Synopses & Reviews
From a distinguished physician and medical ethicist, here is the definitive scientific investigation of the mysterious mind-body healing process. Did you know that:
- You'll heal faster after surgery if you see trees and grass outside your window than if you're looking at a brick wall.
- After asthmatic children were given vanilla aroma to use with their inhalers, their asthma eventually improved in response to the vanilla alone, even when the inhalers contained no active drug.
- Some patients who had sham angina surgery performed in a double-blind experiment showed improvements lasting six months or more, which their physicians could not distinguish from the results in patients who had had the real surgery.
- When people watched a movie showing Mother Teresa taking care of the poor in Calcutta, their bodies secreted extra amounts of salivary immunoglobulin A, a major germ-fighting chemical.
- When Japanese teenagers, who were allergic to a tree similar to poison ivy, were touched with leaves from a harmless chestnut tree, they developed severe rashes. When touched with the poisonous leaves but told they were chestnut, they had no reaction whatsoever.
- When a new medical treatment is introduced with much excitement and hope, the first patients to receive it typically show a seventy percent positive response rate, even in cases where the treatment--on more careful study-is shown to be medically worthless.
The Placebo Response, grounded in comprehensive research, presents a convincing case that we can harness our inner pharmacy for better health and healing.
Synopsis
In this provocative book, the authors combine cutting-edge research with practical advice to explore the science behind the body's "inner pharmacy" and how people can harness its power rather than relying solely on pharmaceuticals for relief and healing.
About the Author
Howard Brody, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of family practice and philosophy and director of the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences at Michigan State University. He is the author of
Placebos and the Philosophy of Medicine, The Healer's Power, Stories of Sickness, and
Ethical Decisions in Medicine. Dr. Brody resides in Holt, Michigan, with his wife, Daralyn, and their children, Sheila and Mark.
Daralyn Brody graduated from Michigan State University, worked various jobs to help support her medical student husband, and became a homemaker after the birth of her children. She has studied several forms of alternative healing.