Author(s): Lerner, Michael
Publisher: MIT Press
Format:
Paperback
Overview:
Choices in Healing offers valuable
information and guidance for the whole life cycle of cancer --
from the initial shock of diagnosis to decisions about choosing
a physician and conventional therapies, selecting complementary
therapies, coping with treatment, and the art of living fully
with the possibility of recurrence. There are detailed
explanations and evaluations of a wide range of complementary
therapy programs, including spiritual and psychological
approaches, nutritional therapies, physical therapies,
pharmacological therapies, and traditional medicines from around
the world. There are sections on prayer and other forms of
spiritual healing; psychotherapy, support groups, visual imagery
and hypnosis; massage, therapeutic touch, yoga, and Qi Gong;
macrobiotic diet and other cancer diets; acupuncture and Chinese
herbal medicines; and numerous other unconventional therapies
used by American cancer patients. With an unusual combination of
compassion and objectivity, Michael Lerner describes his
conclusions following more than a decade of study of
unconventional cancer treatments in North America, Europe,
India, and Japan. He also draws extensively on his work with
hundreds of cancer patients who have participated in the
Commonweal Cancer Help Programs, the residential support program
depicted by Bill Moyers in his 1993 PBS documentary "Healing and
the Mind."
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