The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine

Harrington, Anne. The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008.

Harrington set for herself the task of finding what else causes illness and cures it when medical explanations are insufficient. She attempts through the telling of stories to define a cultural history of mind-body medicine and finds that it does not respect boundaries between professional and popular explanations. Harrison’s stories begin with the Judaic Second Temple Period (ca. 200 BCE) with its records of roving demonic forces and concludes with modern Eastern meditation practices. Despite modern scientific research in brain science, the mapping of the human genome and the multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical business, the “mind-body” connection persists through the ages. Of note for researchers on Christian Science, Harrison describes its role within the context of the American “mind-cure” movement of the 19th and 20th centuries. Two competing groups began to come together uneasily: scientists and doctors with a natural explanation, and those who make less distinction between the powers of God and the human mind. Christian Science is in the latter group but is distinguished from the others with its full commitment to the power of God (Mind). Consistent with other systems of non-medical cure, Christian Science also drew on the larger currents of anti-authoritarianism and individualism to encourage individual healers.

ISBN-10: 0393333973
ISBN-13 (Softcover): 978-0393333978