The Medical Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy
We all know that intimacy improves the quality of our lives. Yet most people don't realize how much it can increase the quality of our lives -- our survival.
In this New York Timesworld-renowned physician Dean Ornish, M.D., writes, "I am not aware of any other factor in medicine that has a greater impact on our survival than the healing power of love and intimacy. Not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery."
He reveals that the real epidemic in modern culture is not only physical heart disease but also what he calls spiritual heart disease: loneliness, isolation, alienation, and depression. He shows how the very defenses that we think protect us from emotional pain are often the same ones that actually heighten our pain and threaten our survival. Dr. Ornish outlines eight pathways to intimacy and healing that have made a profound difference in his life and in the life of millions of others in turning sadness into happiness, suffering into joy.
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Many people know Dean Ornish as the doctor who proved that symptoms of heart disease can be reversed with a regimen of a low-fat diet, exercise, and stress reduction. In Love & Survival, he concentrates on the less tangible aspects of a healthful life. Through anecdotes and dozens of scientific studies, Ornish demonstrates that personal intimacy and other aspects of emotional well-being--all the elements that make up what we call "love"--are as important to our physical condition as to our mental health. Not only do these positive emotions motivate us to make better lifestyle choices, Ornish argues, they also have a powerful direct effect on our bodies, giving us stronger immune systems, better cardiovascular functioning, and longer life expectancies. But the benefits of opening our hearts to others go beyond curing our bodies of disease; it's also the first step toward healing our entire lives.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
With best-sellers on reducing stress and modifying diet to alleviate and reverse the effects of physical heart disease to his credit, Ornish now tackles "emotional and spiritual heart disease," the remedy for which consists of "love and intimacy." Ornish argues that affection is crucial to health with research findings as well as clinical-anecdotal evidence. The second of six fat chapters presents studies demonstrating that those who give and receive love are healthier than those who don't; this is intriguing and persuasive testimony that many may find squares with common sense. Succeeding chapters present the anecdotal evidence, beginning with Ornish's account of his own life-reversal (at 40, he found he was far better at giving than living his own advice) and continuing with advice on behaving and speaking so as to foster love, the story of a middle-aged physician (Ornish's patient) learning to heal his heart disease by coming to terms with anger, and the massive final chapter's interviews with other physicians and healers about their experience with the healing powers of love. Ornish conceives love broadly, bringing in the love of God as well as of mate, family, and friends, and he presents commitment as crucial to loving relationships, especially marriage, although his is a sadder-but-wiser perspective on matrimony than the never-divorced Catherine M. Wallace's in Fidelity (reviewed in this issue). With interviews in all media, a PBS documentary, a lecture tour, and a food-line launch accompanying publication, Love & Survival bids fair to be this year's Eight Weeks to Optimum Health. Ray Olson--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, where he holds the Safeway Chair. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Ornish received his medical training in internal medicine from the Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He received a B.A. in Humanities summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin, where he gave the baccalaureate address. For the past 30 years, Dr. Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease, without drugs or surgery. Recently, Medicare agreed to provide coverage for this program, the first time that Medicare has covered a program of comprehensive lifestyle changes. He recently directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes may stop or reverse the progression of prostate cancer. His current research is showing that comprehensive lifestyle changes may affect gene expression. He is the author of five best-selling books, including New York Times bestsellers Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease, Eat More, Weigh Less, and Love & Survival. He writes a monthly column for both Newsweek and Reader's Digest magazines. The research that he and his colleagues conducted has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, Circulation, The New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Cardiology, and elsewhere. A one-hour documentary of their work was broadcast on NOVA, the PBS science series, and was featured on Bill Moyers' PBS series, Healing & The Mind. Their work has been featured in all major media, including cover stories in Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report. Dr. Ornish is a member of the boards of directors of the U.S. United Nations High Commission on Refugees, the Quincy Jones Foundation, and the San Francisco Food Bank. He was appointed to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and elected to the California Academy of Medicine. He is Chair of the Google Health Advisory Council, Chair of the PepsiCo Blue Ribbon Advisory Board, and Chair of the Safeway Advisory Council on Health and Nutrition and consults with the CEO of McDonald's to make more healthful foods and to provide health education to their customers in this country and worldwide.He has received several awards, including the 1994 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the University of Texas, Austin, the University of California, Berkeley, 'National Public Health Hero' award, the Jan J. Kellermann Memorial Award for distinguished contribution in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention from the International Academy of Cardiology, a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association, the Beckmann Medal from the German Society for Prevention and Rehabilitation of Cardiovascular Diseases, the 'Pioneer in Integrative Medicine' award from California Pacific Medical Center, the 'Excellence in Integrative Medicine' award from the Heal Breast Cancer Foundation, the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement, a U.S. Army Surgeon General Medal, and the Bravewell Collaborative Pioneer of Integrative Medicine award. He is listed in Who's Who in Healthcare and Medicine, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World.Dr. Ornish was recognized as 'one of the most interesting people of 1996' by People magazine, featured in the 'TIME 100' issue on integrative medicine, and chosen by LIFE magazine as 'one of the fifty most influential members of his generation.' About Art SmithArt Smith, chef, award-winning author and television personality, has brought back meaning and symbolism to the word 'table' and has united families and friends through the sharing of a meal.The 2002 James Beard Award winner for his first cookbook, Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family (Hyperion, 2001), Art is also the recipient of the prestigious 2001 Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the category, 'For its Human Values.' Art's second cookbook, Kitchen Life, was recently awarded the 2004 Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the category of 'Best Family and Children's Cookbook.' Art is a National Bestseller and a New York Times Bestseller. A native of Jasper, Florida, Art began his career with two internships at The Greenbrier Resort. He was then selected to attend the prestigious Walt Disney Magic Kingdom College Program in Florida. Following graduation, Art took a position as executive chef at the Florida Governor's Mansion where he worked for Governor Bob Graham, now a U.S. Senator, and his wife, Adele. Art has run his own restaurant and has cooked for families all over the globe, including politicians and celebrities. After traveling extensively through Europe and Africa as a family chef, Art took a position as chef on the American European Express Train. Once settled in Chicago, he began a career in teaching and has served as personal chef to Ms. Oprah Winfrey since 1997. He is also a contributing editor to O magazine. Art's nonprofit organization, Common Threads, is based on his passionate belief that families (whether a family by blood or a family of friends) all share an innate desire to care for each other, regardless of culture, race, or geographic location. Art's mission is to foster a familial environment where children learn through cooking to value each other and discover universal understanding and mutual acceptance (www.commonthreads.org).Art serves on the board of directors of Kid's Cafe®, a nutrition program for children in Minneapolis. He is currently working on his third book, Our Common Thread: World Families and Food.
One of the biggest chapters in this book summarizes the studies showing how closeness to other people is good for your health. Ornish runs a clinic for people who have had a heart attack. And his clinic was the first to show that heart disease can actually be reversed. Doctors used to believe, up until very recently, that you can't reverse heart disease. You may be able to slow it down a little, but once your arteries were clogged, it was gospel that you couldn't unclog them. Ornish showed that you can. They use diet and exercise and...teaching people how to become closer to the people they love. And that increased closeness is a big part of the patient's improvement in health.
These men (usually) have a heart attack and their doctor tells them they don't have long to live. They're scared, of course. They come to Ornish's clinic and he tells them they need to learn to be close to people or they're going to die! For the first time in their lives, these men become interested in relationships!
I read Love and Survival right after reading the book, Brain Sex, where I discovered that men aren't naturally as interested in relationships as women. Even two- or three-day old babies show this difference. A female baby will look much longer at a human face than at an object. A baby boy is equally interested in objects and people. Extend that interest out over a lifetime and you have women whose lives are relationship-centered and men who don't have time for relationships because they're busy with other things. Then I read in Ornish's book what it takes for men to finally become interested in getting closer to people: The threat of death! So they get interested, and they improve their relationships, and they learn how to become close to people. Some time later they come back to Ornish and report that they are happier than they've ever been. Of course. We all know being close to people is the most important thing in the world and it's the one thing that can't be peeled away. When people are dying, on the battlefield or deathbed or in some survival situation, and they know they are going to die, the one thing people say is, "Tell my wife I love her." Or husband. Kids. The people who are close to you are what really matter. And getting close to them.
This book struck me like a revelation. I have been interested in how to get along with people and how to get people to like me and how to persuade people to my point of view, but I had never realized the value of really being close to people. I knew relationships were important but I had missed the point! This book has totally changed the way I've been interacting with people, and you know what? I've never been happier! Seriously.
Ornish gives you some good ideas about HOW to get closer to people. He gives you some practical steps to take. I'm the author of the book, Self-Help Stuff That Works, and I'll tell you something: Ornish's book contains quite a bit of stuff that works to bring you closer to the people you love.
Before reading this book I was familiar with Dr. Ornish's work with diet and exercise reversing heart disease. From that exposure he came off as being slightly fanatical and rigid to me.
Well, was this book ever a surprise! Having done a lot of work on myself emotionally and spiritually a lot of the book was already known to me, but the way Dr. Ornish ties this all together with the scientific evidence blew me away, reinforcing a lot of what I had already suspected. In addition, in my personal life it has helped my spouse and I refocus ourselves into what is important in life. It is especially interesting because as an MD we would expect Dr. Ornish to take the stance that most of us have experienced with the medical profession i.e pushing the latest pills and technical wonders and leaving the emotions and spirituality to "others" (often with a sneer).
I highly recommend this book as it can jumpstart a lot if my case is any indication. It is funny, in the book Dr. Ornish quotes the old expression "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear". This book helped both my spouse and I recognize a teacher like that in our lives and I suspect it might help others see the teacher or teachers around themselves as well:)
Especially in these days of heartache and pain after 9/11 this book is a valuable tool into healing and hope as well.
Dr. Ornish has rightly received international acclaim for his research and his publications about reversing heart disease. He has published three best selling books on this subject. He, as usual, is ahead of his field.
This book, Love and Survival, addresses the importance of the social side of heart disease. He outlines five main points about surviving heart disease without undergoing invasive medical procedures. These points are (from page 7): · Rediscovering inner sources of peace, joy, and well-being · Learning how to communicate in ways that enhanced (sic) intimacy with loved ones · Creating a healthy community of friends and loved ones · Developing more compassion and empathy for themselves and others · Experiencing directly the transcendent interconnectedness of life.
It is Dr. Ornish' reputation that compels us to buy this book. There are interesting points in the many studies he references, although a bit disjointed, nevertheless, the reader is informed and inspired.
