Suchergebnisse

The political & social dynamics around unconventional or complementary & alternative medical practices has shifted from marginalization to a struggle for control of definitions & priorities. These practices have arisen because of public rather than professional or scientific interest. Conventional medicine has made significant gains in health care for acute disease, translating basic science into diagnostic & therapeutic value, & improving public health. These gains have been accompanied by high costs, depersonalization, & side effects. Complementary medicine has aligned with public preferences for more natural, lower-cost, & more holistic health care practices. Attempts to integrate the concepts & practices of complementary & alternative medicine into biomedicine present significant challenges for determining how language, funding, & standards of evidence are established. The author outlines some of the issues that arise in the struggle to integrate these practices into biomedicine & suggests some criteria for establishing priorities when funding research in complementary & alternative medicine. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 18 References. [Copyright 2002 Sage Publications, Inc.]

We provide a new perspect ve with which to understand what for a half century has been known as the »placebo effect.« We argue that, as currently used, the concept includes much that has nothing to do with placebos, confusirig the most interesting and important aspects of the phenomenon. We propose a new way to understand those aspects of medical care, plus a broad range of additional human experiences, by focusing on the idea of »meaning,« to which people, when they are sick, often respond. We review several of the many areas in medicine in which meaning affects illness or healing and introduce the idea of the »meaning response.« We suggest that use of this formulation, rather than the fixation on inert placebos, will probably lead to far greater insight into how treatment works and perhaps to real improvements in human well-being.

"Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality presents a variety of perspectives by leading thinkers on contemporary research into the brain, the mind and the spirit. This volumes aims at combining knowledge from neuroscience with approaches from the experiential perspective of the first person singular in order to arrive at an integrated understanding of consciousness. Individual chapters discuss new areas of research, such as near death studies and neuroscience research into spiritual experiences, and report on significant new theoretical advances. From Harald Walach's introductory essay, "Neuroscience, Consciousness, Spirituality--Questions, Problems and Potential Solutions," to the concluding chapter by Robert K. C. Foreman entitled "An Emerging New Model for Consciousness: The Consciousness Field Model," this book represents a milestone in the progress towards an integrated understanding of spirituality, neuroscience and consciousness. It is the first in a series of books that are dedicated to this topic."--Publisher's website