How Healing Works

A radical, evidence-based new vision for healing.A radical, evidence-based new vision for healing.Twenty-five per cent of adults experience chronic health problems, such as back pain, headaches, obesity, fatigue, and depression. These illnesses are almost impossible to cure with conventional medicine, yet in his 40 years as a doctor Wayne Jonas has helped almost all of his patients get better.Now he can help you, too.How Healing Works reveals that only 20 per cent of healing comes from medicine or surgery, while 80 per cent depends on other factors - a patient's physical environment, their lifestyle, their values, and more. It offers practical advice on working with your doctor to construct a personal, integrative plan for healing and offers examples of what this might look like. The key to success is finding out what works for you - whether this is conventional medicine, complementary therapies, or something else entirely.This is not the argument that you can simply 'think yourself' better. Rather, it uses case studies and rigorous scientific research to show how, if you understand how healing really works, you can take greater control of your recovery, increase the likelihood that any treatment will be effective, prevent many of the diseases of ageing, and significantly reduce your dependence on medicine.

“'By sharing his courageous personal journey as a physician, from skeptic to researcher to informed advocate, Dr. Wayne Jonas provides a compelling case for completely re-thinking our nation's approach to health care. Rising financial and societal health-care costs make this book a must read.'”

How Healing Works is radically and disruptively brilliant. Highly recommended.’ — Dean Ornish, MD, founder and president of Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and author of The SpectrumHow Healing Works is the most comprehensive and comprehensible book on how and why people heal. It is a masterful survey of the research on the physical, psychological, and spiritual factors that help us regain and retain our health. Dr. Wayne Jonas is one of America’s top docs, a true leader in medicine, who deeply understands the ins and outs of getting well. After reading How Healing Works, share it with your physician.’ — Larry Dossey, MD, author of One MindWayne Jonas distills a lifetime of research, teaching, caring for patients, emotional growth, and inquiry into this wise, generous, and useful offering. He asks the toughest questions and responds in clear, accessible language. He invites us with him on an intimate journey as he presents with candour and courage his own evolution and the remarkable stories of those who have taught him so much about the mysteries of healing, hidden in plain sight. This is required reading for everyone interested in understanding and unleashing our untapped healing potential.’ — Joseph Bobrow, Roshi, PhD, author of Waking Up from WarWayne Jonas is a scientist, physician, teacher, storyteller, and, ultimately, a healer. His book uses a wide lens to examine how healing is not only pharmaceuticals and surgery but involves environmental, behavioural, social/emotional, and cognitive/spiritual dimensions. How Healing Works is provocative, engaging, and informative and encourages the reader in their own healing.’ — Ted Kaptchuk, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical SchoolA breakthrough book! It should be read by every clinician and business leader. With compelling stories and rigorous science, Dr. Jonas shows us what we all know but have forgotten — that the healing of mind and body are inseparable.’ — Kenneth R. Pelletier, PhD, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Director, Corporate Health Improvement Program, and author of Sound Mind, Sound Body’A careful scientist and a compassionate clinician, Jonas integrates the best of mainstream and alternative medical systems and provides a pragmatic and comprehensive approach that can transform how patients and clinicians approach healing.’ — Ronald Epstein, MD, author of AttendingHow Healing Works is a brilliant contribution. The wisdom that Dr. Jonas shares lies at the heart of modern nursing: how meaning, love, caring, empathy, and compassion facilitate the healing process.’ — Barbara Dossey, RN, PhD, FAAN, author of Holistic NursingDr. Jonas makes compelling arguments for a new paradigm in medicine that addresses the inner, interpersonal, and external dimensions where true healing takes place. How Healing Works provides an urgently needed blueprint for a new approach to medicine.’ — James Lake, MD, former Chair of American Psychiatric Association Caucus on Complementary, Alternative & Integrative Medicine and author of Integrative Mental Health CareBy sharing his courageous personal journey as a physician, from skeptic to researcher to informed advocate, Dr. Wayne Jonas provides a compelling case for completely re-thinking our nation’s approach to health care. Rising financial and societal health-care costs make this book a must read.’ — Gail C. Christopher, DN, ND board chair of Trust for America’s Health, and former Senior Advisor and Vice President of W.K. Kellogg FoundationOutstanding! A must read for anyone with chronic disease and the clinicians who care for them. This is true health-care reform.’ — Don Berwick, MD, former administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and co-founder and President Emeritus of The Institute for Healthcare ImprovementThe one book all national leaders must read this year. Full of stories of how heroes heal when they come home and how every family who has a person with chronic disease, can also be that hero.’ — Retired Admiral Michael Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffDr. Wayne Jonas issues a clarion call for medical practice and health care that we cannot afford to ignore. A compelling case is made for a more balanced approach to health care in which the impressive gains from science are matched with attention to equally powerful, but often ignored, processes of healing. Dr. Jonas brings to bear a lifetime’s knowledge of evidence-based medicine, to which he has been a major contributor, with extensive professional experience of how people heal. This book is essential reading; it is recommended for health-care professionals and anyone who is interested in achieving optimal health.’ — Jonathan Davidson, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical CenterDr. Jonas shifts the dialogue in How Healing Works to exactly what health care needs. As someone who works in the daily struggle to make health care better, I know first-hand that this book is a must for those interested in being leaders in health and healing. Understanding the balance of healing and curing is a needed combination for greater well-being. I recommend it to all who seek to help patients with any disease, and to the rest of us who may become patients some day.’ — Scott Kashman, Chief Acute Care Officer, Lee HealthIn the polarised, non-integrative era twenty-five years ago — the earliest days of introducing natural health and integrative practices into regular care — the arrival on the scene of a healer advocate for a more balanced medicine, who happened to be both army officer and medical doctor, was a great gift. What some of us did not yet know was that Wayne Jonas, then an emerging leader at the National Institutes of Health and in federal policy, incorporated healing practices and traditions from across the globe into his work to understand, bridge, and transform.’ — John Weeks, Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine; publisher, The Integrator BlogDr. Wayne Jonas provides us with inspiring and comprehensive guidance for our well-being. He integrates advances in science and technology for addressing illness and promoting health, along with the inner resources we have for healing. With examples from around the world, he invites us to actively participate in holistic healthful approaches — so essential for our times.` — Monica Sharma, author of Radical Transformational Leadership, Chair Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India, and former Director of Leadership and Capacity Development, United Nations

Wayne B. Jonas is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Samueli Institute, a non-profit medical research organisation supporting the scientific investigation of healing processes and their application in health and disease. He is a widely published scientific investigator, a practicing family physician, Professor of Family Medicine at Georgetown University, and Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Additionally, Dr Jonas is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Medical Corps of the United States Army.

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