“The Brain’s Way of Healing” by Norman Doidge, M.D.

很多人不相信中醫，對西醫深信無比，然而，絕大多數的這些人對最先進的西醫研究毫無了解，頭腦裡裝的仍是十幾二十年前的觀念，就連很多臨床的西醫自己也不知道，譬如很多人擔心膽固醇過高，不敢多吃雞蛋，殊不知美國農業局（Department of Agriculture）在多年研究以後，已經於其「Science Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee」去除「不能多吃高膽固醇食物」，因為多年研究的結論是「人體膽固醇過高和吃很多高膽固醇食物沒有關係」，相關報導也指出，即使一天吃二十個雞蛋也不用擔心！即使如此，美國首屈一指的Mayo Clinic網站上仍然貼著其醫生於2014年寫的文章，要大家每天不要吃超過一兩個雞蛋，而這篇文章引用的資料，竟然是美國農業局以前舊的研究！

雖然我是中醫，我對西醫許多最新的研究非常有興趣，也常追蹤最新的改變。所以，我打算開始陸陸續續寫一些關於最新西醫研究的報導性文章，或許再連接回中醫的理論與臨床病例。這裡介紹一本我最近推薦給一位留言網友的書：「The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity」by Norman Doidge, M.D. (http://www.amazon.com/Brains-Way-Healing-Discoveries-Neuroplasticity/dp/067002550X/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8)，下面是書本裡一開始講的一段話：

“The use of energy and mind together to heal, while novel in the West, has of course been central to traditional Eastern medicine. Only now are scientists beginning to glimpse how there transitional practices may work in terms of Western models, and it is remarkable the extent to which almost all the neuroplasticians I visited were deepening their understanding of how to use neuroplasticity by linking insights from Western neuroscience to insights from Eastern health practices, including transitional Chinese medicine, ancient Buddhist meditation and visualization, martial arts such as tai chi and judo, yoga, and energy medicine. Western medicine has long dismissed Eastern medicine – practiced by billions of people for millennia – and its claims, often because it seems too far-fetched to accept that the mind can alter the brain. This book will show now how neuroplasticity provides a bridge between humanity;s two great but hitherto estranged medical traditions.”

至於這本書裡的病例等等，我們以後再慢慢來討論。