Healers: Extraordinary Clinicians at Work

289 Pages·2011·0.95 MB·English

by  David Schenck, Larry Churchill

HEALERS
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HEALERS
Extraordinary Clinicians at Work
David Schenck
and
Larry R. Churchill
1
1

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schenck, David.
Healers : extraordinary clinicians at work / by David Schenck and Larry R. Churchill.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-19-973538-9 (hardcover)
1. Alternative medicine. 2. Physician and patient. 3. Healing.
I. Churchill, Larry R., 1945- II. Title.
R733.S328 2011
610 — dc22
2010041077
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
David Schenck dedicates this book to
Judith, Carol, and Ed,
who taught me that healing was possible.
Larry Churchill dedicates this book, with deep
gratitude, to
Roy, Tobi, and Keith,
masters of the healing arts.
David Schenck and Larry Churchill together
off er special thanks to
the 50 clinicians whose wisdom we have sought to
refl ect in this volume.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
1. Healing in Health Care: Eight Th ings the
Best Clinicians Do 3
2. Medical Rituals: Organizing the
Healing Elements 26
3. How Healing Happens: Reports
from the Field 48
4. Healing Traditions: Th e Role of Religion
and Spirituality 87
5. Patient Perspectives: Healing from the Other
Side of the Bed Rail 129
6. Th e Biology of Healing: Neuroscience and
the Education of Healers (with Eve Henry, M.D.) 169
CONTENTS
7. Healing Th yself: Clinicians Talk about
Th eir Own Healing Practices 190
8. Ethics and Medicine: Healing the Wounds
of Fate 212
Notes 243
Index 259
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Th e authors would like to thank those who made the composition
and completion of this book possible.
For contributions to the manuscript:
John Mulder, M.D., for his willingness to let us use an unusually large
portion of our interview with him as the anchor for Chapter 3, “How
Healing Happens: Reports from the Field,” and for his willingness to
be identifi ed as the source of this critical material.
Tessa Carr, Ph.D., for making available to us her doctoral dissertation,
“Recovering Women: Autobiographical Performances of Illness
Experience,” for Chapter 5, “Patient Perspectives: Healing from the
Other Side of the Bed Rail.” Discussions with her of early drafts of this
chapter were instrumental in bringing it into its published form.
Mark Smith-Soto for permission to use his marvelous poem “Intensive
Care” in Chapter 5.
Eve Henry, M.D., who as a Vanderbilt medical student did an extensive
study of the placebo eff ect and the psychoneuroimmunology of healing
and wellness, and subsequently became our coauthor for Chapter 6,
“Th e Biology of Healing: Neuroscience and the Education of Healers.”
ix