This fascinating book offers the first scientific proof that spontaneous recovery from terminal illness happens more than anyone suspects--against the odds, and against medical convention. The book's chorus of voices tells readers about the extraordinary powers everyone possesses, and which can be used to conquer what medicine has claimed to be unconquerable.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The authors examine cases of spontaneous recovery from terminal illness by the body's own healing systems.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
In a spectacular contribution to what is known about the mind/body connection, the authors investigate cases of remarkable recovery, offering many illuminating thoughts on the nature of healing. When the authors began their exploration of remarkable healings, certain facts became obvious: the medical community maintained an uneasy silence on the subject, andon those rare occasions when they did discuss these cases, they seemed admiring, but strangely lacking in simple curiosity, much less scientific methodology. They asked no questions, or none of the right questions. Caryle Hirshberg and Marc Ian Barasch attempt to ask all the right questions-about the lifestyles, attitudes, hobbies, intimate relationships, social support, and spiritual and religious beliefs and practices of the extraordinary men, women and children whose stories of miraculous healings they tell. In the process, they begin to discover those qualities that may be associated with healing, finding that intuition, determination, faith, even playing a musical instrument, may improve our chances of recovery. -- From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by Patricia Pettijohn
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely worth reading,
By
This review is from: Remarkable Recovery: What Extraordinary Healings Tell Us About Getting Well and Staying Well (Paperback)
As a physician who saw many people succumb to cancer during my surgical residency, I read with interest the accounts of people with documented cancers who truly underwent spontaneous remission. The authors have done their homework in researching the background for these remarkable patients, trying to come up with clues about their reasons for survival. For their research, I think it was wise to include not only those who were cured of their disease, but those who lived far longer than medical science would have predicted. By doing so, they shed light on some interesting "survivor characteristics." This book is as objective as possible about the ineffable subject of spontaneous cancer regression (or more broadly, "remarkable recoveries") as the authors try to take in all points of view (without necessarily endorsing them). Their findings were strengthened by allowing the patients, their families and physicians to tell their stories. I give this book a high mark of 9 for thoroughness of research and stimulating enlightenment; it does not receive a 10 because it does lack balance, not telling the stories of the thousand upon thousands upon thousands of people who went on special diets, did meditation or prayer, emotionally fought for their lives, and all the other things Hirshberg and Barasch discuss, yet who DIED from their cancer. The mind may be able to cause the disappearance of warts, influence irritable bowel syndrome, and play a role in the extremely rare case of spontaneous cancer remission, but the vast majority of the time, it cannot halt the progress of cancer. The book omits discussion of this all too sobering fact. Otherwise, it is good for pondering a remarkable subject.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
inspiring and encouraging,
By A Customer
This review is from: Remarkable Recovery: What Extraordinary Healings Tell Us About Getting Well and Staying Well (Paperback)
I read this book before ordering it for a friend who has cancer, because I wanted to make sure it was the kind of information she needed. I thought it was absolutely wonderful. I'm a hard-science kind of person, not skeptical at all about the mind-body connection but definitely needing proof, and I got it here. I can't imagine a person with cancer--especially one with a poor prognosis but who's determined to do her or his best to get well again--who wouldn't feel better after reading this book.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A terrific, helpful, upbeat,, and well researched book,
By
This review is from: Remarkable Recovery: What Extraordinary Healings Tell Us About Getting Well and Staying Well (Paperback)
This is a terrific book: upbeat, entertaining, well-researched, and helpful beyond words. It is filled with documented stories about patients who either recovered from incurable diseases or greatly exceeded their life expectancies. Most of the stories are about people with cancer, but some are about those with AIDS and multiple sclerosis.
The authors start by telling how difficult it has been to study their subject. They cite an article from the 60's that says that "...many clinicians have shown an unwillingness to report their cases [of remarkable recoveries] in the medical literature ... because of fear of ridicule from their peers." While that attitude is hopefully a little less prevalent today I suspect it is still very common. The authors further explain the difficulty of researching remarkable recoveries by telling how in cases that were reported, the spontaneous disappearance of the tumor was duly noted but there was no inquiry or investigation into why that happened. Hirshberg and Barasch then devote the rest of the book to exploring many different possible reasons for remarkable recoveries. Some of the explanations they consider and thoroughly explore are a mind-body mechanism, personality types, social connectivity, biological explanations, survival traits, and miracles. The authors acknowledge that most people with terminal cancers do not experience remarkable recoveries, but they add a lot of knowledge about the significant number that do, and in the process offer hope for many. I highly recommend this book to everyone with a chronic illness and also to those who love and care for and about them.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
