Book Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge the following people, in particular for their contribution to the field of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and medical issues on the Body-Mind-Spirit interface which is what this book is about.
(Please note CAM is the acronym for Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

1. HRH Prince Charles who has championed the idea of integration of CAM into conventional care as provided by the NHS.
This has been one of his lifelong interests.
2. Dr Patrick Pietroni DSc (hons), FRCP, FRCGP and retired dean of General Practice at London University. In the 1980’s when Alternative Medicine became a UK Public Health talking point within the medical establishment, his talks and books helped his practising colleagues to clarify the context and make some sense of things. He has probably been the most influential GP, in this area, of his generation.
3. Dr George Lewith MB BChir, MRCP, MRCGP, FRCP, DM.
Dr Lewith was a lecturer in Medicine and Professor of Health Research within Medicine at the University of Southampton. He spent his working life researching CAM and produced numerous research papers on the subject, including a number of books.
4. Dr Edzard Ernst MD, PhD, FRCP, FRCP Ed.
Dr Ernst was holder of the only such post in the UK of Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter. As an academic physician he was tasked with the role of researching the evidence base for CAM. This was at a time in the 1990s, when, in the UK, ideas about the Regulation of the CAM industry were a matter of Public Health concern.
His findings were published in all the major medical journals and it can be said that his work put several nails in the coffin of the idea that ‘Integrated Medicine’ could ever be a medico-legally viable option within the tax payer funded UK Health System.
5. Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn MD.
Dr Kabat-Zinn as Professor of Medicine Emeritus at The University of Massachusetts Medical School, is considered the father of the application of Mindfulness Practice to clinical Medicine. His work has spawned the whole area of Mindfullness based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with its numerous practical applications in the field of Mental Health.
6. Dr Raymond Moody MD,
Considered the father of the ‘Near Death Experience’, a term coined by him, his book ‘Life after Life’ written while he was still a medical student became a 1975 best seller. He devoted his life to Psychiatry and researching the paranormal.
7. Dr Brian Weiss MD.
As Head of Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Centre in Miami, in the 1980’s he came across a patient who under hypnosis described a past life experience as the root of her anxiety problem. His book ‘Past Lives, Past Masters’ went on to become an international best seller.
Dr Weiss has spent the last 25 years writing and researching the subject and can be considered as the father of Past Life Regression Therapy as a valid Clinical Medicine tool, despite the notion of ‘reincarnation’ and ‘past lives’ being ‘totally unscientific’.
8. Dr Eben Alexander MD an American Neurosurgeon whose personal near death experience in 2008 changed his life and beliefs. His book ‘Proof of Heaven’ has made waves.
9. Dr Bernie Siegel MD
Dr Siegel is an internationally recognised, now retired, American Paediatric Surgeon, whose book Love, Medicine and Miracles, became a best seller and focused on the extraordinary effect of the mind and positive thinking in particular, on physical health and disease outcomes.
10. Dr Tanvir Jamil BSc DM, MRCGP a UK GP who wrote a monthly column for magazines like Pulse and GP in the 1990s on CAM topics. He also wrote a book Complementary Medicine – A Practical Approach.

…..And finally

11. Dr Mehmet Oz MD a US TV personality with his own show on Health Issues and a proponent of various CAM approaches. When interviewed by Time Magazine in 10 Questions for Dr Oz , what has stuck in my mind is when he was asked : What was the best advice you were ever given? He quoted an elderly mentor at Harvard when he was just starting out as a medical student. The answer went something like this ‘Son, remember that by the time you are done practising, half of the things we are teaching you now will have been proved to have been wrong’

Lorenzo’s note: Medicine is a grey area, there are no right or wrong ways of doing things. Ten competent doctors may approach a patient’s issues in ten different ways – all correct. As long as the doctor, can be seen as competent, by their peers, in the way they approached the patient, in their case history, their behaviour and attitude, their clinical examination, their investigations and their plans for management of the situation at the time, they will be cleared of misconduct whatever the outcome.
People sometimes think of medical practice in terms of diagnosis and treatment. This is quite incorrect. It is about the competent management of a situation at a point in time.