Molly Pieri's blog

As the science of neurobiology progresses and our knowledge of the nervous system and its functions becomes more complete, it grows increasingly less justifiable to segregate a patient’s mind and body as two separate entities. Continually medical journals are publishing are a growing number of articles documenting a correlation between patients’ psychiatric, emotional wellness and the health of their physical persons. With such amassing evidence, it seems necessary for there to be a change in the way medicine is practiced. As science comes to more fully grasp the role that a person’s psyche plays in the healing process, medical professionals must adjust the way they practice medicine, as patients

Can we know something without knowing how we know it? This is precisely the question that Malcolm Gladwell sets out to ponder in his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Looking at scientific experiments from laboratories nation-wide, Gladwell explores the fascinating phenomenon of “thin-slicing”, or making snap-judgments without consciously engaging in the decision making process. These “thin-slices”, Gladwell asserts, are surprisingly accurate—sometimes even more so than the decisions we make after long hours of careful consideration and reflection. One particularly interesting question raised by this study is

Molly Pieri
April 6, 2008
Mind-Body Dualism/Unity in Medicine

Throughout history, mankind has struggled with the epic question: “who am I?”, and each time this question has been posed, we have been presented with the same troubling answer: “I am a thinking body. I am soul, in the flesh.” At first, this statement seems to satisfy man’s burning desire to know himself, but upon further reflection, this proposed solution may pose more questions than it provides answers. After all, what does being a thinking body really mean? Is the existence of such a paradox in a single entity even possible?