to do with the proposed title or topic of this book.

Everything You Need to Feel Go(o)d fills in some of the (many) gaps that are in Dr. Pert's audio series Your Body is Your Subconscious Mind (Sounds True), and even repeats some of the information found in those CDs. If you're a huge fan of Dr. Pert's and don't mind reading one woman's meandering journey towards health, sanity, and self-acceptance--cobbled together with some real science--then you'll likely enjoy this book. However, if you want "just the facts", as well as concrete ways to use the information about cannabis and opiate receptors (such as, what thoughts, actions, or foods generate the appropriate peptides to "unlock" these responses?), then you'll probably be disappointed in this book. (The Sounds True audio Your Body is Your Subconscious Mind is a bit better at explaining peptides and the bodymind as a field of energy, although those CDs leave something to be desired, too). While Dr. Pert may be an accomplished researcher, she isn't an effective teacher. However, her attempts at transparency and authenticity are certainly admirable.

If you're feeling depressed, anxious, or sluggish and want to read actual science about brain chemistry *combined* with practical suggestions and protocols for physical and psychological health, then you're better off getting the book The Chemistry of Joy by Henry Emmons, M.D. or Lynne McTaggart's excellent new book The Intention Experiment.

If you want to skip the science altogether, but still want to explore how to deconstruct negative emotional habits and create healthier ways of emoting for overall well-being, then you may want to try Your Destiny Switch: Master Your Key Emotions, and Attract the Life of Your Dreams by Peggy McColl (also by Hay House).

Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

I couldn't put this book down and it's been a while since that happened. This book has a lot of great content to it (I was nervous by the simple sounding title that it woud be another fluffy feel good book where they tell you if you smile you'll feel good and you leave with no real new information). But Candace Pert doesn't play that fruit-tart game. A true scientist, she gives gives accurate and researched answers to many of the questions she's been asked over the many years from aspartame to releasing trauma through bodywork to peptide T for HIV. The book isn't a compilation of lists but weaves the information through in a narrative style so it's very enjoyable reading (as I said - it's the first book I really didn't want stop reading in a while). I first head about Candace through a friend who had her meditation/relaxation/feel good CD "Psychosomatic Wellness" so I bought it from her website too because my friend was so amazd by it -- and it is great! I was SO EXCITED when I read the part of the book that explained the science behind the CD!! I'm rambling now...but I just think this book is great! I highly recommend her CD too -- it's so effective (I don't know why Candace Pert doesn't have "Psychsomatic Wellness" on Amazon - but everyone should buy it because it's priceless and goes great with the book). Anyway, I hope this is helpful to some of you out there in InternetLand....

I loved Dr. Pert's previous book, The Molecules of Emotion. I was thrilled to hear this new book was being released and couldn't wait to get a copy. The title of this book made bold promises, but I was disappointed to find that it failed miserably to deliver. I expected a book that would outline activities or exercises to practice the art and science of feeling good and finding one's self in the presence of God in a present-moment way. The book offered neither, but rather, rambled on and on, outlining Ms. Pert's own life's journey in an in-your-face sales-pitch "I got it, you should too" presentation that only flaunted, and failed to ever really teach.

Ms. Pert's discussions on dietary health and wholeness were limited and contradictory at best. If you want real data backed by science in this area, I suggest the writings of Dr. John McDougall (especially the McDougall Plan and The McDougall Program), John Robbins, and particularly T. Colin Campbell's China Study.

Little concrete information was really offered in the practice of "feeling good." If you want practical information and a firm plan that promises results in this area, Dr. Laurel Mellin's The Pathway does more than deliver on such promises.

Recovery from trauma was mentioned, but never really addressed in a practical manner. Dr. Peter A. Levine's Waking the Tiger and Healing Trauma give deep insights and practical attacks for freedom.

God was promised in the title, but barely even mentioned in the text of the book, most notably almost as an afterthought in the epilogue. Practitioners of energy healing arts were given far more press than was God. If it's God you're seeking, the works of Dan Allender (The Cry of the Soul, To Be Told), John Eldredge (The Sacred Romance, The Journey of Desire, Waking the Dead), Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel) and the Scriptures will serve you far, far better in the desire for God.

The photograph on the back cover of this book does not appear to be that of someone who is has mastered health and happiness and is living in the presence of God, but rather, that of someone struggling in all of these areas.

I wish Dr. Pert well and no harm, but I have to say I'm completely disappointed in this book.

Where on earth did she get the title for this book? When her co-writer Nancy Marriott got into a discussion with her about the book having no direction other than being a dialogue about her travels and the many conferences she's spoken at I couldn't have agreed more. Dr. Pert informs us that eventually her co-writer saw that Dr. Pert was the one who really knew how to write the book. I was amazed that she needed to be informed by a "healer" that she had deep insecurity issues, I could have told her that after reading the first 100 pages of the book. How many times does she tell us she's a "diva", about the important people she's interacted with and always trying to impress us with how famous she's become after appearing in the movie "What the Bleep....!?"

She should have listened to Nancy Marriott and written a book with more information and less personal stories that try to impress the reader. Too much discussion on her Meditation CD and her work on Peptide T which makes the reader feel like they're reading an infomircial for her products and research.

While I do believe that she is very knowledgeable on her subject and has a lot of information to share, she does a very poor job of dispensing it in this particular book.

After listening to an interview with Dr. Pert, I was curious to learn more about her research regarding molecules of emotion and bought this book. I'm sorry I did - the interview would have sufficed. I agree with the other one-star reviews - the book is mostly about Dr. Pert's personal/professional issues, and that is NOT why I bought this book. As a reader, I got the feeling the author didn't really want to write this book and was somehow trying to squeeze it into her hectic life. There are interviews with Dr. Pert you can listen to on the web (brainsync.com, hayhouseradio.com). I suggest you listen to them first before you buy this book.

Yes - Completely disappointed and sentiments exactly with D. Peterson, C. Carol. This is really just notes that Pert could use one day for her Biography, and the constant references to her co-author bugging her to finish the book makes one feel like producing the book was a complete drag and annoyance which doesn't make the reader feel particularly good either! I saw Pert on Larry King and in the film "What the ..." and immediately wanted to learn more about certain subjects she raised but didn't explain or even mention God much in the book, aside from how they came up with the title of the book. No reason to duplicate others' reviews -- don't bother with this one and go on to the other book recommendations, believe me!

I am a big fan of Candace Pert's science. I couldn't put the "Molecules of Emotion" down. This book was a big disappointment and I didn't finish it. She crosses into the realm of the spiritual but in doing so, takes some big leaps in logic. I was unable to leap with her. I guess I wanted more of the science of mind/body. I also found her to be a little too full of herself in this book.

Like many of the reviewers before me have stated, I would have to agree that this book is really about Candace and her personal journey to feel good. While I did find that interesting, I found little in the book to actually help me feel good, which was the reason I purchased the book in the first place. I did get tired of the name dropping, patting herself on the back, mentioning how popular she is, and the constant mention of Peptide T. If this had been advertised as a personal journey I would have been less disappointed in the content.

This was an interesting book to read, but it sure didn't give the reader everything you need to know to feel good or God. It was more of a daily journal with experiences that Candace had, such as massage or guided imagery. If you're looking for a book that gives specific direction, this is not it. This is the meanderings of one person (granted, very smart) and what she's tried as far as different modalities of self realization. And God? He's mentioned a few times, but this book is really 'All you need to know about Candace Pert'. Interesting, but not real helpful.

Dr. Candace Pert's book, Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Bodymind Medicine, was a best-seller but it was her appearance in the film, "What the Bleep Do We Know?", that really boosted her popularity as a seminar-circuit science diva. "Mind over matter" is an expression we sometimes use; Dr. Pert has come to believe that "mind becomes matter." As a psycho-pharmacologist who has done her own leading-edge research, Dr. Pert understands the mind-body connection "as a widely distributed psychosomatic network of communicating molecules."

With the assistance of friend Nancy Marriot, who helps her stay still for a few moments at a time, Dr. Pert has written a book that is accessible and full of helpful, healthy advice. Included are her laboratory discoveries and notes from the road, which add lightness, background and humanness to the scientific details. Those scientific details, though, are reassuring. Thoughts and emotions can make us sick or heal us. As an "expert on the biochemistry of how we feel," Dr. Pert believes emotions link us "as physical entities to the divine, making it possible for us to both feel good and feel God at the same time."

In a chapter section called "Receptor-ology 101", Dr. Pert describes the biochemistry that makes up the new-paradigm physiology. The receptor and the ligand (hormones, neurotransmitters and peptides) are the two components that make up the bodymind communication system and are what Dr. Pert calls the "molecules of emotion".

As a writer who engages in various forms of bodywork, including network chiropractic recommended by Dr. Pert, I can relate to and very much agree with what she writes under the heading of "Emotion and Memory." She refers to "core emotional trauma," a term used by some psychologists and healers for buried and painful emotions from the past. "The point of therapy--including bodywork, some kinds of chiropractic, and energy medicine--is to gently bring that wound to gradual awareness, so it can be reexperienced and understood. Only then is choice possible, a faculty of your frontal cortex, allowing you to reintegrate any disowned parts of yourself; let go of old traumatic patterns; and become healed, or whole."

In a chapter entitled, "Toxicity, Mood, and Food," Dr. Pert points out the ramifications of the artificial sweetener aspartame. Her own review of the literature supports "a policy of zero tolerance." The chapter also includes information about inflammation, which shows up in many diseases, most commonly arthritis. While she includes mention of supplements such as bromelain, she also reminds readers that the language we use about our ailments affects the condition. If you say you have a "bad knee," you are "dooming your mind to produce the painful symptoms over and over again." Forgiveness, studies have shown, is helpful for reducing inflammation. Most importantly, a forgiveness of oneself.

Dr. Pert also espouses the healing benefits of music as it can interact directly with your molecules of emotion "to charge you with energy, get your juices flowing, and make you feel good." Throughout the book, she refers to the ongoing work she and her husband, Dr. Michael Ruff, are doing to place their invention, Peptide T, "a nontoxic, highly potent drug for use in the treatment of AIDS," in the marketplace.

The book ends with some questions for book club discussions. It's fascinating stuff, and it's all so affirming. Many of us know of the healing that comes about as a result of positive thoughts and getting in touch with and releasing emotions. Now with the scientific backing, hopefully more people will join the "new-paradigm medicine" movement to aid their health and well-being.

Dr. Candace Pert is an internationally recognized psycho-pharmacologist who is a former Research Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine and Section Chief at the National Institute of Mental Health. She has published more than 250 scientific articles and lectures worldwide on pharmacology, neuroanatomy, and her own research on emotions and the bodymind connection. You can learn more about her work at www.candacepert.com.

by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
reviewing books by, for, and about women