The Solution Lies Within Towards a New Medicine of Body and Mind

A characteristic of Western medicine and surgery on the one hand and psychiatry and psychotherapy on the other has been, until very recently, the prevalence of the Cartesian dichotomy of mind and body. It has, of course, been known for centuries that each influences the other, but that knowledge has been largely ignored in practice. Over the last decade or so, the essential dynamic unity of the human being has been more clearly and firmly established and clarified by research, especially in neurology, endocrinology, immunology and psychology. Thought, emotion and mood are mediated by the activities in all these areas and in turn influence those physical activities. They are not separate, they are one single system: mind and body are inextricably one, a dynamic unitary system. These developments are brilliantly described by Dr Janssen with, for the sceptical, exhaustive references to well-founded research in every relevant area. Western medicine has become increasingly aware, not just of the mind-body system, but of the benefits of the inclusion in Western thought of Eastern medicine and philosophy. Healers of all kinds can be found practicing in harness with orthodox medical practitioners in many countries, not least America and Europe. The door between, so firmly closed, has been edged open. This book throws it wide open. Research in the physical fields has demonstrated the reality and power of treatments usually described as `alternative' or' complementary', research which is described and discussed in detail here. Readers will learn how much their physical health is under the control or shaped by emotional and intellectual experiences and how the latter are shaped by the former with the corollary of helping them in both prevention and healing. Practitioners in medicine, surgery, psychiatry, psychotherapy and public health will find it eye-opening, guiding them more and most grave disorders. That in itself would not only improve practice and its results, but reduce the ever-swelling cost of health services. Thierry Janssen was a practicing urology surgeon at the Erasmus University Hospital of Brussels until 1998. Trained as a surgeon in Belgium, France and the United States, he holds a degree in Energy Therapies and Psychophysical Techniques from the Barbara Brennan School of Healing in Miami. Currently practicing as a psychotherapist, he collaborates with complementary and alternative practitioners and he teaches body-mind medicine at the Free University of Brussels.