Mind-Body Column – Intro
‘Mind-Body’ texts are written mainly for healthcare providers but also for broad public. These texts are intended to let readers each time again reflect for a while about psyche-related subjects in an intriguing way. Philosophical now and then and nevertheless also with concrete relevance to medical practice.
The basic idea is that in medical thinking and acting we are at the beginning of a pivoting era. We are entering a period in which mind-body unity plays a central role. This has an influence upon almost any aspect of medicine. The ‘deeper side of human being’ (not the Freudian way of looking at the subconscious!) comes more than ever to the forefront. These texts are thus no rumination of what already has been told dozens of times. Each time again the pursuit is ‘rationality with depth’.
The texts do not have the endeavor to give a complete picture of a certain field each time but to let the reader stand still and reflect for a little while, in the hope that this may eventually help a lot of patients.
Related Posts
22. Empathy in 1, 2, 3 – Part 1: ‘Silence’
Silence is the mental space in which the patient may be him/herself. Harsh destination In a previous column, you could read about the importance of empathy. [see: “Empathy: What it Was, Is and… Will Be?“] An empathic doctor does not need to be convinced of that. A non-empathic doctor does, because for him it is, Read the full article…
2 The Link Between Yawning and a Painkiller
The placebo effect is substantial AND we do not have to deceive the patient for it. Someone yawns. Seeing this, someone else gets an urge to yawn. Or someone (you perhaps?) reads about yawning and already feels an urge towards it. A well-known phenomenon. But what is the cause of it? There can only be Read the full article…
13. Voodoo There, Voodoo Here
100% rationality IS 100% humanity. Gods and goddesses In the 6th year of my med school I did a five-month internship in Salvador Da Bahia, Brazil. Very interesting and also very significant for the ‘sensitive’ guy I was at the time. For many reasons. Among other things because of the contact with Candomblés, a Voodoo Read the full article…