Narrative Medicine: The Use of History and Story in the Healing Process

INDIGENOUS CULTURES / HEALING "Some people say that we are made of molecules and cells, but Lewis Mehl-Madrona insists that we are made of stories. Stories involve a whole person in a historical context and in a whole environment. This more expansive view of ourselves is more true-to-life and real. Dr. Mehl-Madrona teaches us to learn our own story and to use it to heal ourselves and to appreciate our own soul's path." Dana Ullman, MPH, author of The Homeopathic Revolution and coauthor of Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines Modern medicine, with its high-tech and managed-care approach, has eliminated much of what constitutes the art of healing: those elements of doctoring that go beyond the medications prescribed. The typically brief office visit leaves little time for doctors to listen to their patients, though it is in these narratives that disease is both revealed and perpetuated--and can be released and treated. Lewis Mehl-Madrona's Narrative Medicine examines the foundations of the indigenous use of story as a healing modality. Citing numerous case histories that demonstrate the profound power of narrative in healing, the author shows that when we learn to dialogue with disease, we come to understand the power of the story we tell about our illness and our possibilities for better health. This approach also includes examining our relationships to our family and extended community to find underlying disharmony that may need healing. Mehl-Madrona points the way to a new model of medicine--a health care system that draws its effectiveness from listening to the healing wisdom of the past and also to the present-day voices of its patients. LEWIS MEHL-MADRONA, M.D., Ph.D., is certified in family practice, geriatrics, and psychiatry and worked for years in rural emergency medicine. He is an associate professor of family medicine and psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan and is the author of Coyote Healing, Coyote Wisdom, and the bestselling Coyote Medicine. He lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.