This book examines the relationship between healing and medicine through the eyes of an academic physician who changed his interests from biomedical research to healing late in his career in medicine.
Healing is on many peoples minds today. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a host of other disruptions and disasters, many of us feel that we need healing in our personal lives, for the environment and for our planet. But healing is rarely defined and is not an accepted part of medicine in the West. This book examines the relationship between healing and medicine through the eyes of an academic physician who changed his interests from biomedical research to healing late in his career in medicine. It is based on his experiences and stories of his encounters with patients, practitioners and others for whom healing has had a particular significance, as well as his rigorous research into the subject. A central theme of the book is that modern medicine needs to be more pluralistic in its approach to health and accept that spirituality and healing techniques have roles to play alongside scientific medicine, which currently has its base in materialism alone.
Foreword by Dr. Michael Dixon, LVO, OBE, FRCGP, FRCP, Chair, College of MedicinePrefacePart One: PreparationChapter 1: Early InfluencesChapter 2: Kuwait and IraqPart Two: InvestigationChapter 3: A New Beginning and Placebo ResearchChapter 4: Learning About Energy HealingChapter 5: Some Other Healing ExperiencesChapter 6: Lourdes, Belief and HealingChapter 7: Healers and Their Clients Views of HealingChapter 8: Public Views on the Nature of HealingChapter 9: Nature Art and HealingPart Three: IntegrationChapter 10: Doctors as HealersChapter 11: Modern Medicine and HealingChapter 12: Towards an Understanding of HealingChapter 13: Epilogue
Professor Paul Dieppe BSc, MD, FRCP, FFPH is an Emeritus professor at the Universities of both Exeter and Bristol in the UK. He qualified as a doctor in 1970 and his past jobs have included Professor of Rheumatology and subsequently Director of Research and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Bristol; Director of the MRC Health Services Research Collaboration, and then Professor of Health and Wellbeing in Exeter. He has published more than 500 articles in peer review journals and authored or co-authored several medical books. He is based in Bristol, UK.
Ms. Cinder Hypki, M.S., is an artist, educator, writer and editor. Her work as a community-based artist facilitates creative expression for community building, celebration and healing through creative workshop design and public projects. She aids non-profit organizations, neighborhoods, groups and individuals in their efforts to create thriving communities and to build a sense of place, purpose and joy. Based in Baltimore USA, she has taught at Maryland Institute College of Art for nearly a decade. Recent book projects include editing Drawing in the Dark: The Art of Michael Iampieri, by John C. Wilson and authoring Far Field Farm: Stories of A Sturdy Dream.