Book Reviews

by Daniel J. Benor, MD (unless otherwise noted)

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Richard E. Cytowic. The Man Who Tasted Shapes

Richard E. Cytowic. The Man Who Tasted Shapes: A Bizarre Medical Mystery Offers Revolutionary Insights into Emotions, Reasoning, and Consciousness.  296 pp. $24.95      

When Richard Cytowic, a neurologist, found a man who reported sensations of shapes in response to various tastes, he developed a curiosity about crossed-sensory perceptions that are technically called synesthesias. He first explored the literature and research reports, finding limited and inconsistent impressions in the published literature. He then studied people in his clinical practice who reported these experiences.

Cytowic made some unusual observations - for a neurologist. I quote his words in some detail, to illustrate his gifts for deep observations, wise understandings of the human condition, and delightful clarity of descriptions and explanations.

Not everything we are capable of knowing and doing is accessible to or expressible in language. This means that some of our personal knowledge is off limits even to our own inner thoughts! Perhaps this is why humans are so often at odds with themselves, because there is more going on in our minds that we can ever consciously know. (p. 17)

Furthermore, in the process of his explorations and clinical work, he became a champion of clinical assessments by the physician – rather than relying primarily on instrumented diagnostics. Although he does not appear to identify himself as such, his work clearly fits well in the wholistic healing spectrum. Cytowic's trenchant observations speak best for themselves.

I also sensed that a prevalent attitude, no matter what the specialty, was that the history of medicine had noting to teach the present, and if symptoms could not be measured with a machine, then they were imaginary. All around me I found people willing to trade in their own judgments for ones made by a machine. Anything from the past was thrown without question on the scrap heap with the leeches. (p. 31)

We have paid with dollars and our humanity ever since the stethoscope appeared as the first instrument to come between patient and physician. The art of medicine has steadily yielded to the calculus of objectivity and the tabulation of hard data… Machine interposition has increased exponentially, until today we have hardly any touching and little real human contract. Patients have been reduced to objects, and physicians to dispassionate feeders of the machines. (p. 38)

In the sense that third-party insurers are bureaucrats, they constitute yet another “machine” that stands between doctor and patient. Bean counters with hearts of stone have replaced compassion and caring. (p. 39)

I believe that, hardly realizing it, we have come to serve technology even though we intended for it to serve us. The machine is held in such high esteem that, in medicine, many implicitly believe that caring is what is left for physicians to do when technical intervention has failed. (p. 40)
Refusing to conform to this trend, Cytowic persisted in promoting his clinical neurological observations as valid assessments, in and of themselves. He succeeded in getting the insurance companies to accept his clinical assessments as valid diagnostic information.

Cytowic also criticizes his medical colleagues, who have very authoritarian, arrogant attitudes and assume that their knowledge is the be-all and end-all of what is available in clinical knowledge. He goes on to champion the validity of intuitive knowledge and awarenesses based on inner experiences; and to advocate for accepting people's subjective reports as real and helpful information about their lives and conditions.

Cytowic understands the endless regress of modern scientific inquiry, which cannot ever arrive at its stated goal of ultimate understanding and control of our world.

I was intellectually attracted by the complexity of the life of the mind, but I was disappointed, too, that any promise of an explanation was an illusion. No matter how many questions you answer, you are always left asking more. There is no such thing as final understanding because understanding is an endless process. Answering one round of questions only takes you to a higher plane of understanding that makes you ask a higher level of questions. The experience of living itself is such a process. (p. 43)

Cytowic proposes that emotions govern our behavior rather than logic and reason. He presents detailed observations to support this observation – which will be the meat of this book for my medical colleagues. He goes on to point out that we are still unable to localize many of the functions of the mind, even though we have clearly identified them.

What we know of as our conscious, rational self is not in control; some other part of us is. Moreover, this unfathomable part is capable of producing some great behavior, which is all the wonderful, irrational, and interesting stuff that humans do. (p.178)

Bringing reason to bear on what we are doing often interferes with it. Rational logic does not change the baby’s diaper, find the file you are looking for, or drive you to work.
(p. 179)

This book is an excellent read, in addition to being a book of great scientific interest.

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

Jack Kornfield. The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace

Jack Kornfield. The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace. NY: Bantam Books  2002.   224pp  $20.00     

This is a wonderful book of quotable quotes, vignettes and meditations that invite thoughtful pondering and contemplation. A few excerpts speak for themselves.     

Consider the dialogue between two former prisoners of war:
“Have you forgiven your captors yet?”
“No, never!”
“Well, then, they still have you in prison, don’t they?”
We begin the work of forgiveness primarily for ourselves. (p. 22)

We may still be suffering terribly from the past while those who betrayed us are on vacation.
It is painful to hate. Without forgiveness we continue to perpetuate the illusion that hate can heal our pain and the pain of others.
In forgiveness we let go and find relief in our heart. (p. 23)

Even those in the worst situations, the conflicts and tragedies of Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, or South Africa, have had to find a path to reconciliation. This is true in America as well. It is the only way to heal.
Sometimes this means finding the courage to forgive the unforgivable, to consciously release the heart from the clutches of another’s terrible acts.
We must discover a way to move on from the past, no matter what traumas it held.
(p. 24)

The past is over:
Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past. (p. 25)

Consider the dialogue between two former prisoners of war:
“Have you forgiven your captors yet?”
“No, never!”
“Well, then, they still have you in prison, don’t they?”
We begin the work of forgiveness primarily for ourselves.
Kornfield, Jack. The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace. New York, NY: Bantam Books  2002, p. 22.

We may still be suffering terribly from the past while those who betrayed us are on vacation.
It is painful to hate. Without forgiveness we continue to perpetuate the illusion that hate can heal our pain and the pain of others.
In forgiveness we let go and find relief in our heart.
Kornfield, Jack. The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace. New York, NY: Bantam Books  2002, p. 23.

Even those in the worst situations, the conflicts and tragedies of Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, or South Africa, have had to find a path to reconciliation. This is true in America as well. It is the only way to heal.
Sometimes this means finding the courage to forgive the unforgivable, to consciously release the heart from the clutches of another’s terrible acts.
We must discover a way to move on from the past, no matter what traumas it held.
Kornfield, Jack. The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace. New York, NY: Bantam Books  2002, p. 24.

The past is over:
Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past.
Kornfield, Jack. The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace. New York, NY: Bantam Books  2002, p. 25.

If only we could help each other build temples of forgiveness instead of prisons:
We can.
In our own hearts. (p. 41.)

Our society has forgotten to teach love.
In the words of John Gatto, New York City Teacher of the Year:
Think of the things that are killing us as a nation: drugs, brainless competition, recreational sex, the pornography of violence, gambling, alcohol, and the worst pornography of all – lives devoted to buying things, accumulation as a religion. (p. 77)

This is Jack Kornfield at his best!

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

David Hamilton. Wired for Compassion

David Hamilton. Wired for Compassion, Hay House USA 2010 $14.00 Also called Why Kindness is good for you, Hay House UK 2010 £9.99. 286pp.     

This is David Hamilton’s latest book, about helping people understand science and its practical applications of the power of the mind on the body. It is down to earth and full of facts about the biology of kindness and compassion with lots of inspiring stories and practical suggestions. This book convinces us that the benefits of kindness, compassion, gratitude and forgiveness are necessary for our health, happiness, long life and species survival. The book is replete with scientific evidence, including 40 pages of references but he manages to use this persuasion in an easy to read appealing way. In fact, it should appeal to a wide audience from doctor to therapist to the average layperson.

Hamilton argues that for our ancestors to be successful they needed the strong group bonding that is created by kindness and compassion.  Negative emotions which stress us decrease our survival ability because our bodies function less well. Kindness and compassion and having friends and loved ones to share with and depend on is what got our ancestors through perilous times. Evolution has always been about survival and our specific genetic material that carries these qualities would have been selected because they helped to form the bonds that kept groups together.

Hamilton shows us that kindness and compassion practiced regularly cause structural change to the brain, especially the pre-frontal cortex.  Our neural connections grow with showing kindness.

Kindness and compassion also promote physical health. For instance, they release the hormone oxytocin in our brain and our bodies. Oxytocin is cardiopotective, preventing our arteries from hardening and dilating our blood vessels. It also encourages wound healing.  Kindness, compassion and the flow of oxytocin it produces may be more important than our diet in protecting us from heart disease.

Kindness and compassion strengthen our immune system and therefore help us live longer. Inflammation is a primary cause of ageing. Oxytocin produced by the feelings created by acts of kindness and compassion stimulates the vagus nerve, deceasing the production of free radicals that create inflammation and that accelerate the ageing process.

No longer can we think of kindness and compassion as something that is only of benefit to others.  At the deepest biological levels in the body, it benefits us too.

There is one small chapter that talks about kindness towards ourselves. I would have liked a bit more emphasis in the book on this issue, since surely we could expect "as without so within." Kindness with the wrong balance can end up as martyrdom, or being a people pleaser or a doormat. The Bible tells us to love each other as ourselves and it seems to me there is an inclination in this book to encourage people to give away to others more that we give to ourselves.

Hamilton’s inspiring, modern, attractive delivery of the book actually makes you want to go out and be kind.  At the end of the book there are pages of practical ideas and exercises to encourage us to put kindness into practice. One example is The 21 day Kindness Challenge as Amelia Earhart said,

“No kind action ever stops with itself.  One kind action leads to another.  Good example is followed.  A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions and the roots spring up and make new trees.  The greatest work of kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves”

Review by Kathy Adams BSc RGN AAMET ARH
Integrated Medicine Therapist, London, England.
www.integratedmindbodyhealth.co.uk

Lea Yekutiel. Making the Breast of It: Overcoming Fear of Intimacy After Mastectomy

Yekutiel, Lea. Making the Breast of It: Overcoming Fear of Intimacy After Mastectomy, Sherman Oaks, CA: Who Am I Press 2007. 156 pp   $19.95     

Lea Yekutiel discusses a subject that has too long been neglected. I have heard regularly from too many women that their surgeons treated their bodies very nicely but ignored the person occupying the body. In Lea Yekutiel's case, however, after her mastectomy her plastic surgeon didn't even treat her body well. He botched the implant, which had to be repositioned in a second surgery. This, too, ended in complications that led to Yekutiel insisting that the implant be removed.

Throughout this book, Yekutiel is extremely open in sharing her experiences and feelings about her self-image, her sexuality, and the psychological processes she experienced as she underwent the ordeals of diagnosis, decisions around treatment, mastectomy, reconstructive surgeries and all that surrounds these experiences.

Any woman seeking information about the experience of mastectomy will benefit from reading this book. The information and experiences shared here will help to understand the emotional processes of adjusting to having one or both breasts removed, and to dealing with the emotions that are stirred in the process of surgery and afterwards – in the person experiencing the mastectomy, as well as in their partner or spouse.

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

Christopher K. Johannes PhD & Harry E. van der Zee MD Hom. Homeopathy and Mental Health Care: Integrative Practice, Principles and Research

Christopher K. Johannes PhD & Harry E. van der Zee MD Hom, (Editors). Homeopathy and Mental Health Care: Integrative Practice, Principles and Research, Haren, The Netherlands: Homeolinks Publishers 2010   339 pp   29,95 Euros/ US$54.95      

Christopher Johannes and Harry van der Zee have brought us a thorough, much needed summary of the benefits of homeopathy for mental health issues. While a brief review does not do justice to this comprehensive volume, let me summarize some of the highlights:

Dr. Manish Bhatia, from India reviews global mental health problems and some of the limitations of medication treatments for depression, psychosis and anxiety. He reviews the meta-analyses of homeopathy for general medical problems, finding substantive evidence that homeopathy produces significant effects in a variety of diseases. He reviews 40 studies of homeopathy for various mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, drug abuse, insomnia, stress and general wellbeing. No meta-analyses of homeopathy for mental health issues has been published. Much further discussion is provided later in this book on research and ethical issues in mental health.

Iris R. Bell, MD PhD MD(H) and Mary Koithan, RN PhD, USA consider the transformational changes produced by homeopathy. Their case reports are helpful in fleshing out the human responses on all levels of their being to homeopathic remedies. I also contribute a discussion on wholistic, spiritual aspects of homeopathy, pointing out the ways in which these remedies bring people into more complete awareness and fuller relationships with body, emotions, mind, relationships (with other people and the environment) and spirit.

Much of this helpful book considers ways in which homeopathy can be used in integrative care, offering people the best of allopathic and homeopathic approaches. Judyth Reichenberg‐Ullman, ND DHANP LCSW & Robert Ullman, ND DHANP, (USA) consider homeopathic treatment of children with behavioral and learning problems; Edward Shalts, MD DHt ABPN ABHT ABHM, (USA) on Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Homeopathic practitioners from Japan, the UK and USA remind homeopathic practitioners of the importance of including counseling along with the remedies. These and other homeopaths suggest that Rogerian and Jungian approaches are particularly resonant with the philosophy and spectrum of effects of homeopathic treatments. Of particular interest, which I have not seen before, is the discussion of Joseph Rozencwajg, MD PhD NMD (New Zealand) on using the tools of Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis to prescribe homeopathic remedies for psychological problems.

I, too have a chapter in this book, on wholistic, spiritual aspects of psychotherapy.

The last chapter, by Prof. Dr. Traian D. Stănciulescu (Romania), explores a variety of theories and models for bioenergy and resonance explanations for homeopathy.
Chapter 20 Neuro‐Psychical (Dis)Orders and Homeopathy: Biophotonic Connections

This is an excellent resource for anyone seeking homeopathic remedies for dealing with psychological problems. As with any wholistic healing approach, remember that the therapist is as important as the modality.

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

John Pollard. The Self Parenting Program – Core Guidelines for the Self-Parenting Practitioner

John Pollard. The Self Parenting Program – Core Guidelines for the Self-Parenting Practitioner. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc. 1992.  276 pp.  $16.95     

John Pollard brings us an excellent discussion on identifying and dealing with the inner child. This is an aspect of ourselves that is most often well outside our conscious awareness. This part of ourselves is not just the memories of our early life, the residues of our uncompleted dreams, and scars from challenging and traumatic childhood experiences. It is a living, thinking, feeling and often willful aspect of our adult self that may have a life of its own if we are not in harmony with it.

This aspect of ourselves has been noted in psychoanalytic terms as the id and in Transactional Analysis as the Child Ego State. This Child part of ourselves seeks pleasure; wants what it wants when it wants it; brings enthusiasm and curiosity to our cogitations, actions and interactions; wants approval and affection; and may respond to perceived negativity with feelings of hurt, anger and rebellion. We also have an inner Parent and inner Adult - the executive part of ourselves that makes logical, reasoned decisions for courses of action based on available information.

We tend to think of a child in relationship with other adults, particularly the child's parents. With the inner Child it is our own inner Parent who is involved in dealing with the inner Child. So this Child is dependent upon this other aspect of ourselves for its nurturing and disciplining. Similarly to family relationships in the outer world, this Child is also a teacher to the inner Parent and inner Adult.

The potential strengths of your Inner Parent are the same strengths that the ideal outer parent would have. Your Inner Parent can be an excellent teacher, providing guidance and setting examples for your Inner Child. Your Inner Parent can maintain an intimate sense of caring and support for your Inner Child so that it develops its own talents and skills. When you express positive concern for your Inner Child or give it encouragement, you are voicing the positive Inner Parent.

During times of stress the positive Inner Parent is a calming, soothing voice that is always present to help and support your Inner Child. The Inner Parent makes decisions, chooses options and evaluates priorities for both Inner Selves. The positive Inner Parent can provide the Inner Child with whatever it wants or needs by practicing the SELF-PARENTING Program. Training and experience allow the positive Inner Parent to become highly developed in rational thinking and intellectual activity. (p. 17)

Without a model for positive outer parenting, learning to become a positive Inner Parent is very difficult. The half-hour format for Self-Parenting sessions is easy to follow. (p. 37)

Pollard explains ways to develop a nurturing Parent and provides excellent exercises for doing this. One of the most important is: "Always remember that whenever you ask a question, your only response will be, “Thank you, Inner Child, for telling me that.” (p. 45)

This book will be a help to caregivers and careseekers who are sensitive to the inner voices that often cause problems in our lives but at the same time can be some of our best teachers and guides through the jungles of life.

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

Mary Ann Wallace, MD. Mindful Eating, Mindful Life: How to Change the Habits That Sabotage Your Health

Mary Ann Wallace, MD. Mindful Eating, Mindful Life: How to Change the Habits That Sabotage Your Health, Portland, OR: Inkwater Press 2010   96 pp.  $19.95 http://www.maryannwallace.com      

Mary Ann Wallace is a board certified physician specializing in internal medicine, who also holds a master's degree in psychology with an emphasis in holistic health. She has extensive training and experience in a variety of mind-body healing modalities. Dr. Wallace had led workshops and classes on spirituality in medicine and mind-body issues for over 25 years. She developed Heartspring Wellness Center, a bustling Integrative Medical Clinic, and served as the Medical Director for a Division of Integrative Medicine in Corvallis, OR. She is a gifted teacher with a wonderful, healing presence. Her book is a distillation of her experiences in running mindful eating classes over several years for people dealing with eating issues of all sorts

In her clear and direct style, Wallace explains that many people's eating disorders stem from feelings of emptiness inside themselves that they are stuffing with food.

The empty places inside yearn to be filled, and we spend an inordinate amount of energy both trying to get those needs met and hiding the fact that they exist. (p. 1)

If, as part of the overall experience of getting fed we also learn to expect anger, impatience or any other possible tension-provoking element, this association becomes a deep-seated part of our system. If, on the other hand, we find that the only time we experience the necessary sensations of being cuddled, held, cooed to and loved is when we are being fed, we learn to link our hunger sensations with that imprint by association. Eating, then becomes that which equals nourishment of many types. (p. 2)

I start every series of Mindful Eating classes with a simple questions: “Why do you eat – what is it inside that prompts you or propels you?” After a minute of confused looks and a couple of titters, the class invariably engages. The list usually has more than 30 items by the time we’re done, and only seldom is “hunger” even mentioned.

The aspect that all items on the list have in common is that they provoke a sensation in the belly, whether it be emptiness or tension, that in some way mimics the sensation of hunger. (p. 2)

Wallace reviews research identifying problem aspects of eating, including cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating. She discusses how each produces its own variety of eating disorder and invites specific forms of interventions. Her approach is not about dieting, but rather about learning to understand what drives people to crave food, how food became an unhealthy, guiding metaphor in people's lives, and how they can constructively deal with these issues.  Illustrative case examples demonstrate the benefits of her approaches.

One of the points I make in the Mindful Eating classes is that although we expect a certain toileting ritual for the elimination process of our bodies, we don’t formalize such a thing for all we’ve consumed mentally or emotionally.

The long-ago patterns stuck in our craw need even deeper evacuation. Letting go of past patterns often generates fear, but if we realize that we are letting go of what is toxic, not what is nourishing, then the task becomes much easier.

This book is warmly recommended both for caregivers and careseekers wanting to deepen their understanding of eating problems and how to deal with them.

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

Nick Trout, DVM. Tell Me Where It Hurts: A day of humor, healing and hope in my life as an animal surgeon

Nick Trout, DVM. Tell Me Where It Hurts: A day of humor, healing and hope in my life as an animal surgeon. North Kingstown, RI: BBC Audiobooks America   8 CDs (9 hrs 15 min).  US$29.95     
Paperback – NY: Broadway/Crown/Random House 2009. 304 pp $14.00     

This is a marvelously insightful and informative story of a very busy day in the life of a veterinary surgeon. Nick Trout is a keen observer of animal and human behaviors, a marvelous family therapist and a consummate storyteller. This combination provides excellent fare for anyone who cares for animals and has a long car ride ahead of them. More often than not, a major portion of the veterinary surgical intervention involves meticulous inquiries, clarifications of details, detective work and psychotherapy, in addition to a wide fund of animal care knowledge and dexterous hands. Trout recounts heartwarming memories of dogs and cats whom he treated for everything from ingested sox and shoelaces to cancers and various other common and obscure problems.

Trout also shares the stories of how he became interested in becoming a veterinarian and how he encourages the student vets under his supervision to deepen their understanding and skills in animal care – including the management of their human 'parents.'

This book is very highly recommended. I found the audio version utterly engaging, transforming a long drive into a very enjoyable experience.

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

Joanne Wannan. New Lives – Stories of Rescued Dogs Helping, Healing, and Giving Hope

Joanne Wannan. New Lives – Stories of Rescued Dogs Helping, Healing, and Giving Hope. United States of America: 3BlackDogs  2010.  228 pp.  $18.95     

Joanne Wannan tells the stories of 18 dogs rescued from shelters and the streets who were trained for animal therapy and as service dogs. They have helped people with physical and emotional disabilities, assisting some to achieve independent living; cheering people up – even relieving depression – in nursing homes, hospitals, and jails. They motivate children to read, offer comfort to victims of emotional and physical traumas. The fact that they come with their own stories of overcoming severe hardships and traumas becomes an asset – providing points of resonation for children and adults who have struggled with difficult challenges. It is moving and heartwarming to see how the lives of people and dogs are mutually healed.

Professionals incorporate both rescued and non-rescued dogs in their practices, but many prefer the former. They feel it helps create a potent bond between client and dog. This is particularly true when working with children and teens. Those who have experienced abandonment or abuse can often relate more easily to a dog with a similar past. Children with behavioral problems often “see themselves” in dogs who have few social skills, and who are learning, like themselves, to be valued members of society. Rescued dogs can also teach important lessons about the humane treatment of animals, as well as tolerance, patience and respect. (p. 3)

A lovely, unusual innovation of Wannan is in introducing dogs to children who were struggling in school because they were slow to learn to read.

If you go to any public library on a Saturday afternoon, you may see a dog sitting quietly on a blanket, starting intently at the pages of a book, while a child reads out loud. These dogs are part of Reading Education Assistance dogs (R.E.A.D.*), a trademarked program of Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA). This program’s goal is to improve literacy in children by having them read stories to an attentive canine.

The concept behind the program is both simple and profound. Dogs aren’t judgmental: they don’t correct or criticize. This creates a positive learning environment and allows kids to practice their communication skills in a safe, non-threatening way. The result can be better grades, improved reading levels and increased self-esteem. And along the way, children discover that reading can be fun. (p. 39.)

Anyone considering animal assistance will enjoy and benefit from reading this book.

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

Maria Becker, MD. No More Fears for Maddox

Maria Becker, MD. No More Fears for Maddox, 2009  38 pp  CAD$15.99 www.booksurge.com 

This is a pleasant book that will be helpful to children in dealing with their fears. It tells how Maddox dealt with his fears when he accidentally got locked in the garage at home. It is also a light introduction to concepts of self-healing and ways this can be used in stressful situations.

Review by Daniel J. Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief

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