2021/03/30

Andrew Weil - Wikipedia

 Andrew Weil - Wikipedia


Andrew Weil

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Andrew Weil
Born
Andrew Thomas Weil

June 8, 1942 (age 78)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materHarvard University
OccupationCelebrity doctor, author

Andrew Thomas Weil (/wl/, born June 8, 1942) is an American celebrity doctor who advocates for alternative medicine.[1][2][3][4][5]

Weil became interested in the ideas and practices of complementary and alternative medicine, and went on to play a seminal role in codifying and establishing the emerging field of integrative medicine, which aims to combine alternative medicine, conventional evidence-based medicine, and other practices into a higher-order "system of systems" to address human healing via action in multiple "dimensions" (biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual).

In 1994, Weil founded and has since directed the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, today the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. As of 2015, Weil serves as an academician at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, where he is Lovell-Jones Professor of Integrative Rheumatology, Clinical Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Public Health.

He served as founding editor of a seminal Oxford University Press series offering medical best-practice methods alongside yet-to-be-proven ones, the Weil Integrative Medicine Library (2009-2015), which includes specialty volumes in oncology, cardiology, rheumatology, pediatrics, psychology, and other specialties.

Weil has given extensive efforts to popular communication encouraging patients to incorporate alternative therapies—use of nutritional supplementsmeditation and "spiritual" strategies, etc.—into conventional treatment plans. His many broad, health-related books include Spontaneous Healing (1995), Eight Weeks to Optimum Health (1997), Eating Well for Optimum Health (2000), The Healthy Kitchen (2002, with chef Rosie Daley), and Healthy Aging (2005), several of which have appeared on recognized best seller lists. Weil blogs for The Huffington Post, and occasionally writes for Time magazine (and was recognized in a global 100 list of influential people by them in 2005).

In addition to his publisher-offered print, electronic, and audio products, Weil has founded several commercial enterprises (e.g., DrWeill.com and drweilproducts.com) to offer information, consulting services, and various products; in this regard, the "Dr. Andrew Weil" name represents both the individual, and a clear commercial brand. Services through Weil's businesses include vitamin advice and subscription websites paralleling his popular books. Products offered include vitamins, personal hygiene and skin care items, orthotics and footwear, medical devices, food preparation equipment, and a food product line. Registered trademarks of the brand include the Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins skin care/cosmetic and Dr. Andrew Weil Integrative Footwear lines.

Weil has been criticized for specific cases where he has appeared to reject aspects of evidence-based medicine, or promote unverified beliefs; and critiques by scientific watchdog organizations for his failing to disclaim in cases of his writings that have had connections to his own commercial interests, as well as for his and his peers downplaying social, structural, and environmental factors that contribute to the etiology of disease in the West, and for the clear component of entrepreneurialism associated with his establishing his brand of health care services and products. He refused to be interviewed by Frontline for their January 19, 2016 episode about health supplements.[6]

Subject and brand descriptions[edit]

Andrew Weil, as individual and brand,[7] is described by Encyclopædia Britannica as an "American physician and popularizer of alternative and integrative medicine,"[8] and by his 2015 publishers, Little, Brown/Hachette, as "the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine" and "author of several bestselling books."[9] He is described by Hans Baer as a "Holistic Health/New Age Guru" (alongside Deepak Chopra), and as a biomedically trained physician who has "emerged as [a] visible and financially successful spokesperso[n]" of the holistic health/New Age movement.[10][11] Weil provides extensive biographical information about himself at his DrWeil.com informational and commercial website;[12] in his about.me page, which links from his commercial site, he describes himself as "Physician, Best-Selling Author, Speaker & Integrative Medicine Thought-Leader" and "a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing oriented approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit."[13]

Early life and education[edit]

Early years[edit]

Andrew Thomas Weil was born in Philadelphia on June 8, 1942,[8] the only child of parents who operated a millinery store,[8] in a family that was Reform Jewish.[14] He graduated from high school in 1959 and was awarded a scholarship from the American Association for the United Nations,[8] giving him the opportunity go abroad for a year, living with families in India, Thailand, and Greece.[citation needed] From this experience he became convinced that in many ways American culture and science was insular and unaware of non-American practices. He began hearing that mescaline enhanced creativity and produced visionary experiences, and finding little information on the subject, he read The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley.[when?][15]:24f

Undergraduate period[edit]

Weil entered Harvard University in 1960, majoring in biology with a concentration in ethnobotany.[8] He had an early curiosity regarding psychoactive drugs, and in that period, met Harvard psychologists Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, and separately engaged in organized experimentation with mescaline.[16] Weil would write for and eventually serve as an editor of the Harvard Crimson.[15]:86[17] One published account of the period describes a falling out of Weil from the group that included the faculty—among whom the experimentation with drugs was contentious, and with regard to undergraduates, proscribed;[18][19] the falling out involved an exposé on drug-use and supply that Weil wrote for the Crimson.[16] Weil wrote of faculty experimentation with drugs in a series of Crimson pieces:[20]

  • "Better Than a Damn," (February 20, 1962), his apparent first Crimson piece;[17][21]
  • "Alpert Defends Drugs on ‘Open End,’" (May 27, 1963);[22] and
  • "Investigation Unlikely in Dismissal of Alpert," (May 29, 1963).[23]

and that this reporting included the claim that "undergraduates had indeed been able to obtain access to psilocybin from members" of the Harvard faculty research team that was involved in such research.[20] As late as 1973, Weil's name appears in conjunction with an editorial regarding the 1963 firing of Alpert, which stated the view that it would be "unfortunate if the firing of Richard Alpert led to the suppression of legitimate research into the effects of hallucinogenic compounds," distancing himself and the Crimson from the "shoddiness of their work as scientists… less [the result] of incompetence than of a conscious rejection of scientific ways of looking at things."[24]

Weil's undergraduate thesis was titled "The Use of Nutmeg as a Psychotropic Agent,"[16] specifically, on the narcotic properties of nutmeg,[25] inspired by a class with David McClelland,[citation needed] chair of the Department of Social Relations, and a former director of Harvard's Center for Research in Personality.[19] In 1964, he graduated cum laude with a B.A. in biology.[8]

Medical training[edit]

Weil entered Harvard Medical School, "not with the intention of becoming a physician but rather simply to obtain a medical education."[8] He received a medical degree in 1968,[10][11][26] although "the Harvard faculty… threatened to withhold it because of a controversial marijuana study Weil had helped conduct" in his final year.[8] Weil moved to San Francisco and completed a one-year medical internship at Mount Zion Hospital in 1968–69.[10][11][27] While there, volunteered at the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic.[citation needed] Weil went on to complete one year of a two-year program at NIH, resigning due to "official opposition to his work with marijuana."[27]

Career[edit]

Following his internship, Weil took a position with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) that lasted approximately one year, to pursue his interests in research on marijuana and other drugs;[10][11] during this time he may have received formal institutional permission to acquire marijuana for the research.[15]:145f

Weil is reported to have experienced opposition to this line of inquiry at the NIMH, to have departed to his rural northern Virginia home (1971-1972), and to have begun his practices of vegetarianism, yoga, and meditation, and work on writing The Natural Mind (1972).[10][11] At the same time, Weil began an affiliation with the Harvard Botanical Museum that would span from 1971 to 1984, where his work included duties as a research associate investigating "the properties of medicinal and psychoactive plants."[10][11] His interests led him to explore the healing systems of indigenous people, and with this aim, Weil traveled throughout South America and other parts of the world, "collecting information about medicinal plants and healing," from 1971 to 1975, as a fellow for the Institute of Current World Affairs.[10][11][28]

In 1994, Weil founded the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona, where he serves as its director.[29][better source needed]

Andrew Weil is the founder of True Food Kitchen, a restaurant chain serving meals on the premise that food should make you feel better. There are currently 32 restaurants in the chain.

View of conventional medicine[edit]

Evidence-based medicine is a stated central component of the higher-order "system of systems" Weil envisions integrative medicine to be.[30] It is clear that in both scholarly/academic and popular settings, Weil's statements suggest practices from alternative therapies as being something to add to conventional medical treatment plans.[30][31] However, Weil is also on record speaking disparagingly of conventional, evidence-based medicine, both in academic and popular contexts. For instance, he is quoted as having said to a group commencing after a month-long training program in integrative medicine at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine that "that evidence-based medicine, at its worst, 'is exactly analogous to religious fundamentalism'" (though the source leaves unclear whether any specific aspect of evidence-based medicine was given).[7]

Influences and philosophy[edit]

Weil acknowledges many experiences and individuals that have influenced his philosophical and spiritual ideas, and the techniques he considers valid in his approach to medicine.[citation needed] Weil has been open about his own history of experimental and recreational drug use, including experiences with narcotics and mind-altering substances.[32] Among the individuals who strongly influenced his personal and professional life is the late osteopath Robert C. Fulford, who specialized in cranial manipulation.[33][34][page needed] Weil has further stated that he respects the work of psychologist Martin Seligman, who pioneered the field of positive psychology and now directs the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania.[citation needed] Weil has also professed admiration for the work of Stephen Ilardi, professor of psychology at the University of Kansas, and author of The Depression Cure.[35]

Weil is widely recognized as having a seminal role in establishing the field of integrative medicine,[citation needed] where this field is defined as:

"a higher-order system of systems of care that emphasizes wellness and healing of the entire person (bio-psycho-socio-spiritual dimensions) as primary goals, drawing on both conventional and CAM [complementary and alternative medicine] approaches in the context of a supportive and effective physician-patient relationship.[30]

He says that patients are urged to take the Western medicine prescribed by their physicians,[citation needed] and—in what Publishers Weekly describes as a message "becoming a signature formula"— "bend the 'biomedical model' [conventional, evidence-based medicine] to incorporate alternative therapies, including supplements like omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and herbal remedies; [and] meditation and other 'spiritual' strategies."[31] Proper nutritionexercise, and stress reduction are also emphasized by Weil.[31] In particular, he is a proponent of diets that are rich in organic fruits, organic vegetables, and fish, and is a vocal critic of foods and diets rich in partially hydrogenated oils.[citation needed] In an interview on Larry King Live, Weil focused on a view that sugar, starch, refined carbohydrates, and trans-fats are more dangerous to the human body than saturated fats.[full citation needed]

Regarding treatment strategies, their side effects, and their efficacy, Weil advocates for the use of whole plants as a less problematic approach in comparison to synthetic pharmaceuticals.[citation needed] In addition, Weil is an advocate of incorporating specific medicinal mushrooms[clarification needed] into one's daily diet.[dubious ][citation needed]

Weil has expressed opposition to the war on drugs, citing benefits of many banned plants.[dubious ][citation needed]

Publications[edit]

Overview[edit]

While Weil's early books and publications primarily explored altered states of consciousness,[citation needed] he has since expanded the scope of his work to encompass healthy lifestyles and health care in general.[citation needed] In the last ten years, Weil has focused much of his work on the health concerns of older people.[citation needed] In his book Healthy Aging, Weil looks at the process of growing older from a physical, social, and cross-cultural perspective,[citation needed] and in his book Why our Health Matters is focused on health care reform.[citation needed]

Of his books, several have appeared on various bestseller lists, both as hardbacks and as paperbacks (many appearing so in the 1990s[36]), some of them being Spontaneous Healing (1995; on the NYT list),[37][better source needed] Eight Weeks to Optimum Health (1997; on the PW and NYT lists),[37][38][better source needed] Eating Well for Optimum Health (2000; PW, NYT),[37][38][better source needed] The Healthy Kitchen (2002, with chef Rosie Daley; NYT),[37][better source needed] Healthy Aging (2005; NYT),[37][better source needed] and Spontaneous Happiness (2011; NYT).[37][better source needed]

List of popular works[edit]

Books[edit]

Ask Dr. Weil collections[edit]

Published collections of answers to questions received on his DrWeil.com website:

Audio-only publications[edit]

In addition to the foregoing individual paperback, hardback, audio, and electronic versions, various combined and compendia editions have appeared.[citation needed]

Academic works[edit]

As of 2015, Weil was serving as series editor of an academic imprint from Oxford University Press called the Weil Integrative Medicine Library, volumes for clinicians in more than 10 medical specialties, including oncology, cardiology, rheumatology, pediatrics, and psychology.[39] Weil co-edited the first volume, Integrative Oncology, with Donald Abrams, which appeared in 2009.[29] Academic and scholarly reviews of the series and individual volumes were lacking as of 2015—in almost all cases, the publisher's "Reviews and Awards" tabs lack society or other published reviews (apart from Doody's).[40] A cancer society review of the second edition of the series' Integrative Oncology volume, the first volume to have been published, describes the field as "an exciting new discipline" and the book as offering "best-practice methods to prevent cancer and support those affected by it on all levels: body, mind, and spirit" and as being comprehensive, and offering "meticulous, well-written chapters on proven and yet-to-be-proven methods for enhancing cancer care with integrative oncology."[41]

Other works[edit]

Weil was a regular contributor to High Times magazine from 1975 to 1983.[42] More recently, Weil has written the forewords to a variety of books, including Paul Stamets's Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World[43] and Lewis Mehl-Madrona's Coyote Medicine.[44] In the 21st century, Weil has occasionally written articles for Time magazine.[45]

Affiliated commercial operations[edit]

In addition to the informational print and corresponding electronic and audio products that Andrew Weil offers through publishers, Weil is affiliated with DrWeill.com and drweilproducts.com and offers these and variety of other products through these and a wide variety of other associated e-business and commercial ventures; in this regard, the "Dr. Andrew Weil" name can be understood to represent both an individual and a brand.[7][46][47] Services though these businesses include vitamin advice,[47][better source needed] and subscription websites associated with his Optimum Health, Healthy Aging, and Spontaneous Happiness publications (i.e., some popular titles with regard to sales).[47][better source needed][37][38][better source needed] Products include:[47][better source needed]

  • vitamins,
  • items for personal hygiene and skin care (e.g., the Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins line),
  • orthotics and foot ware (Vionic with Orthaheel and Dr. Andrew Weil Integrative Footwear lines),
  • medical devices (RESPeRATE for hypertension),
  • food preparation equipment (blenders, extractors, mixers, and rice and slow cookers), as well as a
  • food product line (salmon sausage products).

According to DrWeil.com, "Dr. Weil donates all of his after-tax profits from the sale of Weil Lifestyle natural health products[clarification needed] to the Weil Foundation. The Weil Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3), is dedicated to sustaining the vision of integrative medicine by improving the training of health care professionals; educating the public about health, healing, and nutrition; reforming public policies governing health care; and researching the application of integrative medicine."[This quote needs a citation][better source needed]

Critiques and controversies[edit]

Medical[edit]

Medical professionals in particular have criticized Weil for promoting treatment claims and alternative medicine practices described as unverified or inefficacious, or for otherwise rejecting aspects of evidence-based medicine. Weil's rejection of some aspects of evidence-based medicine and his promotion of alternative medicine practices that are not verifiably efficacious were criticized in a 1998 New Republic piece by Arnold S. Relman, emeritus editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine and emeritus professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.[48] The late Barry Beyerstein of Simon Fraser University, writing in the journal Academic Medicine in 2001, criticized Weil and various aspects of complementary and alternative medicine, asserting that it held a "magical world-view"; he continued, saying,

On advocating emotional criteria for truth over criteria based on empirical data and logic, New Age medical gurus such as Andrew Weil… have convinced many that 'anything goes'… By denigrating science, these detractors have enlarged the potential following for magical and pseudoscientific health products.[49]

In 2003, Steven Knope, author of The Body/Mind Connection (2000),[full citation needed] a physician trained at Weill Cornell Medical College, and former Chair of the Department of Medicine in the Tucson, Arizona, Carondelet system, criticized Weil in a televised discussion for what he considered irresponsible advocacy of untested treatments.[50] Simon Singh, a recognized British science writer, and Edzard Ernst, a former Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, echoed Beyerstein's criticism in their 2008 book Trick or Treatment, saying that while Weil correctly promotes exercise and smoke-free lifestyles, "much of his advice is nonsense."[51]

Social[edit]

Hans Baer of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Arkansas, writing in 2003, has argued that Weil's approach represents a general limitation of the holistic health/New Age movement, in its "tendenc[y] to downplay the role of social, structural, and environmental factors in the etiology of disease" in the United States, and in doing so, represents a failure to "suggest substantive remedies for improving access to health care," generally, for the "millions of people who lack any type go health insurance…"; at the same time, Baer notes (with negative connotations) that Weil instead contributes "to a long tradition of entrepreneurialism in the U.S. medical system."[10][11]:20,29,119,130ff

Ethical[edit]

Beginning in 2006, as the result of his commercial ventures, Weil—as David Gumpert has described—has placed himself in the "awkward position of... having to defend himself against charges of inappropriately exploiting his medical-celebrity status."[3] Commenting on a cover article in a recent 2006 edition of the Center for Science in the Public Interest's "highly respected" Nutrition Action Healthletter,[2] Gumpert called attention to:

  • a $14 million deal Weil's business enterprise had made with drugstore.com,[2][3]
  • the DrWeil.com personalized service of recommending supplements (purchase of which are made easy via DrWeil.com and drugstore.com),[2][3]
  • long-standing recommendations for supplements appearing despite studies questioning their efficacy,[2][3] and to
  • the clear nature of the pressures on Weil because of the deals, and the clear consanguinity of person and brand.[3]

The Forbes article noted, in particular, drugstore.com's 2005 lawsuit against DrWeil.com for Weil's having "failed to perform any of his marketing obligations," noting that in a 2004 Larry King Live interview, Weil failed to promote this business partner, despite the program offering "reasonable opportunity for Weil to use efforts to promote drugstore.com."[3] Moreover, the CSPI's newsletter noted that their investigations into the vitamin and supplement recommendation service led them to conclude that the algorithms behind the recommendations were, by default, set to recommend purchases: regardless of how the online inquiries of the personalized service were answered, "we couldn't get the Advisor to stop recommending that we buy supplements."[2][3] The CSPI article concludes, "Beware of doctors who sell what they recommend."[2][3]

In 2006, the Center for Science in the Public Interest also commented on a Time magazine piece by Weil rebutting a recent JAMA report on the failure of fish oil supplements to significantly reduce risk of serious heart arrhythmias,[52] where he emphasized the benefits of fish oil supplements without a disclaimer that he had a direct commercial interest in the sale of these supplements.[53]

Another specific criticism has been leveled with regard to the message of his Healthy Aging (2005), which argues that aging should be accepted as a natural stage in life,[citation needed] while these skin care products were being sold at Macy's with the advertising claim of the products' "optimiz[ing] skin's defense against aging"—alongside a large picture of Weil.[54]

Weil has also been accused by others in the alternative health movement, in particular, from individuals with less credentialed backgrounds,[verification needed] of being involved in the "dishonest practice of spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt about competitors' products, while pretending to be [an] objective 3rd [party]."[55][better source needed]

Political[edit]

Weil's 1983 Chocolate to Morphine roused the ire of Florida senator Paula Hawkins, "who demanded that the book, a veritable encyclopaedia of various drugs and their effects on humans, be removed from schools and libraries."[8][56]

Formal corrective actions[edit]

In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Weil's Weil Lifestyle LLC, regarding "Unapproved / Uncleared / Unauthorized Products Related to the H1N1 Flu Virus" in particular, a "Notice of Potential Illegal Marketing of Products to Prevent, Treat or Cure the H1N1 Virus H1N1 [influenza] Virus."[57] The FDA was primarily concerned with several implicit claims in Weil Lifestyle LLC's marketing literature, that certain products could help ward off such viruses.[citation needed]

Awards and recognition[edit]

Weil appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1997 and again in 2005, and Time named him one of the 25 most influential Americans in 1997 and one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005.[58] He was inducted into the Academy of Achievement in 1998.[25][59] His "Ask Dr. Weil" website was chosen by ForbesBest of the Web Directory in 2009 for having offered "straightforward tips and advice on achieving wellness through natural means and educating the public on alternative therapies."[60]

Media appearances[edit]

Weil blogs for the Huffington Post[61] and has been a frequent guest on "Larry King Live" on CNN,[62] Oprah,[63] and the "Today" Show.[64] Weil appeared in the 2012 documentary on the need for a "rescue" of American healthcare, Escape Fire.[65][66] He also appeared in the 2019 documentary Fantastic Fungi.[67]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jameson, Marni (14 June 2010). "The cult of celebrity doctors"Los Angeles Times.
  2. Jump up to:a b c d e f g CSPI (January–February 2006). "Supplementing Their Income: How Celebrities Turn Trust Into Cash" (PDF)Nutrition Action Healthletter. Washington, DC, USA: Center for Science in the Public Interest. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  3. Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i Gumpert, David E. (March 27, 2006). "Small Business: Dr. Weil, Heal Thyself"Bloomberg. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  4. ^ Levinovitz, Alan (June 24, 2015). "The Problem With David Perlmutter, the Grain Brain Doctor"New York Magazine.
  5. ^ Pela, Robert (November 1, 2013). "The Path to Weilness"Psychology Today.
  6. ^ "Supplements and Safety".
  7. Jump up to:a b c Anon (April 14, 2012). "Medicine and its rivals: The believers"The Economist. Retrieved 17 November 2015Subtitle: Alternative therapies are increasingly mainstream. That means headaches for scientists—and no cure in sight.
  8. Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i The editors of EB (2015). "Andrew Weil, American Physician," In Encyclopædia Britannica (online, 18 November), see [1], accessed 18 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Fast Food, Good Food"hachettebookgroup.com. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  10. Jump up to:a b c d e f g h Baer, H.A. (2003). "The Work of Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra—Two Holistic Health/New Age Gurus: A Critique of the Holistic Health/New Age Movements," Med. Anthropol. Quart. 17(2, June):233-250, esp. 233f, 236, see [2] and [3]and [4], accessed 20 November 2015.
  11. Jump up to:a b c d e f g h Baer, H. A. (2004). "Deconstructing Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra (Chapter 5)"Toward an Integrative Medicine: Merging Alternative Therapies with BiomedicineMedical Anthropology Quarterly17. Walnut Creek, CA, USA: Rowman & Littlefield/AltaMira. pp. 119–136, esp. 120, 132f, and passimdoi:10.1525/maq.2003.17.2.233ISBN 978-0759103023PMID 12846118S2CID 28219719. Retrieved 18 November2015.
  12. ^ "Fact Sheet"drweil.com. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  13. ^ Andrew Weil; M.D. drweil. "Andrew Weil, M.D. - Tucson, Arizona, United States, Healthy Lifestyle Brands LLC, www.drweil.com, Arizona Center For Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona, Harvard Medical School - about.me"about.me. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  14. ^ By Larissa Macfarquhar, Andrew Weil, Shaman, M.D., New York Times August 24, 1997
  15. Jump up to:a b c Lattin, Don (2010). The Harvard Psychedelic Club(Paperback ed.). New York, NY, USA: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061655944.
  16. Jump up to:a b c Garner, Dwight (January 7, 2010). "Books of the Times: Tune In, Turn On, Turn Page [Review, "The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered In a New Age for America," by Don Lattin]"The New York Times. Retrieved 17 November2015.
  17. Jump up to:a b Anon. (1962). "Writer: Andrew T. Weil"The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  18. ^ Smith, Robert E. (March 15, 1962). "Psychologists Disagree On Psilocybin Research"The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  19. Jump up to:a b Finnegan, John P.; Freed, David (May 27, 2013). "In Early 1960s, Experiments With Hallucinogenics Caused Major Uproar, Minor Shake-up"The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 17 November2015.
  20. Jump up to:a b Doblin, Richard Elliot (2000). "The Evolution of the Regulation of the Medical Uses of Psychedelic Drugs and Marijuana (Chapter 1)" (PDF)Regulation of the Medical Use of Psychedelics and Marijuana (June 2000) (PhD). Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University. pp. 5–69, esp. 36. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  21. ^ Weil, Andrew T. (February 20, 1962). "Better Than a Damn"The Harvard Crimson: 2. Retrieved 17 November 2015Subtitle: From the Bottle.
  22. ^ Weil, Andrew T. (May 27, 1963). "Alpert Defends Drugs on 'Open End'". The Harvard Crimson: 1, 6.
  23. ^ Weil, Andrew T. (May 29, 1963). "Investigation Unlikely in Dismissal of Alpert"The Harvard Crimson: 1. Retrieved 17 November 2015Faculty Members Regret Lack of Details, But See No Issue of Academic Freedom.
  24. ^ Russin, Joseph M.; Weil, Andrew T. (January 24, 1973). "The Crimson Takes Leary, Alpert to Task"The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 17 November 2015'Roles' & 'Games' In William James.
  25. Jump up to:a b "Andrew Weil Biography and Interview"www.achievement.orgAmerican Academy of Achievement.
  26. ^ Lasswell, Mark (25 September 1995). "Mind Opener"People45 (13). Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  27. Jump up to:a b Relman, Arnold (8 March 2002). "A Trip to Stonesville: Some Notes on Andrew Weil, M.D." Quackwatch. Archived from the original on 24 January 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  28. ^ ICWA (2015). "Past Fellows: Andrew T. Weil, Years: 1971-1975, Topic: Altered States of Consciousness, Area: Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, United States". Washington, DC, USA: Institute of Current World Affairs. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  29. Jump up to:a b Integrative Oncologyoup.com. Weil Integrative Medicine Library. Oxford University Press. 2014-09-03. ISBN 9780199329724. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  30. Jump up to:a b c Bell IR, Caspi O, Schwartz GE, Grant KL, Gaudet TW, Rychener D, Maizes V & Weil A (January 2002). "Integrative medicine and systemic outcomes research: issues in the emergence of a new model for primary health care". Arch. Intern. Med162 (2): 133–40. doi:10.1001/archinte.162.2.133PMID 11802746.
  31. Jump up to:a b c Publishers Weekly (August 22, 2011). "Nonfiction Book Review: Spontaneous Happiness, Andrew Weil, author". Publishers Weekly.
  32. ^ Jim Parker; Christina Dye (May–June 1983Z). "No Bad Drugs: Interview with Dr. Andrew Weil". Newservice: 22–31. Archivedfrom the original on March 3, 2009.
  33. ^ Huba, S. (April 2, 1997). "Holistic healing's new role"The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012.
  34. ^ Weil, A. (2011) [1995]. Spontaneous healing. New York, NY, USA: KnopfISBN 9780679436072Subtitle: : How to discover and enhance your body's natural ability to maintain and heal itself.[page needed]
  35. ^ Weil, Andrew (October 30, 2011). "Culture: Andrew Weil's Spontaneous Happiness, Our Nature-Deficit Disorder"Newsweek. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  36. ^ Maryles, Daisy; Riippa, Laurele (March 19, 2001). "How They Landed On Top"Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 25 November2015Subtitle: In fiction, selling what sells; in nonfiction, small became beautiful.
  37. Jump up to:a b c d e f g nyt.com (2015). "Search: "Andrew Weil"". Retrieved 25 November 2015.[better source needed]
  38. Jump up to:a b c Publishers Weekly (March 24, 2008). "Bestselling Books of the Year, 1996-2007"Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  39. ^ "Weil Integrative Medicine Library"oup.com. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  40. ^ E.g., for Integrative Cardiology, note absent tab at [5], and for Integrative Dermatology, note sole appearance of Doody's at [6]
  41. ^ Plana, Ronald (October 15, 2014). "Integrative Oncology: Mind, Body, and More [Bookmark; Title: Integrative Oncology (Second Edition), Editors: Donald I. Abrams, MD, and Andrew T. Weil, MD, Publisher: Oxford University Press…]"The ASCO Post. Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA: American Society of Clinical Oncology. 5(16). Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  42. ^ Simunek, Chris (September 8, 2003). "Grow: Interview, Dr. Andrew Weil"High Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009.
  43. ^ Weil, Andrew (2011) "Foreword," in Paul Stamets, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide, Illustrated Edition, Berkeley, CA, USA: Crown/Ten Speed Press, ISBN 0898158397, see [7], accessed 17 November 2015.
  44. ^ Weil, Andrew (2011) "Foreword," in Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Coyote Medicine: Lessons from Native American Healing, p. 13f, New York, NY, USA: Simon and Schuster, ISBN 1439144540, see [8], accessed 17 November 2015.
  45. ^ "Andrew Weil, M.D." Time. December 11, 2006. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  46. ^ healthylifestylebrands.com (2015). "Companies/Brands: Weil Lifestyle". Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  47. Jump up to:a b c d drweilproducts.com (2015). "Welcome! Dr. Weil Products—Official Marketplace of Andrew Weil, M.D." Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2015.. affiliate partners.
  48. ^ Relman, Arnold S. (December 14, 1998). "A Trip to Stonesville: Andrew Weil, the boom in alternative medicine, and the retreat from science"The New Republic.
  49. ^ Beyerstein, B. L. (2001). "Alternative Medicine and Common Errors of Reasoning". Academic Medicine76 (3): 230–237. doi:10.1097/00001888-200103000-00009PMID 11242572S2CID 41527148.
  50. ^ Buckmaster, Bill (host) (2003). "[A discussion with Drs. Andrew Weil and Steven Knope on alternative medicine], (November 3, 2003)"Arizona IllustratedTucson, Arizona. PBS. KUAT-TV. YouTube title (July 30, 2008): Dr. Steven Knope debates Andrew Weil on the merits of Integrative Medicine (Part I). Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  51. ^ Singh, S. & Edzard, Ernst E. (2008). Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine. New York, NY, USA: W. W. Norton. p. 256. ISBN 9780393337785.
  52. ^ "Supplementing Their Income: How Celebrities Turn Trust Into Cash", (2006) Nutrition Action Newsletter, Center for Science in the Public Interest, January/February 2016, pp 3-6. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Accessed December 28, 2019.
  53. ^ CSPI (June 19, 2006). "Time Runs Andrew Weil Advertorial"CSPI Newsroom: Integrity in Science Watch. Washington, DC, USA: Center for Science in the Public Interest. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  54. ^ Wadler, Joyce (20 October 2005). "What Goes With Gray?"The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  55. ^ Corriher, Sarah C. (2015) "Doctor Andrew Weil: Whose Side Is He Really On?," The Health Wyze Report, (online, undated), see [9], accessed 18 November 2015.
  56. ^ Torgoff, Martin (2004). Can't Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945-2000. New York, NY, USA: Simon and Schuster. p. 431ff. ISBN 978-0743258630. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  57. ^ FDA (2009). "Inspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal Investigations: Compliance Actions and Activities: Warning Letters, Weil Lifestyle LLC [October 15, 2009]". Washington, DC, USA: U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Unapproved/Uncleared/Unauthorized Products Related to the H1N1 Flu Virus; and Notice of Potential Illegal Marketing of Products to Prevent, Treat or Cure the H1N1 Virus.[non-primary source needed][non-primary source needed][better source needed]
  58. ^ Gupta, Sanjay (April 18, 2005). "Andrew Weil - The 2005 TIME 100"TimeArchived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2014.[verification needed][verification needed]
  59. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement"www.achievement.orgAmerican Academy of Achievement.
  60. ^ Forbes.com (2009). "Forbes Best of the Web Directory: Ask Dr. Weil (www.drweil.com)"Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  61. ^ "Dr. Andrew Weil"The Huffington Post. 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  62. ^ "CNN.com - Transcripts". Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  63. ^ "Recipes for Your Heart". Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  64. ^ Weil, Andrew. "Why should I take a vitamin for my health?". Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  65. ^ Catsoulis, Jeanette (October 4, 2012). "Review: Pitting Drug Regimens Against Prevention, 'Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare' [NYT Critics' Pick]"The New York Times. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  66. ^ Turan, Kenneth (October 4, 2012). "Review: 'Escape Fire' Calls for Drastic Changes to U.S. Healthcare"Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 November 2015Subtitle: Filmmakers Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke not only deftly make the case that the system is ill but also effectively argue for a dramatic change in thinking.
  67. ^ https://fantasticfungi.com/

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

독후감 - (죽음이란 무엇인가)셀리 케이건 - 요약정리

독후감 - (죽음이란 무엇인가)셀리 케이건 - 요약정리

(죽음이란 무엇인가)셀리 케이건 - 요약정리
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죽음이란 무엇인가
 
프롤로그 - 삶과 죽음 그리고 영생에 관하여
  • 질문들
  • 사람들대부분은 죽음은 나쁜 것 이라고 여기고 죽음에
  • 대한 생각을 본능적으로 외면하고자 하는데 철학적으로
  • 죽음은 정말 나쁜 것인가?
1장 - 죽음이 끝난 후에도 삶은 계속 되는가
  • 대답은 자명하다. 당연히 ‘아니오다. 죽은 다음에도 살아간다는 것은
  • 자기모순이다.
  • 생물학적 죽음의 단계는 B1(body)에서 Bn으로의 과정이다. ‘죽음’의 진정한 의미는 육체적 죽음 이후를 말하는데
  • ‘육체적 죽음 이후에 나는 계속 존재할까?
  •  인간에 관한 두 가지 관점
  • 1) 인간은 정신과 육체로 이루어져 있다. - 이원론
  • 2) 인간은 곧 ‘육체’다. -물리주의
  • 3)의 관점이 존재 할 수 있다. 오로지 마음,비물질,영혼- 유심론
  • 1)의 관점은 인간의 정신을 비물질적인 존재로 바라본다는 것이다.
  • 이원론에서 육체와 영혼은 서로 ‘작용’한다.

  • (저자는 묻는다.)
  • 그러나 영혼의 위치는 어디에 있는가? 내 영혼이 특정한 위치에 있다는 느낌은 내 몸이 끊임없이 전달하는 감각에 의해 조작된 환상이고 착각일 수 있다.
  • (저자는 영혼의 존재를 믿지 않는다. 라고 하면서)
  • 영혼에 공간이 필요한가에 대한 질문은 영혼의 존재를 믿는 사람에게 맡겨둔다.
  • 영혼과 육신을 믿는 사람들에게 육체적 죽음은 영혼에게 더 이상 영향을 끼치지 않지만 영혼이 사라지지 않는다.
  • 이원론을 받아들일 때 육체적 죽음이후에 살아남을 가능성을 지킬 수 있다.
  • 여기서 질문이 시작된다. 비물직적인 영혼이 정말로 존재할까? 둘째 영혼이 정말로 존재한다면 육체적 죽음이후에도 그대로 남아 있을까?
  • 우리의 영혼은 육체적 죽음 이후 얼마나 더 생존할까?
  • 물리주의 - 육체만으로 이루어진 인간
  • 이원론을 받아들일만한 타당한 근거가 있는가?
  • 인간은 생각하고 판단하고 느끼고 사랑하는 등 다양한 P(persona)기능을 수행하는 육체다.
  • 정신이란 육체가 P기능들을 제대로 수행함으로써 나타나는 현상이다.고로 육체적 기반이 망가지면 정신도 불가능하며 죽음이란 ‘P기능의 종말’을 의미한다.
  • 죽음에는 어떤 미스터리도 없다.
  • 물리주의자들에 정신은 얼마든지 영혼이라고 불리어질 수 있다.
  • 정신이란 무엇인가? 이원론자들은 정신은 곧 영혼이고 영혼은 비물질적인 존재라고 말한다.
  • 물리주의자들은 정신의 존재는 인정하지만 영혼의 존재는 믿지 않는다.
  • 육체는 누가 조정하는가? 자유의지인가 결정론인가 이원론자들의 주장
  • 1)인간은 자유의지를 갖고 있다.
  • 2)결정론의 지배를 받는 존재는 자유의지를 가질 수 없다
  • 3)순수하게 물리적인 존재는 결정론의 지배를 받는다.
  • 4)그러므로 인간은 순수하게 물리적인 존재가 아니다.
  • 위의 명제가 참인가?
  • 인간은 ‘자유의지를 갖고 있다는 환상 속에서 살아가는 물리적 존재‘일따름인가?
  • 양자역학의 해석에 따르면 기초물리학의 법칙은 결정론이 아니다. 물리학의 법칙들을 ‘확률적’이라고 설명한다.
3장 육체 없이 정신만 존재할 수 있는가
  • 데카르트는 육체와 정신은 다르다고 하는데 데카르트이론은 순수하게 사변적이라는 것이다.

  • 여기서 우리는 어떤 경험적 명제를 발견할 수 없고 그의 이론은 철저히 관념적 사고에만 기반을 두고 있다.
  • 육체 없이 영혼이 존재할 수 있다고 ‘생각’할 수 있기 때문에 내 몸과 마음은 서로 다른 존재라고 결론을 내릴 수 있다는 것이다. 데카르트는 ‘육체와 정신이 이론적인 차원에서 서로 다른 존재’라고 말한다.

  • 논리적으로 문제가 없다고 해서 그것이 진실이 아니다.
  • 유니콘을 상상할 수 있다고 해서 유니콘이 실제로 존재한다는 의미는 아니다.

  • 개밥바라기 별과 샛별이 다른 별이 아닌 같은 금성이듯이 육체 없이 정신만 존재할 수 있는 것은 오직 이론적인 세상에서만 가능. 고로 데카르트는 틀렸다.
  • 플라톤의 완벽한 왕국 - 에이도스,이데아, 형상은 측정가능한 일상적인 사물과는 다른 이상적인‘원형’ 또는 ‘기준’ 즉 ‘완벽한 존재’라는 점이다.
  • 완벽한 정의 아름다움 완벽한 원= 플라톤의 형이상학이다. 플라톤의 형상은 물리적인 세상과는 다른 차원에서 존재하는 왕국을 말한다. 플라톤의 형상은 수학의 세계에서는 적용된다.2+3=5 우리는 얼마든지 형상에 대해 생각할 수 있다. 오로지 이성의 세계에서만 가능 
  • 물리적 실체와 형상의 결정적 차이는 경험적 세상이 아니라 시공을 초월한 다른 세계에 존재한다는 사실에 있다.
  • 완벽한 플라톤 왕국의 관점에서 주변을 바라볼 때 주변은 혼돈 그 자체.
  • 플라톤의 형상은 영혼의 불멸과 연결되며 죽음이후의 벌어질 상황에 관심을 가지게 되었다.
  • 영혼이 육체적 죽음으로부터 어떻게 살아남을 수 있다고 장담할 수 있나? 소크라테스는 ‘정의 그 자체’ ‘3’은 물리적 존재가 아니며 육체와 같은 물리적 존재는 결코 이를 이해할 수 없을 거라고 생각했다. 그런데 이성은 형상을 이해할 수 있으므로 비물질적인 존재다. 요약하면
  • 1)형상은 영원하며 비물질적인 존재다.
  • 2)이성은 형상을 이해할 수 있다.
  • 3)영원하며 비물질적인 존재만이 영원하며 비물질적인 존재를 이해 할 수 있다.
  • 4)그러므로 이성은 영원하며 비물질적인 존재다.
  • 5)이성이 비물질적인 존재라는 것은 곧 영혼이라는 의미
  • 6)그러므로 영혼은 영원히 존재한다.

  • 3)의 명제가 참일까? 설득력이 없다. 시체를 연구하기위해 의사가 시체가 되어야 하나. 플라톤의 주장은 타당한가?
  • 소크라테스의 제자 심미아스의 질문 보이지 않는 것도 소멸 가능할까?
  • 화음은 보이지 않지만 소멸가능.
  • 보이지 않는= 1. 볼 수 없다. 2.인식할 수 없다.

  • 3. 발견할 수 없다. -전파

  • 과연 보이지 않는 존재는 소멸하지 않는가
  • 영혼은 절대 발견할 수 없는가
  • 발견 가능성의 의미로 해석할 때 영혼은 발견 가능
  • 뭔가를 믿지 않는다고 해서 그것이 존재하지 않는다는
  • 사실을 밝혀야 할 의무는 없다.(용,유니콘)

  • 인간의 정체성 - 2013년의 ‘나’와 2055년의‘나’는 상태는 다르지만 동일 인물인가?
  • 2045년에 육체적 죽음을 맞이한 뒤에도 ‘나‘는 계속 존재할까? 육체적 죽음뒤에도 지금의 나와 동일한 사람이 존재할 수 있을까? 영혼관점에서는 영혼이 존재한다면 육체가 죽어도 나는 살아남을 것이다. 라고 기대.
  • 하나의 가능성으로 받아들일 수 있다.

  • 영혼관점에서 인간의 정체성을 결정하는 핵심은 영혼이 같아야한다

알라딘: 자연치유

알라딘: 자연치유

자연치유   
앤드류 와일 (지은이),김옥분 (옮긴이)
정신세계사1996-12-09
원제 : Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Embrace Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself


432쪽

책소개

현대의학이 포기한 병을 자연치유력을 통해 극복한 환자들의 치유 사례부터 자연치유력을 증강시키는 실천 프로그램, 치유를 위한 마음자세와 전략적으로 의학을 이용하는 방법까지, 자연치유에 관한 모든 것을 상세히 소개한다.


목차
옮긴이의 말
머리말

제1부 치유체계
1. 치유의 비법을 찾아
2. 가까이에서 발견한 치유
3. 증언하는 사람들
4. 의사들이 행하는 주술
5. 놀라운 치유체계
6. 치유에 미치는 정신의 힘
7. 병 걸리는 인간, 치유하는 몸

제2부 효과적인 치유체계 활용법
8. 치유를 방해하는 요소들
9. 치유를 돕는 식사
10. 독소로부터 자신을 보호하는 방법
11. 강장식품
12. 낮에는 걷고 밤에는 쉬어라
13. 정신과 영혼
14. 치유력 증진을 위한 8주 프로그램

제3부 병을 다스리는 법
15. 적절한 치료법을 선택하는 방법
16. 대체의학의 치료법
17. 치유에 성공하는 환자들의 일곱 가지 전략
18. 일반적인 질병의 관리
19. 치유체계의 영원한 맞수, 암

후기 : 사회를 위한 처방
감사의 말

접기
저자 및 역자소개
앤드류 와일 (Andrew Weil) (지은이) 
하버드 의대 출신의 의학박사. 미국 국립정신건강연구원, 하버드 식물원 등에서 일했다. 현재 애리조나 대학의 '의학의 사회적 전망 강좌' 부책임자 및 '통합의학과정'의 책임자로 있다.
최근작 : <건강하게 나이먹기>,<자연치유> … 총 222종 (모두보기)

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전체 (1)
공감순 
     
이 책은 인간드라마요 명상록이다. 저자는 대체의학분야 대가중의 한분이다.  구매
being-peace 2011-03-09 공감 (1) 댓글 (0)
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Spontaneous Healing : How to Discover and Embrace Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself: Andrew Weil: 9780804117944: Amazon.com: Books

Spontaneous Healing : How to Discover and Embrace Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself: Andrew Weil: 9780804117944: Amazon.com: Books


Spontaneous Healing : How to Discover and Embrace Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself Mass Market Paperback – April 4, 2000
by Andrew Weil (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars    336 ratings
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"DR. ANDREW WEIL IS AN EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON."
--The Washington Post

"MEMORABLE . . . DR. WEIL MAKES HIS CASE CAREFULLY AND CLEARLY."
--The New York Times Book Review

"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED."
--Library Journal (starred review)
From the Inside Flap
The body can heal itself. Spontaneous healing is not a miracle but a fact of biology--the result of the natural healing system that each one of us is born with. Drawing on fascinating case histories as well as medical techniques from around the world, Dr. Andrew Weil shows how spontaneous healing has worked to resolve life-threatening diseases, severe trauma, and chronic pain. Weil then outlines an eight-week program in which you'll discover:
- The truth about spontaneous healing and how it interacts with the mind
- The foods, vitamins, supplements, and tonic herbs that will help you enhance your innate healing powers
- Advice on how to avoid environmental toxins and reduce stress
- The strengths and weaknesses of conventional and alternative treatments
- Natural methods to ameliorate common kinds of illnesses
And much more!
From the Back Cover
The body can heal itself. Spontaneous healing is not a miracle but a fact of biology -- the result of the natural healing system that each one of us is born with. Drawing on fascinating case histories as well as medical techniques from around the world, Dr. Andrew Weil shows how spontaneous healing has resolved life-threatening diseases, severe trauma, and chronic pain. Weil then outlines an eight-week program in which you'll discover:
-- The truth about spontaneous healing and how it interacts with the mind
-- The foods, vitamins, supplements, and tonic herbs that will help you enhance your innate healing powers
-- Advice on how to avoid environmental toxins and reduce stress
-- The strengths and weaknesses of conventional and alternative treatments
-- Natural methods to ameliorate common kinds of illnesses
And much more!

About the Author
Dr. Andrew Weil is a leader in the new field of integrative medicine, which combines the best ideas and practices of Western and alternative medicine. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, he is director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and founder of the Center for Integrative Medicine in Tucson, which is advancing the field worldwide. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. His Web site, "Ask Dr. Weil," is in the top five of all health-related programs on the Internet.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
 
PROLOGUE IN THE RAIN FOREST
 
LET ME TAKE YOU with me to a faraway place I visited more than twenty years ago: the sandy bank of a wide river on a sultry afternoon in 1972. The river was a tributary of the Río Caquetá in the northwest Amazon, near the common border of Colombia and Ecuador, and I was lost. I was searching for a shaman, a Kofán Indian named Pedro, who lived in a remote hut somewhere in the huge, dense forest, but the trail that was supposed to take me there left me at an uncrossable river with no sign of how to proceed. It was getting late in the day.
 
Two days before, after a long, hard drive, I left my Land-Rover at the end of a dirt road and took a motorboat to a tiny frontier settlement, where I spent a restless night. The next day, I found some Indians who took me by canoe to the beginning of a trail they said would eventually bring me to the clearing where Pedro lived. “Half a day’s walk,” they told me, but I knew that half a day’s walk for an Indian might be more for me. I had a backpack with essentials, but not much food, since I expected to be staying with the shaman. After several hours in dark forest, the trail forked. No one had said anything about a fork. I listened for the whisper of intuition and decided to go to the right. After another hour I came upon a clearing with several huts and five Kofán men painting each other’s faces.
 
I was terribly hot and thirsty and asked in Spanish for water. The men ignored me. I asked again. They said they had no water. “No water?!” I exclaimed. “How can that be?” They shrugged and continued to apply their makeup. I asked for the shaman. “Not here,” said one of the Indians. “Where can I find him?” There was an offhanded indication of a trail beyond the huts. “Is it far?” I asked. Another shrug.
 
This was a new experience for me. In the hinterlands of Colombia I had always found Indians to be exceedingly hospitable. It was the inhabitants of the rough frontier towns, the mestizo fortune hunters, who were unfriendly and intimidating. Once I passed through them to Indian territory, I always felt safe, assured that the native people would take in a stranger, help him find his destination, and certainly give water to a thirsty traveler.
 
The five Kofán men were young, handsome, and, obviously, vain. They wore simple cotton tunics, had long, glossy, black hair, and were intently devoted to their cosmetic art. After one would apply new markings to forehead or cheek, the recipient would spend long minutes evaluating the additions in a broken piece of mirrored glass, grunting approval or requesting further embellishment. This was clearly going to take all afternoon. My presence held not the slightest interest for them, and after half an hour of being ignored, I put on my pack and continued down the trail, until, several hours later, it disappeared in a dense thicket at the edge of the big river, leaving me stranded.
 
It was strikingly beautiful there, although I was inclined to view the river and forest more as obstacles than as sources of sensory pleasure. Big, billowy cumulus clouds floated above the canopy of trees. The river was swift and clear. There was not a sign of human presence, no sounds except those of insects and birds. Were it not for the sandflies, small biting pests that are out in great numbers from dawn to dusk, I would not have minded camping there. I had a hammock and mosquito net in my pack and could have spent the night if necessary, but I felt anxious at the prospect of being lost, and discouraged by the fruitlessness of my quest.
 
This shaman, so difficult to reach, was said to be a powerful healer. In a year I spent wandering in South America, most of the shamans I met were disappointing. Some were drunks. Some were clearly out for fame and fortune. One, when he learned I was a doctor from Harvard, was interested only in persuading me to obtain for him a certificate from that institution testifying to his powers so that he could one-up his rivals. I had plenty of adventures during these travels, but in the end, none of them had taught me how to be a better doctor. Pedro was my last hope. He was unknown to the outside world. I would be the first gringo to visit him, and I had high hopes that he would teach me the secrets of healing I had so long been searching for.
 
But now I was lost, and the brilliant Amazon sun was taking on the rich golden tones of the end of afternoon. Night would come quickly here, meaning surprising chilliness along the river and no chance of reaching a habitation. I’m not a smoker, but I lit up three cigarettes at once, Pielrojas (“Redskins”), the local cheap brand, with a picture of a North American Indian on the pack. I puffed on them and blew smoke all around me, hoping for the usual temporary relief tobacco smoke brings from biting sandflies.
 
When in doubt, eat. I broke into my meager stores and found a packet of cocoa mix and some dried fruit. I set up a little butane stove, boiled some river water, and soon was sipping the hot liquid, which never tasted better—a bit of comfort and familiarity in this, for me, strange environment.
 
I was in this remote part of South America because I was searching for something I believed to be exotic and extraordinary, something worlds away from my ordinary experience. I was looking for insight into the source of healing power, and the interconnectedness of magic, religion, and medicine. I wanted to understand how the mind interacts with the body. Above all, I hoped to learn practical secrets of helping people to get well. I had spent eight years in a prestigious institution of higher learning, four studying botany and four studying medicine, but I had found no clear answers to my questions. My botanical studies awakened a desire to see the rain forest, meet native practitioners, and help rescue fast-disappearing knowledge of medicinal plants. My medical training made me want to flee from the world of invasive, technological treatment toward a romantic ideal of natural healing.
 
Three years before, in 1969, when I finished my basic clinical training, I made a conscious decision not to practice the kind of medicine I had just learned. I did so for two reasons, one emotional and one logical. The first was simply a gut feeling that if I were sick, I would not want to be treated the way I had been taught to treat others, unless there were no alternative. That made me uncomfortable about treating others. The logical reason was that most of the treatments I had learned in four years at Harvard Medical School and one of internship did not get to the root of disease processes and promote healing but rather suppressed those processes or merely counteracted the visible symptoms of disease. I had learned almost nothing about health and its maintenance, about how to prevent illness—a great omission, because I have always believed that the primary function of doctors should be to teach people how not to get sick in the first place. The word “doctor” comes from the Latin word for “teacher.” Teaching prevention should be primary; treatment of existing disease, secondary.
 
I am uneasy about the suppressive nature of conventional medicine. If you look at the names of the most popular categories of drugs in use today, you will find that most of them begin with the prefix “anti.” We use antispasmodics and antihypertensives, antianxiety agents and antidepressants, antihistamines, antiarrhythmics, antitussives, antipyretics, and anti-inflammatories, as well as beta blockers and H2-receptor antagonists. This is truly antimedicine—medicine that is, in essence, counteractive and suppressive.
 
What is wrong with that? you may ask. If a fever is in the danger zone, or an allergic reaction is out of control, of course those symptoms should be counteracted. I have no objection to use of these treatments on a short-term basis for the management of very severe conditions. But I came to realize, early in my hospital days, that if you rely on such measures as the main strategy for treating illness, you create two kinds of problems. First, you expose patients to risk, because, by their nature, pharmaceutical weapons are strong and toxic. Their desired effects are too often offset by side effects, by toxicity. Adverse reactions to the counteractive drugs of conventional medicine are a great black mark against the system, and I saw more than enough of them in my clinical training to know that there has to be a better way. Botanical medicine appealed to me because it offered the possibility of finding safe, natural alternatives to the drugs I had been taught to use.
 
The second problem, less visible but more worrisome, is the chance that over time suppressive treatments may actually strengthen disease processes instead of resolving them. This possibility did not occur to me until I read the writings of a great medical heretic, Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843), the German prodigy and renegade physician who developed homeopathy, one of the major schools of alternative medicine. Homeopathy relies on very small doses of highly diluted remedies to catalyze healing responses. I am not a homeopath. I disagree strongly with the many homeopaths who oppose immunization and find the whole system puzzling as well as incompatible with current scientific models of physics and chemistry. Nonetheless, I have experienced and observed homeopathic cures and admire the system for its use of treatments that cannot harm. What is more, I find some of Hahnemann’s ideas useful.
 
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Product details
ASIN : 0804117942
Publisher : Ballantine Books (April 4, 2000)
Language : English
Mass Market Paperback : 384 pages

Andrew Weil, MD
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Biography
Andrew Weil, M.D., is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing oriented approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. His forthcoming book, "Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better – and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own," will be released on April 25th, 2017.

Combining a Harvard education and a lifetime of practicing natural and preventive medicine, Dr. Weil is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, where he is also a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health and the Lovell-Jones Professor of Integrative Rheumatology. Dr. Weil received both his medical degree and his undergraduate AB degree in biology (botany) from Harvard University.

Dr. Weil is an internationally-recognized expert for his views on leading a healthy lifestyle, his philosophy of healthy aging, and his critique of the future of medicine and health care. Approximately 10 million copies of Dr. Weil's books have been sold, including "Spontaneous Healing," "8 Weeks to Optimum Health," "Eating Well for Optimum Health," "The Healthy Kitchen," "Healthy Aging," and "Why Our Health Matters."

Online, he is the editorial director of www.drweil.com, the leading web resource for healthy living based on the philosophy of integrative medicine. He can be found on Facebook (facebook.com/drweil), Twitter (twitter.com/drweil), Instagram (instagram.com/drweil) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/drweil).

See a comprehensive list of Dr. Weil's information: about.me/DrWeil
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4.6 out of 5 stars

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Still Here
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the 2nd half undermine the 1st half!
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2015
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This book was incredibly inspiring and encouraging on my path to recovery from chronic pain.

It's worthy of 5 stars and I agree with 99% of what Dr. Weil says. I will offer one recommendation for reading this book: Don't let the 2nd half undermine what he says in the 1st half. The 2nd half gets very detailed about diet and herbs, and while I believe most of it has merit (I'm not so sure about the electromagnetic paranoia), the 1st half of this book is equally if not more important! I emphasize this because it's so easy for a reader to finish the book and say, "Ok, I need to do this, this, and this with my diet", all the while continuing on with a high-stress lifestyle and manner of thinking. Pay close attention to the stories of spontaneous healing in the first half, because it's always the change of THINKING and belief that catalyzed the patient's drastic recovery, and the diet part is supplemental.

I also highly recommend Dr. Sarno's book The Mindbody Prescription. I am currently reading The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living by Dr. Sood which is endorsed by Dr. Weil and has some merit as well.
67 people found this helpful
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Judith A. Carlson
5.0 out of 5 stars It's a great teaching source.
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2015
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Some of the nutritional advice is a little bit outdated since the book was first published in 1995 but otherwise is just as I remembered it. I had loaned mine to a friend who subsequently moved without returning it. The techniques Dr.Weil advocates are not difficult and help the body to heal itself. However, nothing happens overnight so don't expect a magic sure. What I've always loved about Dr. Weil is that he uses a common sense approach and isn't adamant about not resorting to allopathic medicine - sometimes you just need an antibiotic, for instance! Anyway, if you want to take charge of your own health and be more comfortable despite any medical/psychological problems you are dealing with, this book is a great source for teaching you how to do that.
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Faux-Creations
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly good reading!
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2016
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An excellent resource for the medical profession in dealing with the human body's ability to heal quickly when the right protocol is observed. Sickness cannot be dealt with by treating the symptoms but rather from a holistic viewpoint covering body, soul and spirit. Many sicknesses today come from unresolved emotions and once the emotion is dealt with, the recovery is sometimes almost spontaneous. Good reading.
11 people found this helpful
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ashier bourne
5.0 out of 5 stars IF you are into healing naturally, this book is ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2017
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IF you are into healing naturally, this book is for you, it tells you about Andrew Weil's Journey to find the way to natural healing and where to go and get this healing and he talks about touring the Big Pharmacy and that 's why he change his mind About being an MD, instead he now teaches at the
city of Tuson, Arizona.
8 people found this helpful
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Jon
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Comprehensible with examples and Almost unbelievable stories.
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2020
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This was a perfect well thought out book from front to back. The author did not Discredit modern medicine the highlighted it’s a weakness and provided alternatives. I do believe everyone should read this at least once. Everything was explained very easily for the reader and shared many of powerful stories of people overcoming illness when all hope in the medicine field was lost.
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T. Faranda
4.0 out of 5 stars A reasoned resource on a subject fraught with difficulty
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2007
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FULL DISCLOSURE - I have lymphoma and have been a patient of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for over three years, including a five month chemotherapy regimen.

Besides being the author of this book, which is sub-titled "How to Enhance Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself", who is Andrew Weil?

Well, he's a Harvard graduate (Botany) and Harvard medical school graduate, did an internship and then basically dropped out of the standard or orthodox medical field. Spent the next twenty years or so traipsing around the world talking with various shamans, Chinese herbalists, gurus, etc.

And he's gotten to be a very influential guy.

He has been a big proponent of natural therapies for the healing of maladies. While not opposed to allopathic or conventional medicine, Weil heavily criticizes the establishment for emphasizing "disease and it's treatment, rather than health and it's maintenance" (P. 65). He emphasizes natural healing and a variety of alternative therapies. In Weil's view, the body heals itself, it is a "healing system." And the healing system is a functional system, "not an assemblage of structures that can be neatly diagrammed" (P. 65).

Of course this is a point that has been noted by many people, and is obvious to anyone who thinks about it. If you get a cut, the cut heals itself. My son's currently broken ankle will mend itself; he has a cast on simply to protect the ankle from further damage. The cast doesn't heal the break. And the overwhelming opinion is that most cancers heal themselves; our immune system is constantly destroying abnormal cells before they get to any size or we know they are there.

Weil makes a point (P. 110) that "Treatment originates outside you. Healing comes from within."

The book is 280 pages long and divided into three parts. The first section is entitled "The Healing System" and is filled with stories and cases of people who were healed by alternative therapies. Herbs, acupuncture, aromatherapy, certain forms of classic osteopathic medicine, visualization, mind-body interactions, stuff like that.

The second and third sections are entitled "Optimizing the Healing System" - what to do to maintain good health - and "If you get sick". Weil lays out a variety of programs of preventive care. Much of it pretty basic like don't smoke and go for relaxing walks. And then stuff like using tonics and vitamins. The last section is a bit encyclopedic with short sections on various alternative approaches - Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurvedic medicine, imagery and visualization therapy, chiropractic, on and on.

What about cancer? Weil points to the three standard therapies, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, with strong reservations on the latter two. Too much of a bludgeon approach, with chemotherapy especially having possible deleterious effects on other body systems. He suggests that the ultimate "cure" for cancer will come when we figure out how to "turn on" the immune system to attack and destroy the cancer cells, which somehow escaped or inoculated themselves from the body's immune system. As mentioned above, the standard opinion now is that most cancers develop due to an immune system failure. I think his opinion on the ultimate cancer cure is pretty much the standard opinion in the conventional medical establishment.

Of course the whole problem with Weil's approaches - diet, herbs, aromatherapy, "healing touch", is that there is scarcely any real scientific evidence for the efficacy of any of these approaches. It's all anecdotal. Where are the double blind studies, the comparisons between groups - all the studies that can lend credence to the anecdotes?

Weil admits there aren't many studies, and urges the studies be done. And as one of my physicians said to me, "There are no scientific studies. On the other hand, 2,000 years of Traditional Chinese Medicine has to have something to it."

As you can imagine, Weil has some really strident critics in the medical fraternity. No sense going there in this review.

What do I think? Well, Weil is not just another New Age Wacko. Not that I'll be trading my Sloan Kettering doctors for aromatherapy any time soon. BUT I have started taking an immune system support capsule that Weil recommends (I figure it can't hurt - got it at Shoprite) as well as taking glucosamine chondroitin three times a day for my joints, rather then just the occasional pill.
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37 people found this helpful
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Dottie Parish
5.0 out of 5 stars A Book to Read Over and Over
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2013
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The thesis of the book is that the medical profession only concerns itself with disease. Medical schools teach nothing about prevention or about the ability for the body to heal itself. It's not against medical care but tells many ways we can encourage our body's immune systems to help us heal. The author is a Harvard Medical school graduate. He has one chapter near the end of the book titled Cancer as a Special Case.

Throughout the book he mentions the pessimistic stance of many doctors who predict the worst - which of course can affect the mind and body of the patient usually in a negative way. I highly recommend this book. The case studies of miraculous healings are amazing and he has many helpful ideas which can boost immunity.
13 people found this helpful
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Katy
4.0 out of 5 stars Good information
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2017
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I did get a lot out of this book on ways to deal with illnesses and the best practices for the best possible quality of life. However it was written decades ago, would love a current version.
5 people found this helpful
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Fiona
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2017
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Very interesting and useful; as a cancer survivor I've learned a lot
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars thank you
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2019
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inspiring read
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PJ
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2018
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a great gift
2 people found this helpful
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hiyalm43
5.0 out of 5 stars Spontaneous Healing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2012
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The (used) book arrived on time and its condition was as described. This book has been my "bible" for the past 12 years and I wanted to share it with my daughter-in-law, to whom it was sent. Thank you for the wonderful service.
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m k fiddimore
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2015
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Makes you think!
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