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When The Body Says No

The Cost of Hidden Stress
By:
Gabor Maté
308 pages
Paperback Book
Publisher: 
Random House
 | 
February, 2004
ISBN:
9780676973129
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Banyen's Description: 

From an early age many of us develop a coping style that keeps us out of touch with signs of stress, and suppresses so-called negative emotions, particularly anger. This deservedly popular book shows how such “hidden stress” is related to the onset of chronic diseases.

Western medicine, alas, is often helpless in arresting the advance of most of the chronic diseases—breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and many others. When the Body Says No, by Vancouver physician Gabor Maté, shows how in all these chronic conditions, there is a common thread: people afflicted by these diseases have led lives of excessive stress, often invisible to the individuals themselves. Maté explores these connections through life stories and intimate interviews with dozens of people who have lived, died, and sometimes overcome chronic illnesses. The interviewees’ stories are often touching and haunting, and are interspersed with chapters dealing with stress, emotional repression, hormones, the “cancer personality,” the biology of relationships, and the power of negative thinking. The author has worked as a palliative care specialist, a psycho-therapist, and a caregiver for people who are living on the street, so he is up to the task of tackling complex medical issues.

Providing poignant insights into how disease is often the body’s way of saying “no” to what the mind cannot or will not acknowledge, When the Body Says No is an impressive contribution to current literature on the physiological connections among life’s stresses, emotions and the body systems governing nerves, immune apparatus and hormones. With great compassion and erudition, Gabor Maté weaves his findings with the stories of famous people who’ve lived with chronic illness, such as Ronald Reagan, Gilda Radner, and Stephen Hawking. He emphasizes that to decipher the hidden factors in chronic illness, we should not blame the victim, but look to address the unintentional transmission of stress and anxiety through the body and across the generations.

 

 

All readers will be grateful for the final chapter, “The Seven A’s of Healing,” which presents an open formula for healing and the prevention of illness resulting from hidden stress. It is a gift to us all.

Also by Gabor Maté is Scattered Minds.

 

 

Publisher’s Description: 

In this accessible and groundbreaking book -- filled with the moving stories of real people -- medical doctor and bestselling author of Scattered Minds, Gabor Mat, shows that emotion and psychological stress play a powerful role in the onset of chronic illness.

Western medicine achieves spectacular triumphs when dealing with acute conditions such as fractured bones or life-threatening infections. It is less successful against ailments not susceptible to the quick ministrations of scalpel, antibiotic or miracle drug. Trained to consider mind and body separately, physicians are often helpless in arresting the advance of most of the chronic diseases, such as breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohns disease, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and even Alzheimers disease.

Gabor Mat has found that in all of these chronic conditions, there is a common thread: people afflicted by these diseases have led lives of excessive stress, often invisible to the individuals themselves. From an early age, many of us develop a psychological coping style that keeps us out of touch with the signs of stress. So-called negative emotions, particularly anger, are suppressed. Dr. Mat writes with great conviction that knowledge of how stress and disease are connected is essential to prevent illness in the first place, or to facilitate healing.

When the Body Says No is an impressive contribution to current research on the physiological connection between lifes stresses and emotions and the body systems governing nerves, immune apparatus and hormones. With great compassion and erudition, Gabor Mat demystifies medical science and, as he did in Scattered Minds, invites us all to be our own health advocates.

Excerpt from When the Body Says No
Only an intellectual luddite would deny the enormous benefits that have accrued to humankind from the scrupulous application of scientific methods. But not all aspects of illness can be reduced to facts verified by double-blind studies and by the strictest scientific techniques. We confine ourselves to a narrow realm indeed if we exclude from accepted knowledge the contributions of human experience and insight. . . .

In 1892 William Osler, one of the greatest physicians of all time, suspected rheumatoid arthritis to be a stress-related disorder. Today rheumatology all but ignores that wisdom, despite the supporting scientific evidence that has accumulated in the 110 years since Osler first published his text. That is where the narrow scientific approach has brought the practice of medicine. Elevating modern science to be the final arbiter of our sufferings, we have been too eager to discard the insights of previous ages.


From the Hardcover edition.

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