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Why Do People Get Ill?: Exploring the Mind-body Connection [Hardcover]

Darian Leader (Author), David Corfield (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 22 Feb 2007

Have you ever wondered why people get ill when they do? How does the mind affect the body? Why does modern medicine seem to have so little interest in the unconscious processes that can make us fall ill? And what, if anything, can we do about it?

Why Do People Get Ill? lucidly explores the relationship between our minds and our bodies. Containing remarkable case studies, cutting-edge research and startling new insights into why we fall ill, this intriguing and thought-provoking book should be read by anyone who cares about their own health and that of other people.

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Product details

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton (22 Feb 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0241143160
ISBN-13: 978-0241143162
Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14 x 3.6 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 389,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Praise for Darian Leader:

'Elegant, erudite, illuminating' Alain de Botton

'Funny, clever, brilliant and hopeful' GQ

About the Author

Darian Leader is a psychoanalyst practising in London and a member of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research. He is the author of Why Do Women Write More Letters Than They Post?, Promises Lovers Make When It Gets Late, Freud’s Footnotes and Stealing the Mona Lisa.

David Corfield is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute and has been a lecturer in the History and Philosophy of Science at Oxford and Cambridge universities. He is the author of Towards a Philosophy of Real Mathematics.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
If two men of the same age have heart attacks resulting in equal damage to their hearts, why is the man who is single and depressed more likely to die of heart disease within the following year than the man who is married and not depressed? Read the first page

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly fun to read 9 Mar 2007

By Adrienne T.

From scanning newspaper reviews of this book one might get the impression that it's worthy, interesting and possibly a little hard-going. I began reading it with a slight sense of duty, but was quickly drawn in by the accessible prose, fascinating stories and elegantly laid out ideas. Not only are its arguments subtle, complex and humane, it's also a damn good read.

One of the book's central ideas is that medical practitioners need to take human complexity into account when making diagnoses and offering treatment. Having read it shortly after its release, it was interesting to see how it was represented in the media. Clearly these are ideas that some people find quite threatening, as if the notion of careful listening has been so successfully factored out of the medical equation that any mention of it seems outlandish and impracticable. Thanks goodness there are writers like this around, who still hold out hope for meaningful human exchange.

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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A resurrection of psychosomatic medicine 2 Mar 2007

By Dr. Christopher I. Pelton

This work is pertinent in a time of dehumanised medicine obsessed with targets , protocols , bureaucratic micromanagement and digital measurement. It starts with a historical survey illustrating just how much has changed since the heyday of psychosomatic concepts. Mr Corfield reminds us that up until about 30 years ago there was an ongoing effort to understand the manifestations of the unconscious mind in illness and disease through various psychodynamic disciplines that tend to be dismissed by our selective evidence-based approach as too "soft". Therefore for much of the book the focus is on individual case histories. To readers unfamiliar with psychoanalytic concepts it could be hard-going and verging on the repititive. Some of the interpretations might seem far-fetched.

There is a sustained and sometimes polemical effort to restore awareness of the unavoidable complex personal and often unconscious psychological factors ignored in much of contemporary medicine. Chapter 15 on doctors themselves is challenging; I wonder how many specialists have ever been described as having a "socially sanctioned form of fetishism"?

As a General Practitioner I found it stimulating and I would recommend it to my colleagues. By one of those odd coincidences, only hours after reading it I saw a patient with a hysterical illness- only to realise how difficult it would be to incorporate this approach into my day to day practice. But the book has much wider appeal and I hope will become popular.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, with new material. 24 Feb 2008

By LM

This is an intelligent and thought provoking text. The authors examine the physical and psychological causes of disorder(s) with equal scrutiny, and introduce a third element exploring how each might contribute and manifest iteslf in the presenting disorder. As such this is a refreshing book that treads new ground and moves away from entrenched theories which have dominated the discourse to date.Whether your interest is in conventional or alternative medicine, you will find something of intrigue and challenge in these pages

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