Lays bare the history behind mind-body healing.
People suffering from serious illnesses improve their survival chances by adopting a positive attitude and refusing to believe in the worst. Stress is the great killer of modern life. Ancient Eastern mind-body techniques can bring us balance and healing. We’ve all heard claims like these, and many find them plausible. When it comes to disease and healing, we believe we must look beyond doctors and drugs; we must look within ourselves. Faith, relationships, and attitude matter. But why do we believe such things? From psychoanalysis to the placebo effect to meditation, this vibrant history describes our commitments to mind-body healing as rooted in a patchwork of stories that have allowed people to make new sense of their suffering, express discontent with existing care, and rationalize new treatments and lifestyles. These stories are sometimes supported by science, sometimes quarrel with science, but are all ultimately about much more than just science.
The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Over the past several years, numerous medical reports have confirmed the connection between a positive mental attitude and good physical health. In this splendid book, Harrington (The Placebo Effect), chair of Harvard's history of science department, demonstrates that the belief in such a connection between mind and body is nothing new. She uses case studies and stories of healings to show how deeply embedded the idea of positive mental health is in the quest for physical health, as well as the ways that contemporary medicine has incorporated a focus on mind-body healing into its black bag. In her highly original analysis of this history from ancient times to the present, she discovers six different narratives about mind-body healing. These include the power of suggestion, the power of positive thinking and broken by modern life. In the body that speaks narrative, for instance, Harrington traces the idea that physical symptoms are the outward expression of the mind's secrets, and that revealing those secrets can heal, whether the revelation takes place in the confession box or on the analyst's couch. Harrington's study offers a first-rate cultural history of an age-old but still much debated topic.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Harrington...has expertly mapped the transmission of mind-body ideas...showing us where they come from and why exactly they seem to have nine lives.” (Amanda Schaffer - Slate )
“This brilliant study ... concludes that 'mind-body medicine is a deeply storied world.'” (Barbara Fisher - Boston Globe ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
“This brilliant study ... concludes that 'mind-body medicine is a deeply storied world.'” (Barbara Fisher - Boston Globe ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
53 of 63 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Whenever a first-class scholar, like this one, writes a careful, data-based book, which is at the same time accessible to the intelligent lay person, we must be grateful.
This volume tells us much of the history, in the United States, of the various mind-over-body schemes: psychoanalysis, Transcendental Meditation, bio-feedback, Christian Science, and others. Nobody interested in modern American history can afford to ignore this story.
But I also found the book profoundly confusing. The author wants to tell us about these movements and how they were received by the public, but she has little interest, it seems, in the truth value behind the claims of these popular movements. Does bio-feedback, for instance, really help in reducing stress ? For that matter, is there such a thing as "stress" in the sense that the proponents of these movements have in mind ? Truth or untruth are things that hold little interest for this author.
Harrington generally tells the story of the beginnings of these movements as a series of successes, and then, for some reason, time and again, "things begin to unravel," as she has to state time and again. With all her sympathies for "mind-over-body," sympathies that dominate her "narratives" (a favorite phrase of hers), it turns out, generally, and in stark contrast to her enthusiasms, that things don't work out after all, and it would seem -- though she never says this -- that it's probably best to be cynical about the whole lot of these movements.
This volume tells us much of the history, in the United States, of the various mind-over-body schemes: psychoanalysis, Transcendental Meditation, bio-feedback, Christian Science, and others. Nobody interested in modern American history can afford to ignore this story.
But I also found the book profoundly confusing. The author wants to tell us about these movements and how they were received by the public, but she has little interest, it seems, in the truth value behind the claims of these popular movements. Does bio-feedback, for instance, really help in reducing stress ? For that matter, is there such a thing as "stress" in the sense that the proponents of these movements have in mind ? Truth or untruth are things that hold little interest for this author.
Harrington generally tells the story of the beginnings of these movements as a series of successes, and then, for some reason, time and again, "things begin to unravel," as she has to state time and again. With all her sympathies for "mind-over-body," sympathies that dominate her "narratives" (a favorite phrase of hers), it turns out, generally, and in stark contrast to her enthusiasms, that things don't work out after all, and it would seem -- though she never says this -- that it's probably best to be cynical about the whole lot of these movements.
27 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Professor Harrington provides a masterful synthesis of Mind-Body Medicine. I was a skeptical chemist who spent most of his working life in the midwest before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. For five years I looked askance at the smorgasbord of alternative healing that flourishes here. Eventually a new wife persuaded me to try acupuncture for tennis elbow. I have not looked back. I claim no miracle cures but do now have the glimmerings of understanding my mind-body as a marvellously inter-connected system with endless possibilities for feedback from every sensory modality. Harrington has great understanding of the mind-body system. The rigor of her approach and the clarity of her writing style make The Cure Within both thought provoking and a delight to read.
Lance Reynolds
Alameda, CA
Lance Reynolds
Alameda, CA
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Anna Graham
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not an easy book to read, The Cure Within is nonetheless the best summary of the state of mind-body medicine around. The author is a prodigious researcher, and brings the mind of a scientist and the heart of a historian to the subject matter; she reveals how we got to our present attitude toward mind-body medicine and in the process, connects the dots from ancient times to today.
However, the book is so dense with information that after finishing it, I felt forced to read it through once more, and in doing so, picked up a great deal more than I had the first time. It's also written in a monotone, as though the author were delivering it in one long, record-breaking breath. And yet, perhaps, that might have been wise, as the style deflects any sense of sensationalism or silliness in a subject that often attracts just that from other writers.
All in all, there are few books out there that display this kind of interdisciplinary wisdom and insightful commentary. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, she is careful to avoid a point of view; would she herself prefer acupuncture to anesthesia? Would she practice meditiation or take a valium? You have to guess.
However, the book is so dense with information that after finishing it, I felt forced to read it through once more, and in doing so, picked up a great deal more than I had the first time. It's also written in a monotone, as though the author were delivering it in one long, record-breaking breath. And yet, perhaps, that might have been wise, as the style deflects any sense of sensationalism or silliness in a subject that often attracts just that from other writers.
All in all, there are few books out there that display this kind of interdisciplinary wisdom and insightful commentary. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, she is careful to avoid a point of view; would she herself prefer acupuncture to anesthesia? Would she practice meditiation or take a valium? You have to guess.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it!
This book is so insightful about how we got to the place we are as a society of illness while maintaining hope for the truth of healing.
Published 5 months ago by H. Kwiker
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointingly light on evidence
The author does a good job of sorting and classifying mind-body healing narratives, but often leaves things dangling in such a way as to make some of these very unproven ideas seem... Read more
Published on February 13, 2011 by P. Yeargin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Body is from Mars, Mind is from Venus
My method for choosing books can be summed up by a single word: serendipity. I like to give chance a chance. To be true, I have my preferences. Read more
Published on September 24, 2010 by Etienne ROLLAND-PIEGUE
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Recommend the book for anyone interested in the history of mind-body medicine and related fields.
Published on November 11, 2009 by Armando R. Neves Nt
3.0 out of 5 stars
essay-length idea tortured into a book
I was disappointed by the book. It fails to measure up to the importance and promise of its subject, and reflects a narrow viewpoint. It's not too well-written either
Published on April 25, 2009 by Thomas G. Cody
5.0 out of 5 stars
not a how to book
This book is a comprehensive and fascinating history of human experiences with mind-body medicines, attempts to understand and utilize it, as well as investigate, explain or debunk... Read more
Published on January 26, 2009 by Paulina
5.0 out of 5 stars
Science meets Mind
Allow yourself to step back and listen to the stories of our modern age evolve and witness the cure within. Read more
Published on December 16, 2008 by George Guarino
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's a great book
Anne Harrington's book is a wonderful account of how we humans keep trying to figure ourselves out, and to define, "what it means to be human. Read more
Published on May 30, 2008 by A. Pearson
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine
I love this book! Anne Harrington offers an insightful and beautifully written history of human effort at healing. Read more
Published on February 8, 2008 by Marjorie Maxwell Fernald
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works for me!
Well documented and fair book. The author does a lot to balance both sides of the issue. Having had 6 orthopedic surgeries in the last two years following an accident, I have... Read more
Published on January 26, 2008 by Elaine DiRico
