Brain Power or The Faith Factor

Brain Power: How to Fine-Tune Your Brain Naturally

Author: C Samuel Verghes

You can feel better, improve your memory and brain function, and increase your capacity for spiritual life! Brain Power is thoughtful, scholarly writing on practical neuro-psychotheology from a Christian perspective. Dr. C. Samuel Verghese, can help you move from shallow Christianity to great freedom as a serious joyful believer. Combining lucid writing with clear case studies from his own clinical experience, Dr. Verghese's book constitutes a noble effort at grappling with some of the most difficult biblical concepts about the brain, mind, body, and conscience. It is also compelling as a resource to facilitate attainment of our ultimate purpose for balancing our brain and becoming more like Christ. The inclusion of patient characteristics, the nature of disorders, and treatment protocols illustrates the importance of designing specific, individualized treatments to balance brain biochemical deficits.

Book review: Warlord or The Genius of America

The Faith Factor: Proof of the Healing Power of Prayer

Author: Dale A Matthews

Drawing from the latest scientific research, as well as numerous illustrative case studies, The Faith Factor offers convincing proof that religious practices can and do enhance the healing powers of medicine. And nationally renowned physician Dale A. Matthews offers a program any patient can follow to incorporate faith into their own healing.

Dr. Matthews points out that encouraging an integration of religious beliefs and practices in medical settings can have important benefits for the entire medical community—from patients and doctors to national health policy makers. He shows how the national trend toward rediscovering religious values has led many patients to use prayer in conjunction with conventional treatment, and that the results have already confirmed that faith and religious practice can be valuable medicine. Finally, Dr. Matthews helps readers explore the connection between faith and medicine in their own lives through methods of prayer, community worship, and study of Scripture.

Library Journal

From a Georgetown medical professor.

Kirkus Reviews

"Faith is good medicine," pronounces this convinced though not necessarily convincing Christian physician, who here presents research on the connection between religion and healing, relates supporting anecdotes, and calls on his fellow doctors to utilize the spiritual component of the healing arts. Going even further than Herbert Benson, who identified the "faith factor" in Timeless Healing (1996), Matthews (Georgetown Univ. School of Medicine) delineates a dozen components of this factorþe.g., equanimity, temperance, social support, comforting ritualsþthat he says help prevent disease, enhance recovery, extend life, and create a sense of well-being. Drawing on case histories of his patients, he illustrates faith's benefits in healing body and mind, recovering from addictions, improving quality of life, and facing death. Noting that spirituality alone has not been shown to have the same benefits as religious involvement, he recommends that individuals develop a spiritual program that includes frequent church attendance combined with daily prayer and regular reading of the Bible. Further, he urges doctors to question patients about the importance of religion in their lives and to use this information therapeutically. Thus, in Matthews's view, a doctor who learns that a patient has stopped going to worship services would be justified in informing the patient that such behavior may have negative health consequences. Matthews, who uses spiritual readings and prayer with his own patients, has a vision of the doctor's office as "a holy meeting ground between religion and medicine," a vision that he acknowledges is seriously threatened by managed care's increasing constraints onphysicians' time. While many would welcome a more human element in the doctor-patient relationship, Matthews's vision is certain to be viewed skeptically, if not simply rejected, by large numbers of doctors and patients alike. (Author tour)

Table of Contents:

	Introduction	1
Pt. I	Science	13
1	The Faith Factor	15
2	Too Good to Be True?: A Critical Look at the Faith Factor	35
3	Healing the Body: Restoring Our Physical Selves	60
4	Healing the Mind: Finding a Lasting Peace	83
5	Healing Addictions: Regaining Our Freedom	105
6	The Quality of Life: Living Abundantly	134
7	Faith and Mortality: Transforming Death	157
Pt. II	Spirituality	175
8	Developing a Spiritual Program: Seeking God in Your Life	177
9	Prayer: Conversation with God	198
10	The Riches of the Bible: A Handbook for Healing	223
11	Spiritual Community: Living Together in Love	248
Pt. III	Synthesis	267
12	Medicine in the Twenty-first Century: Reconciling the Twin Traditions of Healing	269
	Resources	289
	Notes	295
	Index	313