BOOK REVIEW: The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine

When we fall ill and find that physical methods of treatment can no longer help, we ask, “Why is this happening?” and “Why is it happening to me?” Those who treat only physical symptoms may attribute the illness to bad genes, bad living, or even to bad luck. Throughout history, people have tried to make sense of illness through religious, moral, or social stories, and the need we feel for narratives that provide meaning and context for our experiences is as great now as it ever was. But the old stories of sin and redemption have lost much of their credibility and no longer seem adequate to explain the complexities of twenty-first-century life.
Anne Harrington, chair of the History of Science Department at Harvard University and author of Medicine, Mind, and the Double Brain and Reenchanted Science, believes that beyond the physical understanding of illness there is a different kind of wisdom. Current beliefs surrounding our experience of illness evolved out of ancient religious beliefs, she says, and for that deep-seated reason, mind–body approaches can have success both in promoting physical healing and helping us deal with our “cultural anxieties.”