The Instinct to Heal: Curing Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Without Drugs and Without Talk Therapy - Hardcover

Servan-Schreiber MD PhD, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579549020 ISBN 13: 9781579549022

Publisher: Rodale Books, 2004

Synopsis

Americans seek therapy in record numbers and consume more medications than ever before, yet stress, anxiety, and depression continue to rise to epidemic proportions. People can spend years on the psychoanalytic couch without making any progress. And for many psychiatrists, the prescription-writing reflex has become almost automatic, despite the fact that benefits often disappear as soon as drug treatment stops. Standard treatments simply aren't long-term solutions.

But psychiatrist/neurologist David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D., knows that we can cure our emotional pain. He's seen certain natural methods produce tremendous results in his clinical practice, in that of his peers, and even in war-torn regions where horrific memories can leave deep scars.

Numerous studies in prestigious scientific journals have documented the amazing benefits of these methods on anxiety and depression, but because the mechanisms through which they operate remain poorly understood, they've remained largely excluded from mainstream medicine and psychiatry. Dr. Servan-Schreiber explains how each of the natural methods in this ensemble treatment plan can help us escape the therapy/drug trap by working through the body to tap into the emotional brain's self-healing processes rather than relying on the cognitive process of language.

Weaving fascinating accounts of his firsthand experience and findings together with the research of hundreds of other esteemed scientists, Dr. Servan-Schreiber outlines a program that's becoming embraced throughout the world as a permanent cure for emotional pain. See how you, too, can tap into The Instinct to Heal.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

"David Servan-Schreiber is one of those rare scientists who truly listens with his heart and perceives the larger connection." --Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D., bestselling author of Love Is Letting Go of Fear

Americans seek therapy in record numbers and consume more medications than ever before, yet stress, anxiety, and depression continue to rise to epidemic proportions. People can spend years on the psychoanalytic couch without making any progress. And for many psychiatrists, the prescription-writing reflex has become almost automatic, despite the fact that benefits often disappear as soon as drug treatment stops. Standard treatments simply aren't long-term solutions.

But psychiatrist/neurologist David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D., knows that we can cure our emotional pain. He's seen certain natural methods produce tremendous results in his clinical practice, in that of his peers, and even in war-torn regions where horrific memories can leave deep scars.

Numerous studies in prestigious scientific journals have documented the amazing benefits of these methods on anxiety and depression, but because the mechanisms through which they operate remain poorly understood, they've remained largely excluded from mainstream medicine and psychiatry. Dr. Servan-Schreiber explains how each of the natural methods in this ensemble treatment plan can help us escape the therapy/drug trap by working through the body to tap into the emotional brain's self-healing processes rather than relying on the cognitive process of language.

Weaving fascinating accounts of his firsthand experience and findings together with the research of hundreds of other esteemed scientists, Dr. Servan-Schreiber outlines a program that's becoming embraced throughout the world as a permanent cure for emotional pain. See how you, too, can tap into The Instinct to Heal.

"This book, the translation of research findings into meaningful clinical insights and practice, bears the unmistakable signature of Dr. Servan-Schreiber's unique abilities and voice, which echo with humor, wisdom, and compassion." --Jonathan D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for the Study of Brain, Mind, and Behavior at Princeton University

"This book has love on every page." --Professor Francine Lecas, chair of pediatric cardiovascular surgery, Sick Children Hospital, Paris, France

David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and cofounder of the Center for Complementary Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He codirected a National Institutes of Health laboratory for the study of clinical cognitive neuroscience and functional neuroimaging for several years and has published more than 90 scientific monographs. He's lectured at leading international academic centers, including Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, and Cambridge Universities. One of the original seven members of the United States board of Doctors Without Borders/Médicins Sans Frontières, he served on the board for 9 years and provided medical relief in Kurdistan, Guatemala, India, Tajikistan, and Kosovo. He continues to develop mental health interventions for victims of crises and to train therapists in crisis areas.

From the Back Cover:

Advance praise for The Instinct to Heal:

"David Servan-Schreiber has done a brilliant job of bringing together insights and information of vital importance for well-being. The Instinct to Heal is itself an instrument of healing."
--Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence

"Written with grace and elegance, this book might well become the most important mental health landmark of this generation."
--Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ph.D., bestselling author of Flow, Being Adolescent, The Evolving Self, and Creativity

"The Instinct to Heal is a fascinating account of unorthodox approaches to treating the emotional brain and mind. I learned a lot."
--Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D., the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science at New York University and author of The Emotional Brain and Synaptic Self

"The Instinct to Heal will help anyone expand their concept of health and health care to a more majestic level."
--Larry Dossey, M.D., bestselling author of Healing Beyond the Body, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words

"A brilliant, absorbing synthesis of science, experience, and thought, by an internationally known neuroscientist and clinician ... essential reading for all those who want to understand the frontiers of mind-body health."
--Michael Lerner, Ph.D., author of Choices in Healing

David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D., is an award-winning and internationally recognized authority on psychiatry and neuroscience.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rodale Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1579549020
• ISBN 13: 9781579549022
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304