The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine

by Anne Harrington

Overview

"A splendid history of mind-body medicine...a book that desperately needed to be written." —Jerome Groopman, New York Times

Is stress a deadly disease on the rise in modern society? Can mind-body practices from the East help us become well? When it comes to 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 cultural history describes mind-body healing as rooted in a patchwork of stories, allowing us to make new sense of our suffering and to rationalize new treatments and lifestyles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393333978
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	02/16/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	338
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Anne Harrington is the Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science and faculty dean of Pforzheimer House at Harvard University. She is the author of four books, including Mind Fixers and The Cure Within. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     9
Introduction: Stories, Science, and Culture Under the Skin     15
The Power of Suggestion     31
The Body That Speaks     67
The Power of Positive Thinking     103
Broken by Modern Life     139
Healing Ties     175
Eastward Journeys     205
Conclusion: Making Sense of Mind-Body Medicine     243
Notes     257
Select Bibliography     299
Index     323

Editorial Reviews

"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

"Splendid…Harrington's study offers a first-rate cultural history of an age-old but still much debated topic."— Publishers Weekly, starred review

From the Publisher

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.
—The New York Times

Jerome Groopman