Prescribing Health

David F. O'Connell, Ph.D., M.S, CFC, DABPS,is a board certified forensic psychologist and a medical psychologist. He is also a conditional prescribing psychologist in primary care in New Mexico. He has been practicing Transcendental Meditation for 40 years. He has written about it previously in the Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly and in a previous edited book entitled,Self Recovery: Treating Addictions Using Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Ayurveda(1994). O’Connell has taught graduate level courses in counseling psychology at Rosemont University and undergraduate psychology courses at Drexel University and Alvernia University. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Adolescent Chemical Dependency. This will be his 7th book. Deborah L. Bevvino, PhD, NP is currently the behavioral medicine faculty associate in the Family Practice and Community Medicine Residency Program at Reading Hospital & Medical Center. She holds adjunct assistant clinical faculty positions at Penn State University School of Medicine and the Sidney Kimmel Family and Community Medicine College of Jefferson University. She is a practicing psychologist at the Center for Mental Health at Reading Hospital and is also an Adult Nurse Practitioner. She has been practicing Transcendental Meditation and Ayurveda for twenty years.

• Foreword:- Norman Rosenthal, M.D.Preface: – David F. O’Connell, Ph.D.Deborah L. Bevvino, CRNP, Ph.D.The EditorsThe ContributorsAcknowledgementsSection I-TheoryChapter I-The Transcendental Meditation Technique (TM): What, How, and WhyRobert W. Boyer, Ph.D.Chapter II-How Meditation Heals: The Brain and Higher States of ConsciousnessFred Travis, Ph.D.Chapter III- Stress, Illness and Transcendental Meditation: A Triad Worth ExploringDeborah L. Bevvino, CRNP, Ph.D.Section II-Research Medical DisordersChapter IV-Transcendental Meditation and Cardiovascular HealthVernon A. Barnes, Ph.D.Chapter V-Transcendental Meditation, Diabetes and Other DisordersDavid Lovell-Smith, Ph.D., M.B., CH.B., FRNCGPMental Health DisordersChapter VI-Transcendental Meditation Research on Anxiety & Anxiety DisordersSarnia Grosswald, Ed.D.David F. O’Connell, Ph.D.James Krag, M.D.Chapter VII-Transcendental Meditation in the Treatment of DepressionJames S. Brooks, M.D.Chapter VIII-The Use of Transcendental Meditation in Promoting Recovery and Preventing Relapse for Addictive DiseasesDavid F. O’Connell, Ph.D.Alarik Arenander, Ph.D.Chapter IX- The TM Program and the Treatment of Childhood DisordersWilliam R. Stixrud, Ph.D.Sarnia Grosswald, Ed.D.Section III-ApplicationsChapter X- The TM Technique as a Preventative Approach for Improving Health-care OutcomesMaxwell V. Rainforth, Ph.D.Robert E. Herron, Ph.D.Chapter XI- Addressing Societal Problems Through the Transcendental Meditation Program: Aging, Prison Rehabilitation, and Collective HealthDavid W. Orme-Johnson, Ph.D.David F. O’Connell, Ph.D.BibliographyIndex

A thick and well-footnoted tome, Prescribing Health is not a how-to for people who seek to address their health issues through meditation. What it is, however, is a significant resource for those who work or are interested in the health care field, and would like to learn about the great power meditation has to support wellness in ways not fully understood by modern Western medicine. It brings together a large body of medical work, and seats TM into both the Western and Vedic contexts. Those who would like to be able to recommend meditation to their patients or clients will be able to point to the studies in this book as evidence to bolster their case.