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Narrative Medicine: The Use of History and Story in the Healing Process
Seeks to restore the pivotal role of the patient’s own story in the healing process
• Shows how conventional medicine tends to ignore the account of the patient
• Presents case histories where disease is addressed and healed through the narrative process
• Proposes a reinvention of medicine to include the indigenous healing methods that for thousands of years have drawn their effectiveness from telling and listening
Modern medicine, with its high-tech and managed-care approach, has eliminated much of what constitutes the art of those elements of doctoring that go beyond the medications prescribed. The typically brief office visit leaves little time for doctors to listen to their patients, though it is in these narratives that disease is both revealed and perpetuated--and can be released and treated.
Lewis Mehl-Madrona’s Narrative Medicine examines the foundations of the indigenous use of story as a healing modality. Citing numerous case histories that demonstrate the profound power of narrative in healing, the author shows how when we learn to dialogue with disease, we come to understand the power of the “story” we tell about our illness and our possibilities for better health. He shows how this approach also includes examining our relationships to our extended community to find any underlying disharmony that may need healing. Mehl-Madrona points the way to a new model of medicine--a health care system that draws its effectiveness from listening to the healing wisdom of the past and also to the present-day voices of its patients.
• Shows how conventional medicine tends to ignore the account of the patient
• Presents case histories where disease is addressed and healed through the narrative process
• Proposes a reinvention of medicine to include the indigenous healing methods that for thousands of years have drawn their effectiveness from telling and listening
Modern medicine, with its high-tech and managed-care approach, has eliminated much of what constitutes the art of those elements of doctoring that go beyond the medications prescribed. The typically brief office visit leaves little time for doctors to listen to their patients, though it is in these narratives that disease is both revealed and perpetuated--and can be released and treated.
Lewis Mehl-Madrona’s Narrative Medicine examines the foundations of the indigenous use of story as a healing modality. Citing numerous case histories that demonstrate the profound power of narrative in healing, the author shows how when we learn to dialogue with disease, we come to understand the power of the “story” we tell about our illness and our possibilities for better health. He shows how this approach also includes examining our relationships to our extended community to find any underlying disharmony that may need healing. Mehl-Madrona points the way to a new model of medicine--a health care system that draws its effectiveness from listening to the healing wisdom of the past and also to the present-day voices of its patients.
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 2007
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About the author
Lewis Mehl-Madrona
18 books40 followersLewis graduated from Stanford University School of Medicine and trained in family medicine, psychiatry, and clinical psychology. He completed his residencies in family medicine and in psychiatry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has been on the faculties of several medical schools, most recently as associate professor of family medicine at the University of New England. He continues to work with aboriginal communities to develop uniquely aboriginal styles of healing and health care for use in those communities. He is interested in the relation of healing through dialogue in community and psychosis. He is the author of Coyote Medicine, Coyote Healing, and Coyote Wisdom, a trilogy of books on what Native culture has to offer the modern world. He has also written Narrative Medicine, Healing the Mind through the Power of Story: the Promise of Narrative Psychiatry, and, his most recent book with Barbara Mainguy, Remapping Your Mind: the Neuroscience of Self-Transformation through Story.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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January 13, 2015p. 6 "We can be multicultural, using several different anthologies of belief. When we compare and contrast different knowledge systems, we learn what we prefer and how practical a given approach is for our particular context."
Description of study on which doctors get sued & which don't on p. 8 - wow!
p. 15 "We use survival curves and statistics to talk about disease as if it were independent of the people who have it and their stories. This so-called natural history approach is grounded in the idea that the patient and her family and culture have no relevance to survival. It usually ignores the stories of the 3 percent a the far end of the survival curve who live much longer than the mean."
P. 36 "to be a good criminal, drug addict, schizophrenic, or gang member is often more accessible than achieving the American dream."
P. 47 "I am in awe of how the mainstream has stripped nature of its power. I can't understand why so many humans insist on being so isolated and alone. Perhaps it makes them feel powerful."
P. 88 "unlike conventional medicine, narrative medicine is postmodern. It cannot be sure of itself. It relies upon diversity to sort out what works and what doesn't. It is forever a mixture of all the voices that song it into being."
P. 101 "what if we move away from medicine as a natural science and toward medicine as a systems science ...?"
P. 171 "We can't assume that the information we think we are getting from spirit communication is correct. Even when I do things that could be called psychic, I don't assume I am psychic. I just happened to stumble into a conversation with non-physical entities. I could distort or mishear. I could misinterpret. I could be hearing someone else's conversation. My purpose is to start a dialogue. It is through the dialogue that meaning emerges, not through my actions or knowledge or expertise."
P.183 "I prefer the underlying assumption of narrative medicine (that we can change) to those of conventional biomedicine (that we are prisoners of our genetics and our biology.)"
P. 204 "Knowledge ... Cannot be separated from the conversation going on between the people involved. Knowledge is not separate from society."
What I am doing (especially as a doula, but also as a childbirth mentor and as a religious educator) is making connections between all the different narratives present in parents' lives. I connect/interpret the medical narrative to the personal growth narrative to the family narrative, the mom's narrative with the dad's narrative, etc.
Also, the healing process he is describing is a process that always starts with acceptance - that this is how things are and that we aren't controlling what will happen, simply doing what appears to be the next right thing to do.
Description of study on which doctors get sued & which don't on p. 8 - wow!
p. 15 "We use survival curves and statistics to talk about disease as if it were independent of the people who have it and their stories. This so-called natural history approach is grounded in the idea that the patient and her family and culture have no relevance to survival. It usually ignores the stories of the 3 percent a the far end of the survival curve who live much longer than the mean."
P. 36 "to be a good criminal, drug addict, schizophrenic, or gang member is often more accessible than achieving the American dream."
P. 47 "I am in awe of how the mainstream has stripped nature of its power. I can't understand why so many humans insist on being so isolated and alone. Perhaps it makes them feel powerful."
P. 88 "unlike conventional medicine, narrative medicine is postmodern. It cannot be sure of itself. It relies upon diversity to sort out what works and what doesn't. It is forever a mixture of all the voices that song it into being."
P. 101 "what if we move away from medicine as a natural science and toward medicine as a systems science ...?"
P. 171 "We can't assume that the information we think we are getting from spirit communication is correct. Even when I do things that could be called psychic, I don't assume I am psychic. I just happened to stumble into a conversation with non-physical entities. I could distort or mishear. I could misinterpret. I could be hearing someone else's conversation. My purpose is to start a dialogue. It is through the dialogue that meaning emerges, not through my actions or knowledge or expertise."
P.183 "I prefer the underlying assumption of narrative medicine (that we can change) to those of conventional biomedicine (that we are prisoners of our genetics and our biology.)"
P. 204 "Knowledge ... Cannot be separated from the conversation going on between the people involved. Knowledge is not separate from society."
What I am doing (especially as a doula, but also as a childbirth mentor and as a religious educator) is making connections between all the different narratives present in parents' lives. I connect/interpret the medical narrative to the personal growth narrative to the family narrative, the mom's narrative with the dad's narrative, etc.
Also, the healing process he is describing is a process that always starts with acceptance - that this is how things are and that we aren't controlling what will happen, simply doing what appears to be the next right thing to do.
December 3, 2018
Great deep dive into the art of narrative medicine for a newcomer to this field like me!
October 14, 2015
Modern medicine needs this more expansive, integrative view of health. This book sheds light on the incredible hubris of western medicine in thinking that it has achieved understanding that far surpasses indigenous cultures. As a physician who is disillusioned with the dehumanizing approaches of modern medicine, I appreciate the acknowledgement of the uniqueness of every patient's story and the importance of narrative in healing.
February 11, 2009
I learned that we need to take an active role in our own healing, seek a variety of options and not trust Euro-American Medicine. What stories are we telling ourselves? Connections and community are key to healing.
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March 24, 2008Very interested in your opinion -
May 16, 2011
This is some good stuff. Best to keep it out of sight of the authorities.
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August 1, 2018Some interesting ideas about sickness and healing.....that which is not totally rooted in just disease but in looking at the bigger picture to seek causes.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews