Psychosomatic Delusion

Book excerpt: From the Introduction to "The Psychosomatic Delusion" "We all believe in the healing power of the mind. The idea seems so simple and appealing that we often cannot resist the temptation of blaming those who become ill and, conversely, applauding those who succeed in fighting such life-threatening illnesses as cancer....After many years of work, I have realized that it is not so simple...There is a profound and legitimate need for a different model of the relationship between stress and disease that cares for the whole patient...This book has been written with the belief that this goal is at hand, provided we are ready to accept complexity and deal with it by adopting a systems perspective of health instead of taking refuge in a fairy-land populated with fuzzy concepts such as 'stress, ' 'holistic medicine, ' and 'healing powers.'"