65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I got cancer, then I got this book, and I'm glad I did!, November 9, 2003
This review is from: Getting Well Again: The Bestselling Classic About the Simontons' Revolutionary Lifesaving Self- Awareness Techniques (Mass Market Paperback)
I was recently diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and "Getting Well Again" was the first place I turned. When you get an unexpected and frightening piece of news such as I did, you need to marshal your resources and come to an understanding of what you face. Like most people, I never thought much about cancer, except that I regarded it as something dreadful and a likely death sentence. "Getting Well Again" takes you through all the questions, fears, and anxieties you have and provides constructive exercises to help you cope effectively. I cannot recommend it highly enough! By carefully reading each chapter and keeping a journal of my notes and observations, and by doing the visualizations and other exercises, I am infinitely better prepared for the challenges ahead.
The Amazon reviewer Simon Wilson, who gives the book one star, simply does not understand it. The authors never suggest that you can wish away cancer by doing simple visualizations. In fact, they are quite supportive of traditional treatments. But study after study shows that the authors, who were pioneers in the psychology of cancer, were right about the mind-body connection. Creating a loving, positive outlook toward yourself can indeed help you cure a disease or extend a remission. Those who have read Bernie Siegel's "Love, Medicine, and Miracles" know of endless accounts of such successes. It is interesting to note that Siegel's attendance at a Simonton seminar was the inspiration for his own journey into the mind-body connection in healing. I recommend his book be read in tandem with "Getting Well Again," which in turn can help you become what Siegel calls an "exceptional cancer patient" - the ones who do the best in overcoming the disease.
To sum up, I believe "Getting Well Again" is absolutely the first place to begin for anyone with a new cancer diagnosis. It is written in an intelligent, rational manner, and takes a positive approach as it encourages you to deal with some difficult issues. Be prepared to dig deep inside your soul. The reward is that you'll find plenty of hope here -- a cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence but rather a sure sign that it is time to get very serious about living. It puts everything on the table, and you have to be willing to change your habits and confront your buried emotions. This book is a journey toward self-love. The end result is a sense of empowerment as you face your disease, not to mention a happier life. Ironically, now that I have leukemia, I have never felt better. I'd give this book six stars, ten stars, even a hundred, if I could.
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44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Blame Has No Place in Healing, July 4, 2007
This review is from: Getting Well Again: The Bestselling Classic About the Simontons' Revolutionary Lifesaving Self- Awareness Techniques (Mass Market Paperback)
I am not a cancer survivor, but rather a physician interested in the mind-body connection. I have done a lot of reading in this field and am definitely a proponent of the now fairly well-established theory that the mind and body are indivisibly linked. This is good news for everyone, and means that literally all patients, with proper guidance, can be taught how to rally their mental resources to optimize their chance of recovery. This book does a good job of showing how, though (perhaps necessarily) spends nearly equal time defending it's claims with stories of healing that support its concepts.
I have one issue with this book, and it's a big one. While I wholeheartedly believe in the mind-body link, I do not believe in - nor do I support others in their belief of - a "cancer personality." In fact, the very term is loaded, in that it ascribes blame (or at least cause and effect) for one's illness squarely on the patient.
I suppose this is not surprising - there is still much that is not known about cancer - and as an "evolved" race, modern-day man is very resistant to the idea that there are still things over which we have very little control. Though well-intentioned, it is, nonetheless, a dangerous belief. Certainly I have seen patients who seem to fit Simonton's "cancer personality" - and I have seen just as many cancer patients who do not. And the unsettling fact remains that many, many people sporting Simonton's "cancer personality" to a tee will never develop cancer at all.
Ironically, the issue I have with this book is likely also at the heart of the book's popularity - human beings are unfailingly optimistic, and control-driven - we want desperately to believe we can control everything because to admit that we don't has terrifying implications - particularly for those currently facing the uncertainty of serious illness.
But our addiction to control has it's own problems - not least of which is that it flies in the face of acceptance, which is an essential step in coming to grips with major life change. Acceptance of illness does not mean accepting the inevitability of death from disease, but it does mean releasing ourselves from blame and guilt. We are all doing the best we can, all imperfect, all flawed. If disease were really caused by personality faults - even the specific ones described - we would all be doomed.
Boring and depressing though it may be to hear, cancer is probably "caused" more by genetics and environment than we want to believe. Ironically, the single biggest contributing factor to many cancers likely remains our own choices - lifestyle choices such as smoking, drugs, alcohol, unsafe sex, a poor diet and lack of sleep and exercise that we know with certainty place stress on our bodies and predispose us to all kinds of disease. Our mental attitude definitely is a part of that, and I do believe that stress can impair the healing process - and perhaps even in some cases, cause illness. But I don't believe it is at the heart of why most people get ill.
This is a valuable book which does guide patients in taking responsibility for their healing. My issue is that I think it unfairly ascribes responsibility (and blame) to the patient for becoming ill in the first place.
However, because I think this book remains a real resource to cancer patients, I do not want to give it less than three stars - I am not a cancer patient, and I would not want to be responsible for someone with cancer skipping over what for them, may be a potentially helpful resource. Illness, and especially uncertainty, are dark companions, and people need to follow their hearts as well as their minds in finding their way through difficult times. Take the good this book has to offer - but leave behind the blame. It has no place in your journey back to health.
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50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a book for all those interested in health, November 22, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Getting Well Again: The Bestselling Classic About the Simontons' Revolutionary Lifesaving Self- Awareness Techniques (Mass Market Paperback)
(some details corrected in book list, 12/ 23/'03)
Books like these should never be used as a substitute/replacement for formal medical care. Yet anyone who knows anything about health, knows of the power of mind to heal body. They also know that you keep all your options open, whilst never casting caution to the winds, surrendering obliviously to any sort of passing faddism.
Simonton's book is the best over-all guide to mind-body healing I have seen, and I am as contemptuous of unproven 'alternatives' and new-age drivel as anyone.
Yet, Simonton's isn't the only volume for your health bookshelf. His book recommends others for the average reader.
I might also suggest you add a few others:
- cancer-survivor Louise L. Hay, "Heal Your Body";
- Shakti Gawain's basic "Creative Visualization," useful if somewhat 'new-agey';
- Thomas Cleary's recent "Taoist Meditation"(not just for Taoists by a longshot);
- Joel Goldsmith's older "The Art of Spiritual Healing," now in trade paperback;
- Bernard Hollander MDs' classic, "Hypnosis and Self-Hypnosis";
- Yogi Ramacharaka's older "Science of Breath," not to be ignored becuase of the authors' name or because of the strange title;
Rama Prasad's "Nature's Finer Forces" if you're getting even more ambitious about breathing;
- Franz Alexander "Psychosomatic Medicine."
- Henry Bieler MD, "Food Is Your Best Medicine"
- everything you can get your hands on by Carlton Fredericks.
- Michael Saso, "The Gold Pavilion," the safest book I know of to begin working with oriental alchemy, relaxation, visualisation and breathing techniques useful for health and well-being, mental or physical;
-Israel Regardie, "The Art of True Healing," useful for health, relaxation, rhythmic breathing, and a score of other purposes, healing alot of areas of your life (see reviews;)
-everything by Karen Horney (yes, psychology has alot to do with physical health;)
-Carl Jung, "Two Essays on Analytical Psychology," alot more useful that it sounds, everyone should read it and have it around for re-reading;
- anything by Theodore Reik, paricularly "Listening With the Third Ear," and any other good psychology writers (Erik Erikson, Otto Fenichel) you may find, and that come highly recommended.
- and, so little mentioned by new agers, tho they are oft in her debt (directly or indirectly), Emma Curtis Hopkin's classic 'Scientific Christian Mental Practice,' in spite of awkward title and slightly difficult text, has taught me more of spirit healing than any other book I have read.
There are others. There are some volumes by Israel Regardie, now out of print, that speak quite excellently to the issues of relaxation, rhythmic breathing, etc., with regards to health. It would be nice to see these re-issued. In the meantime, Regardie's "Art of True Healing" may prove useful to many. There are also Regardie's useful discs/tapes that discuss body 'awareness,' relaxation, and rhythmic breathing - all of which may be much more useful than they intitially seem to the uninitiated or casual onlooker.
These books should sit on your shelf next to your more traditional health books, like Andrew Weil, Bernie Siegel, and any of the many standard health guides, usually bulky,
like those from Rodale Press /Prevention, and others (Harvard Medical School bulky general guides, etc.)
Conventionality should not, always and universally, be regarded as poison. Neither should 'alternatives' always be regarded as 'channelled sacred messages from beyond.' A wholesome smorgasbord of reliable outlooks and perspectives are what one is after.
Remember, its a broad outlook on health, lifestyle and its influences, and psychological effects on health, that we seek. Simonton's book, for example, is useful for this. Yet trends, fashions, 'magic healers,' quacks, and high-falutin' theories need to be seen for what they are, when considering health issues. Since "Fanaticism is above all to be eschewed," says Regardie, one should also be in the care of a competent, reputable, and reliable physician.
Its your health. Take the upper hand in your own health. You are responsible. Dont mess around. Dont fall for the tricks, dont believe the hype, use your cautious common sense. You're all grown up now.
It is usually foolish to do anything entirely on one's own hook. This is especially true in the area of health and medicine. This is so even for those who insist that 'if you want anything done right, do it yourself.' Individualism has its limits, like anything else.
One is best off with a balanced view. An overall health-orientated lifestyle is best. I would not forego the use of adaquate diet, vitamins, rest, moderate exercise, psychotherapeutic counseling, and a balanced lifestyle free of negative influences whether of person or place. Yet I wouldn't sacrifice my health on the altar of some frenzied, poorly considered 'alternatives' either. The overall dedication of oneself to a therapeutic lifestyle that anticipates future difficulty while dealing with the present, and considers the vast array of options, is the best approach. Believe me, there are worse ways to spend ones' time.
Simonton's book fills the bill and answers a need, if put in proper perspective. It should be read also by those who have no real health problems at the moment, to enrich a disease-preventative understanding. (Plan Ahead!)
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