Dr. Rankin takes an in depth look at the power of the mind with regard to healing the body. She explores spontaneous healing cases and what they can teach us about altering our own physiology. She discusses how our life choices impact the body's ability to heal. She shares fascinating cases on the impact of the placebo effect as well as the “nocebo” effect, the idea that negative thoughts can actually harm your health. The last part of her book introduces her own wellness model that consists of 6 steps towards healing yourself. This book is not suggesting you should never take medicine. It is exploring the possibility that your own healing could be aided by how you think and some of the life style choices you make.
One patient writes “For me as a stage IV cancer patient with a cancer that is rarely curable, I found this book helpful and hopeful. When I was initially diagnosed I felt powerless, as I read this book I started to feel like maybe I do have some control. The placebo effect is a real phenomenon and the power our minds can have over our bodies is an area about which we do not know enough about. I was comforted by the cases she wrote about and excited that perhaps in all of us, there is an ability to heal well beyond that which we can quantify scientifically.”