Reviews for The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness

The average rating for The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-02-10 00:00:00 Brian Mysliwiec From a patient perspective... as someone who interfaces with multiple doctors on a very regular basis, I was pleased to hear, in this book, that Western medicine is heading in a different, better, direction. A direction that incorporates the mind-body connection and the psychology of illness. A more Eastern approach. I'm a total fan of hope as a tool to "prevail in the face of illness." I'm entirely sold on the concept. What I felt was lacking in this book, however, was how, exactly, to obtain the "real" hope vs. the false hope that Groopman dichotomizes in this manner: "False hope does not recognize the risks and dangers that true hope does. False hope can lead to intemperate choices and flawed decision making. True hope takes into account the real threats that exist and seeks to navigate the best paths around them." "Hope tempers fear so we can recognize dangers and then bypass or endure them." I feel like I have that part down. I know my personal prognosis is a very bad one and I'm navigating around the obstacles of it pretty well. I'm plowing headstrong into the dangers (questionable treatments) while still maintaining hope, but I think one of the best tricks in this whole process is using the imagination, which isn't really discussed in the book. Groopman proffers: "Hope is the elevated feeling we experience when we see- in the minds eye- a path to a better future." Well said, but how do we obtain that mind's eye view? A similar sentiment: "Kindling and sustaining hope depend not only on images that may be conjured in the mind but also on how those images are brought into focus or blurred by the ongoing input of nerves from organs and tissues to the brain." I know personally that things such as guided imagery and meditation can get a person to obtain this mind's eye view and to conjure these images of a better future. But the book doesn't go there and I think it ought to. Despite all of this, I feel it was decent book in that it gave me some fodder to add to my ever-growing collection of information that, I hope, one day will meld into some sort of very significant insight.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-03-10 00:00:00 Bob Mccleskey First grad school assignment. Check. Overall, Dr. Groopman hits a point that I want to one day encompass as a provider. While my job of prescribing treatments is what I am going to school for, the idea of sitting at a bedside with nothing left to administer but a friendship morphs into the ultimate medication. At the end of the day, the right to surrender and welcome death belongs to the patient and my opinion as a provider is no longer of value. People more often than not, need acceptance more than advice. It's true that tumors don't always read the textbooks and it remains a comfort that no one is beyond the capacity to hope. I look forward to the day (dare I say- hope) when the miraculous is commonplace and the incurable becomes cured.