Unconventional therapies vie for professional acceptance.

Abstract

A five-part documentary entitled "Healing and the Mind," which aired on PBS-TV stations nationwide February 22-24, explored the roles of thoughts and emotions in illness and health. It also raised some interesting questions regarding the relationship between mainstream Western medicine and alternative forms of therapies that are considered by most to be outside the mainstream. The Moyers documentary is reviewed by Frank Sabatino in the February 20 issue of Hospitals magazine (pp. 66-72). A companion volume to the PBS series, also titled Healing and the Mind, has been published (1993, New York City, Doubleday, $25). The TV series is but one of a number of events that signal a growing awareness and interest in alternative approaches to medicine, and the relationship between those who support these approaches and those in the bioethics field will most likely become entwined, as the following articles show.