Where Medicine Fails - Paperback

by Carol E. McMahon Ph. D. (Author)

First published in 1986, this landmark classic exposes medicine's central problem: a philosophy of dualism undergirding medical theory and practice. Unseen and unquestioned, mind-body dualism lies at the philosophical hard core of medical thought. It defines reality, dictating what can and cannot exist, making psycho-somatic events like placebo effects, wart cures by folk-healers, and blisters caused by hypnotic suggestion, insoluble mysteries. Dualism bars the existence of self-healing. Thus our potentially greatest healing resource goes unfathomed and untapped. Where Medicine Fails traces the history of this conceptual dilemma, showing the hopeless corner into which Cartesian thinking has led modern medicine. It calls for fundamental rethinking since nothing less than paradigmatic revolution will bring medicine in accord with the reality of human nature. As a sage wrote: "only he who grasps the innermost nature of man can cure him in earnest (Paracelsus, 1493-1541)."

Author Biography

As a National Science Foundation Trainee, Carol McMahon earned a Doctorate in psychology from Penn State University. Supported by National Institute of Mental Health and American Philosophical Society grants she published widely in professional journals (including the American Journal of Psychology, Psychological Medicine and Medical Hypotheses), publishing the milestone WHERE MEDICINE FAILS in 1986. A new field of interest emerged with Carol's discovery of a feedback meditation method and the enlightenment breakthrough it produced. Carol's life became devoted to testing and refining the feedback method, and to crafting self-tests that gauge enlightenment, offering complete self-guidance to readers. The work culminated in 2009 with STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION: HOW TO RESTORE AWARENESS AND WHY YOU NEED TO. A student of Karate, Carol's teacher is contributing author Master Deac Cataldo. Carol is married; has a daughter, and holds a fifth degree black belt in Karate do.