Paradox and Healing

by Michael T. Greenwood

Book Overview

This book takes a look at the problem of chronic illness and chronic pain and offers new insight into their origins, their meaning in our lives and the very real opportunity they present for our... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 096958220X
• ISBN13: 9780969582205
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Atrium Publishers Group
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A physician's review of Paradox and Healing

BRAVING THE VOID Journeys into Healing Book review By Dr. Stephen J. FaulknerDuncan, B.C. For physicians and health care workers who are interested in Energy Healing and holistic approaches to health care, this book is a landmark work. Dr. Michael Greenwood's second book "Braving the Void - Journeys into Healing" is a well written, easy to read account of his experiences and insights as a physician and acupuncturist at the Victoria Pain Clinic. Physicians in primary care reading this book will immediately resonate with some of his ideas on chronic pain and chronic illness. For example, the discussion of the doctor-patient relationship and the increasing trend of modern medicine to practice by protocols and algorithms using "evidence based" treatments is very relevant. "To suggest one form of treatment is good for all people in all situations seems patently absurd, yet physicians have allowed fear to provoke them to abandon their inner strength and relinquish their authority when dealing with patients" The concept of the void, which was initially developed in his first book, "Paradox and Healing", co-authored with Dr. Peter Nunn, is one that is best experienced to be appreciated and understood. Having experienced the void myself in therapeutic situations it is something I believe all holistic physicians and healers must experience and enter into periodically to be fully aware of what is happening both for themselves and their patients. Michael Greenwood has embraced this belief and, together with his other staff members, has developed a model for energy healing for conditions as diverse as chronic back pain and chronic fatigue, to breast cancer and multiple personality disorder. Other areas I found extremely interesting were the case histories on phantom limb pain, electrical burns and shamanic possessions. Dealing with these "energies" can be extremely fatiguing and at times frightening, and Dr. Greenwood has been very modest about his experiences. He should be considered the James Cook of the human psyche, beginning to chart new continents and oceans of human energy, which have been previously "Terra Incognito" to western minds. His medical training is the navigational equipment required to prevent him landing on the rocks and his skills as a humane physician and acupuncturist the gift that provides safety through the gale-force winds and ocean storms. This kind of work, dealing with chronic pain and the failures of so many other "so called" orthodox treatments also brings up the shadow work that a healthy society must engage in for its survival. As Michael suggests, our health care system is all too ready to focus on the "light" and "positive" aspects of our culture but reluctant to approach the "dark" or "negative" aspects. This is not the kind of work for the faint-hearted. A willingness to explore one's own shadow side and belief system is essential if one is going to navigate the unpalatable places of the client's psyche. Fortunately for u

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For anyone in the healing arts who ponders and struggles with patients and their chronic diseases, this is a must read. Both authors re-evaluate the dilemna of chronic illness and pain from a holistic standpoint. Western medicine has fared poorly when it comes to chronic problems which is frustrating for both "healer" and "patient". However, by reframing the approach to sickness, chronic disease can be viewed as a transformational process. Disease and healing, the authors contend, are one in the same. Conventional medicine fails to acknowledge the emotional side of disease because of its "irrationality". We only recognize the "structural" aspects of disease because of its inherent rationality. Unfortunately the most perplexing problems in medicine cannot be adequately dealt with by the rational approach alone. As a society, though, approaching from the irrational standpoint is taboo. By embracing both the rational and irrational, patients can begin the personal transformation necessary to heal themselves. A concept quite foreign to the conventional practitioner. To quote the authors: "Transformation is a profound change of heart made possible by the renewed sense of being which comes from facing the paradoxical nature of our existence." In order to illustrate the concept of transformation, the authors drawn upon myths. Unlike other teaching tools, myths provide a venue for the irrational to interact with the rational. This offers a valuable opportunity to evaluate the functional and structural aspects of illness. For the western trained mind this book can be a revelation but for some it will certainly be considered heretical. This book matches crisp insight with a fervent mission to challenge even the most "holy" of western medical beliefs.