Imagery in Healing

This book is actually a composite of two different concepts, which the author doesn't link to each other in a clear manner. The section "shamanism in modern medicine" is poorly written. Most psychologists (like the author) hold that everything encountered in altered states of mind actually happens in the mind. Some Jungian psychologists softened this approach by postulating the existence of archetypal symbols. Conversely, shamans across the world and across millennia hold that there are parallel universes that are inhabited by independent spirits who may, and do, interact with this world. Who should we believe to, the scholars or the ... people in the business? Regardless, Achterberg completely disregards the "other" point of view and, in so doing, she fails to deliver objective information. On the other hand, the section about mental imagery and healing is truly excellent. Self healing is a phenomenon that cannot be possibly denied, the placebo effect being the prove of that. The author explores the possible connections between imagery, the nervous system and the immune system. Most of what she says makes perfect sense, although current scientific evidence is not sufficient to support her thesis. The author points out that there is a strong economic pressure against research in this field, and she is perfectly right. Anyone working for a pharmaceutical company (a tremendously powerful lobby) would never, ever look favorably to research aimed to prove that the mind CAN heal the body.

This author successfully combines traditional scientific scholarship with an open-minded approach to complementary modes of healing such as shamanism, visualization, and energy work. She provides the experimental evidence that explains how images we hold in our minds really do effect changes on the physical level--it has to do with how the "imaging" part of the brain connects to brain structures which regulate hormones and the immune system. There is also a fascinating section on the wise-women healers of Europe and how they were persecuted for practicing medicine which went against established medical practice as well as against the Church. It seems the ancient healers were on to something that became suppressed, and which is now being rediscovered by scholars as well as healing practitioners.......The author is professor of psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Thus, she knows well how to use reductionist scientific methods as a tool while still seeing the possibilities lying beyond reductionism in the transpersonal plane.