Books (February 2008)

Rob Luka. Helping Children Overcome Fear in a Medical Setting: A guide for healthcare professionals, Leicester, North Carolina: Wellness Training Center 2007. 204 pp  $18.95  www.RobLuka.com      

This is a lovely book about the therapeutic use of presence, distraction, and the creation of a healing atmosphere with expectations of child competence to deal with painful and/or frightening procedures. Rob Luka, a nurse who specializes in working with children who have diabetes, has three decades of experience with injections, medical and surgical procedures that children could find upsetting and painful.
(Read more in IJHC January 2008)


Sharon Begley.  Train Your Mind Change Your Brain: How a new science reveals our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves.  New York: Random House, 2007.  pp 254.  Notes 13 pp.  HB $24.95.

Imagine the illuminating thought that our brains are not fixed and immutable, but instead are malleable and capable of birthing new neurons even into the eighth decade of life.

Sharon Begley, a science columnist for the Wall Street Journal, writes about neuroscience, genetics, physics, astronomy, and anthropology.  In 2004, Begley covered a historic meeting between five scientists and the Dalai Lama on the topic of neuroplasticity at the Mind and Life Institute.  Neuroplasticity is a new science investigating whether the brain is capable of altering its structure by generating new neurons.
(Read more in IJHC January 2008)