Remarkable Recovery: What Extraordinary Healings Tell Us About Getting Well and Staying Well

by Marc Barasch, Caryle Hirshberg, Larry Dossey (Foreword)

A study of individuals who miraculously recovered from terminal illnesses draws on medical, genetic, psychological, and spiritual profiles to argue that the key to healing lies in the functioning of the immune system. 80,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo.

Genres: Health

363 pages, Hardcover

First published March 8, 1995

Reviews

[Rick Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides hope for individuals who have a serious health condition. The authors describe hundreds of people who defied a conventional medical prognosis and overcame their life-threatening illness. This concept is also known as spontaneous remission.
Here are the questions in their Remarkable Recovery Registry:
Which types of cancer are most prone to RR (remarkable recovery)?
Are certain kinds of people more prone to remarkable recovery?
What is the frequency of remarkable recovery?
What is the distribution of remarkable recovery in this country and worldwide?
In which kinds of people, with which kinds of backgrounds, genetically, socially, psychologically and environmentally, does remarkable recovery occur?
Are there particular social, therapeutic, or other support settings that seem to contribute to remarkable recovery?
Are the factors involved genetic or psychological or both?
Are there genetic or chromosomal patterns that predispose certain people towards remarkable recovery?
With what kind of behavioral changes, lifestyle, and habits does remarkable recovery correlate?
What are the attitudes and beliefs of people who experience remarkable recovery?
What are the psychospiritual correlates of remarkable recovery?
What are the frequencies of remarkable recovery of primary tumors? Of metastases? Of the metastatic remarkable recovery, what are the relative frequencies in the various tissues (lung, liver, etc.)?
What is the timing of remarkable recovery? How long from the discovery of the primary tumor does it occur? Of the metastases? Over what period of time does the remarkable recovery occur- one month, one week, overnight?
Is there a relationship between incidence of remarkable recovery and age? Between the longevity of the patient's parents and grandparents (suggestive of a genetic immune component)?
--
There is a second section of the Remarkable Recovery Registry, that asks the individuals about their lifestyle habits. Here is a brief summary:
Marital status, age of maternal and paternal grandparents, your highest level of education, any artistic pursuits, religious affiliation including prayer, meditation, etc,; traits you recognize in yourself, type of cancer that you have, standard and complimentary therapies you have tried, what do you attribute to your remarkable recovery?

[Jeanine Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this because a large part of what I teach about wellness is about the mind-body connection and the way it impacts health. A great deal of scientific progress has been made since this book was written connecting positivity and optimism with an immune system that is functioning at optimal levels.

We now know that all the major diseases (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and more) are positively affected by a positive and optimistic attitude.

I enjoy delving into the science and this book had a good mix of stories and science.

Consistent with the new scientific findings, deciding to be more authentic was linked to remarkable recoveries. It's just a shame that more people are not yet aware of the connection between positivity and optimum health. I'd far rather see humanity not need remarkable recoveries by delaying the onset of disease until extreme old age.

Research published since this book was written shows that positively focused individuals live 10.7 years longer (on average) than pessimistic individuals. More importantly, positively focused individuals enjoy 18 healthier years of life compared with pessimistic individuals--because the debilitating end of life diseases come closer to death. Pessimism is a learned, habitual behavior. Healthier behaviors can be developed. The function of the immune system changes almost instantaneously when the individuals mood changes--moving to better functioning when the mood is good and less robust functioning when the mood is negative.

I'd love to see a longitudinal study of individuals with a significant diagnosis who receive an intense training course that creates greater mental toughness and develops resiliency (perhaps using Emotional Guidance Feedback System) to see how much difference it makes. I just struggle with the concept of a control group because I know the difference it would make and would feel as if the control group were being cheated.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one doesn't put you under pressure to magically heal yourself of everything by thinking happy thoughts, like some books do. It does collect research and illustrative anecdotes about people who do better than they are expected to and looks carefully into how that happens. And yes, some of these people did get completely better after being told they were going to die.

[Cws]

616.99 Hir