Can the mind HEALTHE BODY?
HCure
JoMarchant
Canongate€23.70 ★★★★ ★
ave you ever experienced a surge of adrenaline after being narrowly missed by a car? Felt excited just from hearing your lover’s voice? Retched at the sight of maggots in the rubbish? If so, then you’ve experienced how dramatically the workings of your mind can affect our physical body
These are instances of mind over matter that we have no problem accepting. When it comes to healthcare, however, most of us are sceptical about the extent to which we can use our minds to heal ourselves.
Ms Marchant is no exception, but here she explores treatments involving hypnosis, visualisation and other techniques in an attempt to learn what role our thoughts, emotions and beliefs might play in the physical healing process.
Astonishingly, placebos that appear effective in easing the symptoms of conditions from asthma to autism can work even if patients know that they’re taking sugar pills – though larger pills seem more effective than smaller ones. Colour also has an impact. Blue, for example, is generally good for placebo sleeping pills.
The feeling of being cared for, Ms Marchant discovers, is an important part of any cure. And being part of something worthwhile – albeit a clinical trial – seems to help.
However, it is the stories of those driven to seek out alternative therapies that provide the book’s beating heart.
There’s Samantha, whose life was so consumed by chronic fatigue syndrome that she was suicidal before turning to a blend of cognitive behavioural therapy and physical exercise. Gareth, who has multiple sclerosis, credits meditation with making him feel better now than ever before.
At the end, we meet Tunde, a wife and mother. Having refused conventional treatment for breast cancer, she tried reiki and reflexology before finding German New Medicine, which teaches that cancer is caused by emotional conflict. She now blames herself for the illness that is killing her.
Despite this tragic example of the limitations of mind-body therapies, Cure remains an essentially optimistic book. And its message is empowering: we may not be able to heal ourselves, but we can often improve our experience of illness.