When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection - Softcover

Maté M.D., Gabor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470923350 ISBN 13: 9780470923351

Publisher: Trade Paper Press, 2011

Synopsis

Now in paperback, the bestselling exploration of the effects of the mind-body connection on stress and disease

Can a person literally die of loneliness? Is there such a thing as a ""cancer personality""? Drawing on scientific research and the author's decades of experience as a practicing physician, this book provides answers to these and other important questions about the effect of the mind-body link on illness and health and the role that stress and one's individual emotional makeup play in an array of common diseases.

• Explores the role of the mind-body link in conditions and diseases such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, IBS, and multiple sclerosis
• Draws on medical research and the author's clinical experience as a family physician
• Includes The Seven A's of Healing-principles of healing and the prevention of illness from hidden stress

Shares dozens of enlightening case studies and stories, including those of people such as Lou Gehrig (ALS), Betty Ford (breast cancer), Ronald Reagan (Alzheimer's), Gilda Radner (ovarian cancer), and Lance Armstrong (testicular cancer)

An international bestseller translated into fifteen languages, When the Body Says No promotes learning and healing, providing transformative insights into how disease can be the body's way of saying no to what the mind cannot or will not acknowledge.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Can a person literally die of loneliness? Is there a connection between inhibited emotion and Alzheimer’s disease? Is there a "cancer personality"? Questions such as these are emerging as scientific findings throw new light on the controversy that surrounds the mind-body connection in illness and health. Modern research is confirming the age-old wisdom that emotions profoundly affect our physiology. Repressed emotions frequently bring on stress–– which, in turn, can lead to disease.

Provocative and beautifully written, When the Body Says No provides fresh information regarding these and other important issues concerning the effects of stress on health. In lucid, easy-to-follow language, Dr. Gabor Maté summarizes the latest scientific findings about the role that stress and individual emotional makeup play in an array of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, cancer, and ALS, among others.

Emotions like anger share with our immune system the role of defending our boundaries. When we repress emotions, we may also suppress our immune defenses. In some people, these defenses may go awry, destroying the body rather than protecting it. Dr. Maté explores the reason why, despite a rapidly accumulating body of evidence about the mind-body unity, most physicians continue to treat physical symptoms rather than persons–– and why we must understand the mind-body link in order to take an active role in our overall health.

When the Body Says No promotes learning and healing. It offers the kind of transformative insight that promotes physical and emotional self-awareness–– the lack of which, Dr. Maté asserts, is at the root of much of the stress that chronically debilitates health and prepares the ground for disease.

From the Back Cover

"Gabor Maté, M.D., skillfully blends recent advances in biomedicine with the personal stories of his patients to provide empowering insights into how deeply developmental experiences shape our health, behavior, attitudes, and relationships. A must read."
—Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., author of The Biology of Belief

"The interviewees' stories are often touching and haunting. . . . Maté carefully explains the biological mechanisms that are activated when stress and trauma exert a powerful influence on the body. . . . Readers will be grateful for the final chapter . . . in which Maté presents an open formula for healing and the prevention of illness from hidden stress."
—Quill & Quire

"In this important book, Dr. Gabor Maté combines a passionate examination of his patients' life histories with lucid explanations of the science behind mind-body unity."
—Richard Earle, Ph.D.

Modern research is confirming the age-old wisdom that emotions are inseparable from our health and physiology. Repressed emotions bring on stress that can lead to disease. In this internationally bestselling book, Gabor Maté draws on cutting-edge science, his decades of experience as a physician, and the stories of famous people including those of Lou Gehrig, Lance Armstrong, Gilda Radner, and Ronald Reagan to examine the role hidden stress plays in an array of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and cancer.

When the Body Says No provides transformative insights into how disease can be the body's way of saying no to what the mind cannot or will not acknowledge—and how we can heal.

Edition details

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0470923350
• ISBN 13: 9780470923351
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320