Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient

I just finished reading *Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient* by Norman Cousins. It's a book that I've long suggested OTHER people read because I'd heard it was amazing - but I'd never actually read it myself until now. Now that I've read it I am glad to see that I was right in recommending it to others.In the beginning of the book, Cousins tells us about the illness from which he was told by medical specialists he wouldn't be able to recover. He briefly describes how he declined to accept this medical verdict for himself, and with the support of his personal physician, set about putting into action a plan of treatment for himself which included plying himself with high doses of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and humor (Candid Camera episodes, and Marx Brothers movies).Cousins was able to recover from his illness and later wrote a story about his treatment and recovery for the New England Journal of Medicine.The remainder of the book shares communication from doctors and medical research that supports Cousins's belief that medical care is both a science and an art - and that positive human emotions play a big part in recovery from an illness. Cousins talks about the importance of a healthy doctor-patient partnership when treating disease, the part creativity and a "robust will to live" plays in longevity, and the power found in placebos. Cousins writes: "It is doubtful whether the placebo - or any drug, for that matter - would get very far without a patient's robust will to live... The placebo is only a tangible object made essential in an age that feels uncomfortable with intangibles... The placebo, then, is an emissary between the will to live and the body. But the emissary is expendable."Cousins talks about the need so many seem to have to see their doctor DOing something, and giving them something tangible to help them. But Cousins suggests there may come a time when these "tangibles" are no longer needed. As a Christian Scientist who's learned to turn immediately to the power of Love and Truth for healing, this thought really resonated with me.Near the end of the book, Cousins asks the question: "Is there a conflict at times between the treatment of disease and the treatment of human beings?" What a great question! If a doctor treats his patient as just a lump of flesh to be prodded, injected, weighed, measured, and tested then, I think, a really important part of the healing process is missing. The best doctors, to my way of thinking, are the ones who are able to listen to their patients, reassure them, provide confidence in their healing, and value them as partners in the process. In my life I have encountered several practitioners with these fine qualities. After reading Cousins's book, and the letters he included from doctors around the country, I am encouraged to believe that there is a growing number of medical physicians ready and willing to treat human beings, rather than just disease.Karen Molenaar Terrell, author of *Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist*

Somewhere in the early 80s I heard Dr. Wayne dyer discuss “Anatomy of an Illness.” As an RN who was particularly in tune with the importance of “the psychological care of the patient,“ I have always valued the importance of the mind-body connection. I’m not sure why I took so long to read this wonderful book (all things in God’s time, I guess) but in all my previous and subsequent experience, both personal and professional, I have without exception found the precepts of this wonderful book to be truth. I am eager to provide a copy to my own wonderful physicians who, I am grateful to say, all “get it.” I am convinced that one of the main reasons I never needed back surgery following a significant injury was that my orthopedic surgeon stressed right off the bat: “Remember that your body wants very much to heal itself. The goal of our treatment is to respect and support that and keep you from interfering with it by doing something stupid.” Thank you, Norman Cousins - and I love you, Dr. Chuck Nalley!

I believe he acted upon his fatal diagnosis in a shocking way. And he won against all odds. I am not sure most of us could accomplish his methods and his results. But it gives me a clue as to better ways to handle some of the hurdles we face in our own lives. Check back in with me in a few more years, please!

Everyone should read this book. My mother once told me when her cancer returned that stress can cause cancer. It returned after the loss of an important person in her life.She moved to the town I live in, and agreed to a mild form of chemo. Her other doctor had given her 6 months to live.She loved gardening, and that is what she did. The house next door came up for sale. She bought it and moved her things out of storage. She had a wonderful attitude and a new yard to transform. She lived 5 more years. What a blessing for all of us.Do yourself a favor. Read this book.

This is a publication based on the recovery Norman Cousins had in 1964 from a terminal illness.The man was kind of disappointed on his dependence on injections of foreign substances he knew were not compatible with the human organism and was convinced of the idea of the influence emotions may have on human health.Yet Cousins was aware that "laughter is the best medicine" and after serious discussion with a medic they dropped the employment of drugs and instead a technique of quasi-continuous laughter as a possible healing agent was decided upon.After leaving that hospital atmosphere with a movie projector watching the Marx Brothers and television presentations of Candy Camera conscious this was his only way to recovery he compelled himself to laugh even at some of the non-so funny gags, that twenty minutes of laughter, he says, yielded some three hours of pain free sleeping time.Norman Cousins recovery from a terminal illness has become the basis for what since 1995 are called laughter clubs all around the planet. Motivated by Cousins success a medical doctor named Madan Kataria formed the first world laughter club in India and to this day there are more than eight thousand laughing clubs in sixty five countries. After his recovery Cousins lived twenty-six additional useful years.Recommended

This book will be good to great reading for those who are sick or suffering, but disappointing for those practicing medicine or conducting research because of the length of stories told and the excessive lack of in-text references.Plenty is written on the importance of mindset, though it seems more helpful for someone who is sick or diseased. If pain is your issue, the "Managing Chronic Pain" workbook is probably a better choice (even if you're not seeing a Psych).