A book review: The_Cure_Within_-

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Book Review

Author: Anne Harrington Last Updated: Jan 2, 2008 - 11:11:47 AM

The Cure Within - A History of Mind-Body MedicineBy Anne Harrington Jan 2, 2008 - 11:05:24 AM

Email this article Printer friendly page“Harrington’s study offers a first-rate cultural history of an age-old but still much debated topic.” Publishers Weekly, starred review

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Scientific studies, social trends, and pop culture show that we are endlessly fascinated by the magical notion of mind over matter. News headlines claim that reducing stress leads to a stronger immune system and a longer life expectancy. There are miraculous stories of tumors disappearing with the help of visualization techniques. Accordingly, many are embracing practices such as acupuncture, yoga, and transcendental meditation. Interest in alternative sources of health and wellness indicate that even with the advances of medicine, many recognize the mind’s role in healing the body. In her new book, THE CURE WITHIN (W. W. Norton & Company; January 21, 2008; $25.95 cloth), Anne Harrington, historian and chair of Harvard’s Mind Brain and Behavior Initiative, unravels the mystery of “mind cures” – the mind’s role in healing the body and the notion that the mind exerts an influence on our well-being. Superbly researched, enlightening, and original, THE CURE WITHIN is the first cultural history of mind-body medicine. Beginning in the early days of Christianity, when notions of possession dominated the church and medicine, Harrington moves to the secularized mind cures of Freud’s psychoanalysis, explores the deep-seated Christian roots of our modern self-help vernacular, and probes today’s designer blending of Eastern and Western wellness medicines. Harrington reveals the deep historical and cultural roots that underlie our notions of healing. She chronicles faith and religion’s historical role in curing illness from early Christian times, to the 17th and 18th century exorcisms sanctioned by the church as an effective treatment for what was deemed “demonic possession,” to the persistence of religion today in more modern examples of faith-healing, including pilgrimages to sites such as Lourdes and the laying in of hands. She traces the origin of the power of positive thinking to Baker Eddy, the 1879 founder of The Church of Christ, Scientist, whose advocacy of spiritual healing above medicinal treatment remains the accepted doctrine of today’s Christian Scientists. Harrington also explores secular influences on mind-body healing—from Freud’s techniques for curing illness and hysteria to today’s stress management and visualization techniques popularized by figures likes Dr. Herb Benson, whose ground-breaking study of Transcendental Medicine sparked a tremendous interest in spiritual and holistic health practices. Both religion and science have something to say about the seemingly real effects of the mind’s role in shaping, harnessing, and controlling disease. Harrington expertly navigates historical cases that demonstrate these influences, punctuating her story of psychosomatic medicine with an examination of neuroscience’s role in confirming the influence of mind over body. THE CURE WITHIN is an absorbing, enlightening investigation of our cultural notions of mind cure from ancient times to the present. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Anne Harrington is Harvard College Professor for the History of Science, specializing in the history of psychiatry, neuroscience, and the other mind sciences. Also a visiting professor for Medical History at the London School of Economics, she is the author of Reenchanted Science and the editor of The Placebo Effect and the The Dalai Lama at MIT. Currently she serves on the Board of the Mind and Life Institute, an organization dedicated to cross-cultural dialogue between Buddhism and the sciences. She lives in Watertown, Massachusetts. TITLE: THE CURE WITHIN: A History of Mind-Body Medicine AUTHORS: Anne Harrington PUBLICATION DATE: January 21, 2008PRICE: $25.95 clothPAGES: 354 ISBN: 978-0-393-06563-3www.HealthNewsDigest.com