Health and Healing

The Philosophy of Integrative Medicine and Optimum Health

Andrew Weil

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2004
• ISBN:
  9780547527680
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Alternative & Complementary Medicine

A comprehensive handbook on alternative treatments from the New York Times –bestselling author of Mind Over Meds. In Health and Healing, Harvard-trained physician Andrew Weil explores the full spectrum of alternative healing practices available today, including holistic medicine, homeopathy, osteopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic, Chinese medicine, Shamanism, mind cures, faith healing, psychic healing, and outright quackery. He investigates what works and what doesn't, what these practices have in common, how they differ from conventional medicine, and how they can be integrated into a complete approach to healing for the twenty-first century. Health and Healing draws on Dr. Weil's vast clinical and personal experience, as well as on case studies from around the world. "Anamiable, open-minded guide to alternative systems of healing." — The New York Times "Incisive and illuminating... There is something for everyone in this book." — The Washington Post "A sound theoretical exploration, personably set forth." — Kirkus Reviews "A pioneer in the medicine of the future." —Deepak Chopra "A warm and clear-cut spectrum of health and healing. I recommend this book to all who are involved in or interested in wellness." —Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of Love, Medicine & Miracles "Read this book." —Dean Ornish, MD

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• Preface to the 2004 Revised Edition
• Treatment and Cure: The Strange Case of Homeopathy
• A Homeopathic Cure?
• Like Cures Like, and Less Is More
• Why Does Homeopathy Work?
• What is Health?
• Health as Wholeness; Wholeness as Perfection
• Health as Wholeness; Wholeness as Balance
• Ten Principles of Health and Illness
• Healing
• The Nature of Healing
• A Bewildering Array of Therapeutic Choices
• Allopathic Medicine I: Physicians and Surgeons
• Allopathic Medicine II: Materia Medica
• Allopathic Medicine III: Sins of Omission
• Some Medical Heresies: Osteopathy, Chiropractic, Naturopathy
• Chinese Medicine
• Shamanism, Mind Cures, and Faith Healing
• Psychic Healing
• Holistic Medicine
• Quackery
• What Do All These Therapeutic Systems Have in Common?
• Mind and Body
• Why Warts Fall Off
• The Placebo Response
• Medical Treatments as Active Placebos
• Powers of the Mind and the Problem of Harnessing Them
• Health and Healing in the Twenty-First Century
• What Doctors Can Learn from Physicists
• New Medicine for a New Century
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author
• Footnotes