Healing Heart Antidotes to Panic and Helplessness

Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins s story of a

recovery from a crippling illness, has helped thousands

of persons to mobilize their healing resources. The

illness described in that book was comparatively rare

and the outcome was uncertain.

In The Healing Heart, Norman Cousins deals with

an illness that is the most common cause of death in the

United States. More people die from heart attacks and

heart disease than from any other malady. In this warm

and richly human story, Cousins tells of his recent

massive heart attack that occurred in December 1980.

It is a dramatic account that highlights the importance

of the patient s essential role in combating serious

illness. It is also the story of a team healing effort, a

"partnership" between a patient and his physician,

working together to bring about recovery.

But this book is much more than an account of a

remarkable personal response to challenge. It ad-

dresses itself to the problem of panic and helplessness

produced by any serious disease. In heart attacks,

especially, panic can intensify the underlying problem

by constricting the blood vessels, forcing a heart that is

already in precarious condition to put forth extra effort

in order to pump blood through the narrowed

openings.

Norman Cousins believes that antidotes to panic and

helplessness are well within the reach of most people.

He describes techniques developed at various medical

centers for liberating patients from fears and forebod-

ings that can in fact represent serious intensifying

factors in disease.

What make this book so valuable and engrossing is

that Norman Cousins s vantage point for writing about

heart attacks is from within a medical school. Since

1978, Norman Cousins has been a member of the

faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of

California in Los Angeles. His special field of study