Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches - Hardcover

Lerner, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262121808 ISBN 13: 9780262121804

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1994

Synopsis

An overview of available choices, in treatments and living with cancer, of unconventional approaches includes imagery, massage, therapeutic touch, herbal medicines, acupuncture, spiritual healing, yoga, and others, presented with compassion and objectivity and based on extensive research.

About this title

About the Author

A Harvard graduate with a doctorate in political science from Yale, Michael Lerner was a member of the political science faculty of Yale before he moved to California. From 1988 to 1990 he served as Special Consultant to the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment for its landmark study Unconventional Cancer Treatments. He received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for his work in public health in 1983. He is currently President of the Jenifer Altman Foundation, and President of Commonweal, a health and environmental research institute that he founded in 1976 in Bolinas, California.

Reviews

In this well-researched and thought-provoking look at cancer and its treatment, Lerner argues that several alternative options hold promise and should be further explored. The author, a MacArthur Prize Fellowship recipient who has served as a special consultant to the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment for a study of alternative therapies, notes that the reasons why such alternatives are sometimes not taken seriously are as often the fault of their practitioners as of the establishment bureaucrats who categorically consider them quackery. He evaluates complementary programs--spiritual, psychological, nutritional, pharmaceutical--and also describes unconventional approaches in Japan, Germany, India, Great Britain and Canada. Make no mistake: Lerner does not advise forsaking conventional for alternative treatment. In fact, he believes that people with cancer should be under the care of an oncologist. This is a must read for people facing decisions in their cancer treatment and for anyone who cares for them.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Alternative cancer therapies tend to be more controversial than other forms of alternative medicine. Many physicians feel that by using such therapies patients may avoid or delay treatments that have been proven effective. However, both these books offer a balanced treatment of the topic. Choices in Healing is a compassionate guide that discusses the science and politics of cancer therapy and describes alternative therapies as well as the spiritual aspects of coping with the disease. Lerner, an expert on alternative and complementary cancer treatments, pulls together research on alternative approaches and provides numerous references so that patients can make their own choices. Even those who choose only mainstream therapies will appreciate this book because of its helpful tone. Patrons looking for brief descriptions of immune enhancement therapies will find them in Alternatives in Cancer Therapy. There is some bias here-Pelton, a pharmacist with a Ph.D. in psychology and holistic health, is the operator of the largest holistic health hospital in the world offering alternative therapy for cancer-but on the whole the book indicates whether treatment effectiveness is based only on anecdotal evidence. There are numerous references plus a good resource section for patrons interested in further information. Both books are recommended for public libraries. Keep Pelton's in reference and let Lerner's circulate.
Natalie Kupferberg, Montana State Univ. Lib., Bozeman
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262121808
• ISBN 13: 9780262121804
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 696