The Medical Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy We all know that intimacy improves the quality of our lives. Yet most people don't realize how much it can increase the quality of our lives -- our survival. In this New York Times world-renowned physician Dean Ornish, M.D., writes, "I am not aware of any other factor in medicine that has a greater impact on our survival than the healing power of love and intimacy. Not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery." He reveals that the real epidemic in modern culture is not only physical heart disease but also what he calls spiritual heart disease: loneliness, isolation, alienation, and depression. He shows how the very defenses that we think protect us from emotional pain are often the same ones that actually heighten our pain and threaten our survival. Dr. Ornish outlines eight pathways to intimacy and healing that have made a profound difference in his life and in the life of millions of others in turning sadness into happiness, suffering into joy. "Dr. Dean Ornish, who was the first to prove the reversal of heart disease by changing lifestyle, now turns his attention to the heart in a more profound sense and identifies love and intimacy as the most powerful healing forces that exist. I could not agree more. This book is filled with sparkling insights and practical wisdom about protecting health and enhancing wellness by attending the nourishment of our real hearts."-- Andrew Weil""Love & Survival"is an emotionally intelligent guide to good health and well-being. Everyone should read it."-- Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., author of "Emotional Intelligence" and science correspondent to the "New York Times"intelligence"Relationships bring freedom and joy. In"Love & Survival, " Dr. Dean Ornish powerfully demonstrates that intimacy also can heal. I am thrilled about this book!"-- John Gray, Ph.D., author of "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus""Revolutionary results....Dr. Ornish's work could change the lives of millions."--"Newsweek" The Medical Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy We all know that intimacy improves the quality of our lives. Yet most people don't realize how much it can increase the quality of our lives -- our survival. In this New York Times world-renowned physician Dean Ornish, M.D., writes, "I am not aware of any other factor in medicine that has a greater impact on our survival than the healing power of love and intimacy. Not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery." He reveals that the real epidemic in modern culture is not only physical heart disease but also what he calls spiritual heart disease: loneliness, isolation, alienation, and depression. He shows how the very defenses that we think protect us from emotional pain are often the same ones that actually heighten our pain and threaten our survival. Dr. Ornish outlines eight pathways to intimacy and healing that have made a profound difference in his life and in the life of millions of others in turning sadness into happiness, suffering into joy. Dean Ornish, M.D., is president and director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, CA. He is assistant clinical professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and an attending physician at California Pacific Medical Center. Love and survival. What do they have to do with each other? This book is based on a simple but powerful idea: Our survival depends on the healing power of love, intimacy, and relationships. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. As individuals. As communities. As a country. As a culture. Perhaps even as a species. Most people tend to think of my work as being primarily about diet. It's gotten to the point where it's hard for me to go out to dinner with people without them apologizing for what they're eating or making comments about my food--even though I make it clear that I'm not the food police. Many stories have appeared in the media about the research I have directed for the past twenty years that has demonstrated, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease without drugs or surgery. Almost always, these articles focus on my diet: "What do people eat?" "Isn't this diet too strict for most people?" "Are they going to live longer or is it just going to seem longer?" And so on. I have no intention of diminishing the power of diet andexercise or, for that matter, of drugs and surgery. There is morescientific evidence now than ever before demonstrating how simple changes in diet and lifestyle may cause, significant improvements in health and well-being. As important as these are, I havefound that perhaps the most powerful intervention-and themost meaningful for me and for most of the people with whom Iwork, including staff and patients--is the healing power of loveand intimacy, and the emotional and spiritual