by Kim Bowie in 1998
Acupuncture Canada Spring
A Semiannual Newsletter
The Acupuncture Health Center, Calgary, Canada
Dr. Michael Greenwood has done it again - writing another fascinating, very readable book, guaranteed to urge the reader beyond our cultural bias toward the reductionist model of illness. His view is decidedly more imaginative than a jaded scientist might be willing to accept, but I had only a moment's hesitation before I gave a copy to my own physician, an empiricist struggling with the paradigms of frontier medicine. The book provides a well-argued explanation for accepting the body-mind-spirit approach to healing. In Dr. Greenwood's words, "We cannot aspire to remedy bodily illness if we studiously ignore the mind and spirit, the beliefs and the assumptions which inform our patients' persona; cultures." It foretells the development of a different relationship between patients and caregivers, one in which the struggle for control does not exist. The complexities of chronic pain and the hope for new perspectives is presented through powerful and moving case histories.
This is a book I will share with both my patients and my colleagues. It can help those with chronic pain to interpret their "dis-ease" in a different light and instil hope that there is potential for change. For practitioners, it puts the "human" back into the scientific milieu in which we practice.
The intervention used at the Victoria Pain Clinic where Dr. Greenwood works as Medical Director, include integrated bodywork, traditional Chinese Medicine, and acupuncture. This is not a "how-to" text, but rather one that pushes us to change our approach to our patients and to recognize the knowledge and self-growth that comes to us from each of these relationships. Dr. Greenwood mentions his use of 5-element theory of acupuncture, using personality typing and element points in treatment to open patients to another level of consciousness to "the void" - a place where healing can begin.
I was sometimes challenged by the book and sometimes vindicated in my own treatment approach. Overall I felt enriched by Dr. Greenwood's insights and grateful for his openness. <em>Braving the Void</em> is a book all of us must read.
Kim Bowie: BSc. Pt, RAc., CAFCI