BILL MOYERS : Exploring Medical Frontiers

Bill Moyers’ specials are known for their integrity, thoughtfulness and connectedness to people.

The broadcast journalist’s latest undertaking for PBS has the potential to appear frivolous, even sensational. Instead, the five-part “Healing and the Mind” is a responsible and fascinating look at how emotions and thoughts influence physical well-being. The documentary takes Moyers to China, where the mind has always played a crucial role in health. Moyers also visits mainstream medical centers in the United States, where a few health professionals are daring to explore new ways of thinking about medicine.

A companion book “Healing and the Mind,” released by Doubleday, is already on the bestseller list in several cities. Times Health Writer Shari Roan talked with Moyers about concepts of “sickness” and “health.”

*

Is it correct that the work of Norman Cousins helped convince you to explore this topic?

Norman was an old friend of mine. We used to meet in New York to talk about world affairs. After his illness, more of our discussions were to do with healing and health.

About the time Norman died, my own father died. My father, for 25 years, had terrible headaches. I took him from doctor to doctor and no one could ever figure out the cause. Finally a doctor talked to him quite frankly about whether his headaches might be from grief. My brother died in 1966 of cancer. He was 39. Well, my father was of the old school that men didn’t discuss their emotions. He wouldn’t accept the doctor’s advice to get counseling. Until his death he had thunderbolt headaches, but he wouldn’t talk about his grief.

*

Did you have trouble finding mainstream doctors who are putting theories about the mind-body connection into practice?

It wasn’t hard to find mainstream researchers who are exploring this because it has become a serious area of research. But we decided early on we would take a very conservative approach to this. I wanted to make sure no one gave up chemotherapy because of this series, and that no one would hang out a shingle and claim to be a healer on the basis of this series. So we stayed with mainstream medical practitioners. What was hard (about reporting the series) is that there is no body of evidence that helps those of us who are Missourians--who say, ‘show me’--to weigh and measure and quantify the results.

*

You visited a support group at Stanford for women with advanced breast cancer where Dr. David Spiegel tells you: “Getting cancer is a meaningless tragedy. But if you can use your experience as a cancer patient to give something to someone else, to help them cope with it, you feel better about yourself as well.” Did you find much of the mind-body connection is based on this kind of practical thinking or is there usually a greater sense of mystery or mysticism to it?

There is no mysticism in this series. The main thrust is to look at what scientists are telling us about how the body responds. All we did was to validate common sense. Dr. Spiegel makes no claim that those women were mystically prolonging their lives; only that their sharing and intimacy gave them a purpose to live.

*

Is the mind-body philosophy practiced in China compatible with Western medicine?

I think the two are headed for a merger. I had to learn in school that East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet. I think they will meet. In the West, the doctor fixes the broken part and off we go. But in China it is not just the body that needs to be fixed but the person. They see the person as an organic whole. In fact--this tickled me--when I was there, the traditional Chinese doctor was paid only if the patient was well. If the patient was sick, the doctor didn’t get paid. The purpose of medicine was well-being, not healing.

*

Why are Americans expressing interest in the mind-body approach to healing?

There are two reasons why this grass-roots revolution is taking place. One is the high cost of medicine. We have to find ways to prevent illness. But in spite of that, people are truly dissatisfied with medicine. It requires too many drugs. It asks for too much surgery.

*

What message did you take away from this project?

I worked on this project for three years and I came away with no romantic notions about illness. It’s tough. It’s mean. It’s not just. But I did come away feeling that people have a natural capacity to affirm or embrace life in the most difficult of circumstances, and to help each other. I came out feeling attitude is just about everything.

“Healing and the Mind” airs on PBS beginning Monday at 8 p.m. with Parts 1 and 2. Part 3 airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. The series concludes at the same time Wednesday with Parts 4 and 5.