The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine by Anne Harrington

From the Publisher

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 New York Times - Jerome Groopman

In The Cure Within, her splendid history of mind-body medicine, Anne Harrington tries to explain why we draw connections between emotions and illness, and helps trace how today's myriad alternative and complementary treatments came to be. A professor and chairman of the history of science department at Harvard, Harrington has produced a book that desperately needed to be written…In fluid prose and with the precision of a detective story, Harrington offers a taxonomy of the main narratives that we draw on to try to make sense of disease, whether they emphasize our ability to heal ourselves or more magical interventions.

Publishers Weekly

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. (Jan.)

Kathy Arsenault - Library Journal

Media celebrities like Deepak Chopra, Bill Moyers, and Wayne Dyer have popularized theories of powerful currents linking our minds, emotions, and physical bodies. In contrast, Harrington (history of science, Harvard Univ.; Reenchanted Science: Holism in German Culture from Wilhelm II to Hitler), who has spent her scholarly career exploring mind-body relationships, enlightens readers through an authoritative historical account of healers' efforts through the ages to use the mind to cure the body. From Old Testament accounts of demon possession through neurasthenia, hypnosis, psychotherapy, and biofeedback to the West's recent explorations of Qigong Chinese medicine and Tibetan meditation techniques, she here provides a fascinating tour of the many contested terrains between mind and body and science and culture. Writing stories of inexplicable healings and referencing respected scientific research studies, Harrington persuades readers of the undeniable power of the mind over the physical body. Recommended for thoughtful readers in most libraries.

School Library Journal

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. (Jan.)

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents