Mind Medicine

During my neurosurgery practice, I noticed that happy and positive patients healed faster and returned to daily life faster than the unhappy and negative patients. When I researched this phenomenon, I found that it has been shown in multiple studies that our attitude affects our health and healing. This realization inspired me to write this book for people who are suffering from physical and emotional illness. People with depression, anxiety, worries, and stress will benefit from this book. I will teach them how to use their thoughts to help themselves to heal. This book can also help patients who are recovering from any illness. I start this book by talking about the brain. I define several terms that we use all the time, sometimes without reflecting on what they really mean. These terms are defined from a neuroscience stand point. It is my hope that if you first understand this essential terminology you will be better able to understand the later chapters. I also write about the basic anatomy of the brain and how it affects the body through the nervous, endocrine and immune systems. I want to clarify for the reader that when I talk (in chapters 3, 4 and 5) about how positive and peaceful thoughts affect our happiness, health and healing, that this is occurring through the physical and chemical mechanisms in our body. I am talking about the science of the brain, mind, thoughts and emotions and their connection with the body. I also explain how to have a healthy brain and mind. If the brain is not healthy, it cannot function properly. Even you have the best intention to use your brain, if it is unhealthy, you can’t use it in the best way. An unhealthy brain will affect every part of your life. My hope is that this book will be informative, inspiring, and practical. The book is organized in the following way. Chapter one includes information about the brain and provides definitions from a neuroscience stand point. In chapter two, I talk about the importance of maintaining a healthy brain and offer suggestions on how to keep the brain healthy in order for it to function better. In chapter three, I explain how our thoughts affect our body. Chapter four is about positive thoughts, happiness, and optimism. I also talk about depression and its effect on health and healing in chapter four. In chapter five, I talk about the peaceful mind versus the stress response. In chapter six I discuss how our behavior affects our thoughts. Chapter seven is a summary of the important steps necessary to have a happy, healthy life and what we can all do to heal. After reading this book: • You will be able to improve your brain’s health and function • You will learn how your thoughts affect your health and healing • You will be happier and calmer • You will be healthier and heal faster from any illness • You will understand that you have control over your happiness, health and healing • You will understand the importance of having a healthy lifestyle; you will consider necessary prevention and medical surgical treatment, but you will not be solely dependent on medication and surgery. IF YOU CONTROL YOUR MIND, YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR BODY. Mahmoud Rashidi, MD, FRCSC, FACS