Complementary Therapies in Context: The Psychology of Healing

As one who believes in complementary medical therapies, I was excited to review Complementary Therapies in Context, by Helen Graham, lecturer in psychology at the University of Keele in England. Ms. Graham published the first edition of this book in 1990 under the title Time, Energy, and Psychology of Healing.

My initial enthusiasm quickly gave way to confusion and disappointment as I read chapter 1, in which Ms. Graham demonizes traditional Western medicine. If my curiosity had not been piqued by the titles of some of the other chapters, I would have closed the book for good right then and there. The remaining 12 chapters offer a great deal of well-written and well-researched content, which is organized into three parts. Part 1 explores ancient, modern, Eastern, and Western perspectives on healing. The second part discusses the theory and practice of meditation, hypnosis, relaxation, visualization, and other "timely interventions" as complementary treatments. Part 3 describes the various energetic, psychosomatic, and psychoenergetic treatments available as complementary medicine.

These substantive chapters contain comprehensive reviews of their various topics. However, I found them to be on the dry side, making for somewhat tedious reading. Also, although the chapters contain numerous references, few are more recent than 1990—a notable shortcoming, given the profusion of well-written articles and books on complementary medicine published since then.

The final chapter, "Time, Energy, and Healing," is a disappointing five pages that does little to summarize or integrate the wealth of information in the book. Ms. Graham describes the need for a "biopsychosocial" paradigm in medicine—the very paradigm to which I was introduced as a first-year medical student in 1982.

All in all, Complementary Therapies in Context is a good, though dry, resource book about the various nontraditional medical interventions, some over 4,000 years old. However, by demonizing Western medicine, Ms. Graham undermines the very premise of "complementary medicine," which is an integrated and holistic paradigm that uses the best of all treatments to facilitate healing in each unique individual.

Dr. Miller is medical director of the Center for Health and Well-Being in Exeter, New Hampshire.