Unfortunately, in many cases the answer to these questions is “yes.” As with all movements and revolutions, exaggeration and excess almost inevitably taint the new emphasis on mind-body medicine. Some people just get hooked on it all, and in the process spend decades toiling in the fight against deadly and serious diseases with drugs, surgery, radiation, and other modern treatments. It erases the progress made.
To be fair, this is not the fault of the authors of the aforementioned books, most of whom are suitably cautious about the extent to which mental health and healing can be expected. Rather, the primary responsibility lies with the overzealous and often poorly trained practitioners who propagate psychiatry and the medically naive readers who convey unwarranted extreme messages. These may be the same people who, when they learn that a nutrient in a certain food may protect against cancer, start consuming large amounts of that nutrient instead of eating the right foods. .
So what can we say about the plethora of books currently pushing mind over matter? A well-documented and clearly written overview of current thinking in this field (including an extensive scientific bibliography) Start with WHO GETS SICK by Blair Justice (407 pages, Jeremy P. Tarcher, $17.95). The work, subtitled “How Beliefs, Moods, and Thoughts Affect Health,” was written by a science writer who currently teaches a course on the biopsychosocial foundations of health at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. It is written by a psychologist who is also a psychologist.
Mr. Justice recognizes that there is more to disease than just germs, there is more to it than the mind. Although his book is clearly written for a general audience, it can and should have broad appeal to medical professionals as well. Because, in clear and well-documented prose, this book provides a path through the mind-body maze and an honest account of the possibilities and limitations of manipulating the mind to prevent and treat physical ailments. Because it ends with a persuasive argument. Mr. Justice’s writing is very clear and easy to understand, which is not surprising since the author was a newspaper medical reporter and science editor before becoming a psychologist.
Also a good comprehensive and detailed guide to the subject is THE HEALER WITHIN by Steven Locke and Douglas Colligan (272 pages, Dutton, $22.50; 314 pages, New American Library/Mentor, Papers, $4.95 ) is. Dr. Locke, vice director of the Psychiatric Consultation Service at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and instructor at Harvard Medical School, is a mainstream leader in behavioral medicine, maintains a scientific perspective on the issue, and He is a leader in mainstream medicine and respected in the field of behavioral medicine. The most stubborn physicalist.
