The Curious mind (ePub)

National Geographic's Revelatory Tale explores the world of placebo, hypnosis, false memories, and neurology to reveal the ground level of our thoughtful minds. Can the secrets of personal health be within our own minds? Journalist Eric Vance has discovered our hopes and beliefs in a surprising way that affects our physical reactions to pain, illness, and everyday events. Drawing on centuries of research and interviews with leading experts in the field, Vance takes us from a research lab at Harvard to a witch doctor's office in Ketamaco, Mexico, calling him an alternative medicine school near Beijing (often "Hogwarts of China"). The first transmission of Vance will change the way you think and feel.

Expectations, beliefs and self-deception can actively change our bodies and minds. Vance makes a case for our "internal pharmacy" -the very real chemical reactions our brains produce when we feel that we are experiencing pain or healing, real or perceived. Supporting this idea is a variety of placebo research in many forms, from sugar pills to shock waves; The study of alternative medicine techniques was considered and condemned in various parts of the world (think of crystals and cycles); And most recently, major advances in brain mapping techniques. Thanks to this technique, we are learning how we can take advantage of our suggestibility (or lack thereof) for personalized medicine, and Vance brings us to the front lines of such studies.