Counterclockwise by Ellen J. Langer (ISBN:0345502043)

English (US)

Books

Search:

Books
Authors
Members

Advanced search

			Login to:		

Update your bookshelf

Share on Facebook

Read friends reviews
And much more...

			Login
		
			Register free

		Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility
	
				(1 review)			
(8 Readers)

			Ellen J. Langer		
	
If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? For more than thirty years, award-winning social psychologist...more
 If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? For more than thirty years, award-winning social psychologist Ellen Langer has studied this provocative question, and now, in Counterclockwise, she presents the answer: Opening our minds to what’s possible, instead of presuming impossibility, can lead to better health–at any age. Drawing on landmark work in the field and her own body of colorful and highly original experiments–including the first detailed discussion of her “counterclockwise” study, in which elderly men lived for a week as though it was 1959 and showed dramatic improvements in their hearing, memory, dexterity, appetite, and general well-being–Langer shows that the magic of rejuvenation and ongoing good health lies in being aware of the ways we mindlessly react to social and cultural cues. Examining the hidden decisions and vocabulary that shape the medical world (“chronic” versus “acute,” “cure” versus “remission”), the powerful physical effects of placebos, and the intricate but often defeatist ways we define our physical health, Langer challenges the idea that the limits we assume and impose on ourselves are real. With only subtle shifts in our thinking, in our language, and in our expectations, she tells us, we can begin to change the ingrained behaviors that sap health, optimism, and vitality from our lives. Improved vision, younger appearance, weight loss, and increased longevity are just four of the results that Langer has demonstrated.Immensely readable and riveting, Counterclockwise offers a transformative and bold new paradigm: the psychology of possibility. A hopeful and groundbreaking book by an author who has changed how people all over the world think and feel, Counterclockwise is sure to join Mindfulness as a standard source on new-century science and healing.   less

				Take a book quiz
			
				Browse 1000's of challenging book quizzes

Quick links

Reviews

Showing 1 of 1 review

See all reviews

A Reader

few weeks ago

The philosophy of mind/body dualism denies any direct influence of mind on the body. Therefore, states the author, the power of psychology to influence health is often underestimated. The book makes the case for the transformative power of our minds by putting mind and body together again. Our attention to variablility in our health and viewing it as existing on a continuum can result in greater well-being rather than mindlessly following the advice of a medical practitioner. Symptoms may be more pronounced on certain days but may naturally regress to the mean another day. However, the medical profession labels symptoms into diseases (using a one-size-fits-all advice) and one or few hypotheses are generated. This is followed by hypothesis-confirming data thereby closing the doors to alternative hypothesis. The subject may appear cliched but there are some interesting anecdotes. One topic discusses how language plays an integral role in our cognitive make-up. Should alcoholism be regarded as an illness or should alcohol be regarded as an allergy? Should cancer be considered in remission when actually it could be considered cured? Should a particular disease be considered incurable or should it be termed indeterminate? Why do we grow till, say, 35 years, but age thereafter? Another topic discusses how the environment and social structure is not conducive enough for the elderly. Are 25-year-olds considered disabled since they are unable to ride tricycles due to enlargement of limbs? Why then shouldn't car seats for elderly swivel to allow passengers to emerge straight rather than sideways? When a child's parents cannot tell different cartoon characters apart or are unable to identify a top-forties hit, it is correctly conlcuded that the parents don't care much about the cartoon characters or the top-forties'. However, when an elderly performs poorly in a memory test designed by a relatively younger person it is assumed that the elderly is forgetful rather than a more selective encoder of information. The book does not offer anything radically new. The book would be useful to people who take advice of medical practitioners at face-value. The best chapter in the book is, by far, the penultimate chapter on Mindful Aging. And for that I give 3 stars. hide

Was this review helpful?