Sound Mind, Sound Body: A New Model For Lifelong Health [Paperback]

Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

In this dramatic new approach to understanding personal health, Dr. Pelletier shows how lifelong good health is far more dependent on a positive, purposeful life orientation than on aerobic workouts and rigid low-fat diets. He challenges the medical community's long-accepted focus on the "disease model" and proposes a positive new health paradigm.

Sound Mind, Sound Body examines the lives of people who are rarely ill, who manage aging successfully, or who cope extremely well with both acute and chronic illness -- and describes how they do it. Among Dr. Pelletier's fascinating findings:
-- People who overcome serious illness or physical trauma in childhood are often actually strengthened -- not debilitated -- by the experience.
-- People who enjoy a sense of belonging and a real connection with others generally pass through periods of intense stress and remain untouched by illness.
-- Altruistic work is closely related to the ability to overcome life-threatening crises and disease.
-- There is a healthy way of being ill, which can help a person manage such chronic problems as arthritis and heart disease.

In addition, Sound Mind, Sound Body offers practical, effective techniques to help anyone achieve physical, mental, and emotional equilibrium and enjoy a lifetime of optimal health.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pelletier ( Mind As Healer, Mind As Slayer ), a senior clinical fellow at the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention at the Stanford University School of Medicine, focuses much of his attention here on a Rockefeller-funded study he conducted chronicling the lives of 51 notables, among them Norman Lear, David Rockefeller and the late Norman Cousins, who he believes have enjoyed exemplary physical and mental health. The author contends that long-term health depends more on a positive orientation than on aerobic workouts or a special diet, emphasizing that no way of life can guarantee freedom from disease and disability--or can ensure longevity. To understand the meaning of health, he adds, it is necessary to broaden its definition beyond the physical. Optimal health requires an integration of physical, mental, spiritual and environmental well-being; health is an attitude comprising our basic beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. Though not all readers will be deeply interested in the health of the rich and famous, what does stand out is Pelletier's presentation of the extensive research now being undertaken to better understand the mind/body connection and its relationship to health.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

"Health is the psychological adjustment to the extraordinary experience of living life in its fullest expression." Such is a major conclusion of psychiatrist Pelletier's lengthy, detailed study of 51 outstanding individuals, most of whom stressed the importance of personal control, optimism, altruism, prevention rather than treatment, and moderation in all things--even in seeking medical care. (Indeed, most had used alternative therapies, several for prolonged periods.) Pelletier consciously emphasizes the personal element in his study, and because he strongly felt the importance of this he did not try to create a "scientific" investigation. Thus, although he mentions many books and articles for the reader to consult, he frequently sets quotations from the interviews in the context of broaching the recent literature on a particular topic. Throughout, he advances sound suggestions and techniques for the realistic improvement of personal health. William Beatty --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684802511
• ISBN-13: 978-0684802510
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,447,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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