Where Medicine Fails - Hardcover

McMahon, Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0932426379 ISBN 13: 9780932426376

Publisher: Trado Medic Books, 1986

First published in 1986, this landmark classic exposes medicine's central problem: a philosophy of dualism undergirding medical theory and practice. Unseen and unquestioned, mind-body dualism lies at the philosophical hard core of medical thought. It defines reality, dictating what can and cannot exist, making psycho-somatic events like placebo effects, wart cures by folk-healers, and blisters caused by hypnotic suggestion, insoluble mysteries. Dualism bars the existence of self-healing. Thus our potentially greatest healing resource goes unfathomed and untapped. Where Medicine Fails traces the history of this conceptual dilemma, showing the hopeless corner into which Cartesian thinking has led modern medicine. It calls for fundamental rethinking since nothing less than paradigmatic revolution will bring medicine in accord with the reality of human nature. As a sage wrote: "only he who grasps the innermost nature of man can cure him in earnest (Paracelsus, 1493-1541)."

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About the Author:

As a National Science Foundation Trainee, Carol E. McMahon earned a Doctorate in psychology from Penn State University. Supported by National Institute of Mental Health and American Philosophical Society grants she published widely in professional journals (including the American Journal of Psychology, Psychological Medicine and Medical Hypotheses), publishing the milestone WHERE MEDICINE FAILS in 1986. A new field of interest emerged with Carol's discovery of a feedback meditation method and the enlightenment breakthrough it produced. Carol's life became devoted to testing and refining the feedback method, and to crafting self-tests that gauge enlightenment, offering readers complete self-guidance. The work culminated in STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION: HOW TO RESTORE AWARENESS AND WHY YOU NEED TO. A student of Karate, Carol's teacher is contributing author Master Deac Cataldo. Carol is married; has a daughter, and holds eighth degree black belt Mastery in Karate do.

Review:

"Where Medicine Fails is the best account I have seen of the historical evolution of Cartesian thinking and the hopeless corner into which it has led modern medicine. In her incisive analysis, Carol McMahon argues that where medicine fails is not in its mechanics or details but in its philosophical core... As a physician who teaches students about medical history and philosophy, I could not agree more... McMahon identifies "mind-body dualism" as the main theoretical problem in modern medicine and traces it back to the 17th-century French philosopher Rene Descartes... McMahon is quite right to say that only a sweeping theoretical revolution can save medicine." --Andrew Weil, M.D., "Minding the Body," Social Issues & Health Review, 2, #1, 1987.

The material in Dr. McMahon's book forms a vital part of the evolution of scientific awareness...

In a masterful fashion, Dr. McMahon draws upon facts from history, biology, psychology and physics... to support her thesis. She presents sufficient evidence to shake the foundations of medicine, if it were to be confronted clearly... --Jeanne Achterberg, Ph.D.
This book should be read by everyone involved in the holistic movement, behavioral medicine, biofeedback and the self-regulation disciplines... It reveals the origins of the current predicament of discontinuity between intuitive knowledge and the dictates of rational science. --Elmer Green, Ph.D.

McMahon's Where Medicine Fails is a cogent indictment of the Cartesian dualism undergirding medical thought... required reading for not only medical practitioners but everyone working in the health-related professions in which we face problems of the whole person. --Walter B. Weimer, Ph.D.

Dr McMahon hits the bull's-eye... Where Medicine Fails exposes the limitations of dualism in medicine and opens the door to the possibility of a more enlightened view of human nature and healing. --Martin Rossman, M.D.

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