In this dramatic new approach to understanding personal health, Dr. Pelletier shows how lifelong good health is far more dependent on a positive, purposeful life orientation than on aerobic workouts and rigid low-fat diets. He challenges the medical community's long-accepted focus on the "disease model" and proposes a positive new health paradigm.
Sound Mind, Sound Body examines the lives of people who are rarely ill, who manage aging successfully, or who cope extremely well with both acute and chronic illness -- and describes how they do it. Among Dr. Pelletier's fascinating findings:
-- People who overcome serious illness or physical trauma in childhood are often actually strengthened -- not debilitated -- by the experience.
-- People who enjoy a sense of belonging and a real connection with others generally pass through periods of intense stress and remain untouched by illness.
-- Altruistic work is closely related to the ability to overcome life-threatening crises and disease.
-- There is a healthy way of being ill, which can help a person manage such chronic problems as arthritis and heart disease.
In addition, Sound Mind, Sound Body offers practical, effective techniques to help anyone achieve physical, mental, and emotional equilibrium and enjoy a lifetime of optimal health.