A fascinating look at how the mind affects the body. Doctor and psychiatrist Jeff Rediger has long been fascinated by the phenomenon known as spontaneous remission or healing, where patients with terminal diagnoses, mostly cancer, but including other diseases, suddenly find themselves healed. Spontaneous healing isn’t well researched in the medical literature; in fact, it’s very much sidelined. Doctors who want to be taken seriously don’t delve too deeply, if at all, into these well documented cases. Since 2003, Rediger has been on a quest to discover more about spontaneous healing, starting his search in Brazil, where various wellness retreats have had impressive results. It’s important to note that not everyone who embarks on a quest of self-healing is successful. Stick with your traditional medicine is the advice of this book. Nonetheless, the cases that are presented in Cured are extensively documented and prove that people have beaten their terminal diagnoses with alternative therapies. (That is, if you believe the alternative therapies worked and weren’t some unexplained spook of nature.) Modern medicine, Cured argues, is pretty much a blunt instrument. If you pick up a bug, then bomb the body with antibiotics, even though a lot of good bacteria will get killed in the process. Rediger argues that human health is far more complex and nuanced than that, with a lot of different interlocking factors at work. He wonders why doctors don’t ask patients about their personal histories, looking for clues to poor health. Stress, loneliness, poor diet all wear down the immune system, making us susceptible to disease. People can carry around stress for years, thinking they are living normal lives, but really harboring ticking time bombs. Even a poor self-image can keep the body in a constant state of stress, not allowing it time to do the repair work it needs. All of this is backed up with cutting edge science, research and compelling personal stories. The message of Cured is fairly simple: eat right, relax and put yourself first. If you are in a loving relationship, that’s good too, and failing that, maintain friendships and be a part of your community. Alienation, stress, anxiety, poor self-worth, bad diet, all keep the body in a permanent state of defense, wearing down immunity to disease. Commonsense advice backed up with scientific research. Cured: The Power of Our Immune System and the Mind-Body Connection, by Jeff Rediger. Penguin Life. $26.99 Review by Chris Saliba Comments are closed.
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