With the advent of mind-body medicine, it is now possible to combine the healing principles of both the medical and spiritual fields. To this end, Dr. Phil Shapiro has developed a ten-step, self-help model that he uses himself and teaches to his students and patients. After you have received your medication, surgery, or natural remedy and you are still in pain, there are a variety of psychosocial and spiritual methods that can help you manage that pain skillfully. The ten-step model described in this book is a composite of healing principles and methods extracted from the great wisdom traditions and organized into cognitive-behavioral practices. These techniques are designed to help the reader accomplish three goals: 1. Expand healing power: for body, mind, and soul 2. Become more skillful pain managers: for any pain, problem, disease, or disability 3. Evolve spiritually: feel better, become a better person, and experience higher states of consciousness To take advantage of the healing principles embedded in the religions, we need to solve the problem of toxic language and traumatic religious history. There is a way to do this. We can design healing models that serve people of all persuasions: Baptists, Sufis, ethical humanists, scientific atheists, true believers, true non-believers-all of us have the same magnificent healing power in every cell of our bodies, and we know how to make it grow. The ten steps do not declare answers to life's big questions, such as why we are born, why there is so much suffering and evil, whether there is a God, and where we go after death. However, we can apply the wealth of healing wisdom in the great faith traditions to help us manage our pain and heal. This book is written for atheists, agnostics, religious or spiritual persons. Anyone can play in the expanded field of healing power.
I got this book because its author was featured in the Oregonian as a psychiatrist who works with chronic homeless people. His book sounded interesting and I was wondering if I could use some of his steps to help manage the psoriasis that has taken up residence on my body. The chapters are short and the writing style is abrupt. There are questions at the end of every chapter which would be good for discussion. I did not finish this book because all of my reading tasks overwhelmed me and it needed to go back to the library. I may read it again.