In 2007, a 27-year old man known as ‘Mr A’ collapsed on the floor of a hospital emergency department after taking a drug overdose. His blood pressure was crashing, he was hyperventilating and shaking, and nurses sprang into action to insert an intravenous line into his arm to try and flush his system and save his life. The man had been taking part in an antidepressant drug trail. Although he said his mood had improved significantly in the first month, in the second month he had an argument with his ex-girlfriend and became suicidal. He took his remaining 29 pills... Read full article »

As a journalist who investigates the connection between our mind, body and health, I often come across phenomenal stories where healers produce miracle cures and witch doctors put curses on people’s longevity. I included one of these stories in my film The Connection, as told by Ian Gawler, a terminally ill cancer patient who travelled to India to meet a famed guru and recovered, despite his dire medical prognosis. If you’re scientifically minded like I am, you might be inclined to dismiss these stories as fantasy, or the result of a person’s gullibility rather than acknowledging that a genuine healing... Read full article »

I felt a light tap as the delicate needle went into my ankle. Within moments my racing thoughts settled and I felt my awareness shift to the present moment. My breath. My body. My baby.   I’m now 41 weeks pregnant, a week past the expected date of arrival for my second child. I’m hoping to go into labour naturally without needing to be medically induced, and with some evidence to show that acupuncture can be effective in encouraging a natural start to labour, I’ve had a series of appointments with Amrit Dean, a registered Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner... Read full article »

My two-year-old son was screaming. Lemon juice had gotten into a tiny cut on his finger and the sting in conjunction with a missed daytime nap meant he was feeling especially emotional and vulnerable. As far as he was concerned the pain in his finger signified the end of the world.   Luckily I’d just been reading about the power of placebo and I had an idea. I would ‘placebo’ my son. Before I tell you about what I did, let me explain a little about the placebo response.   In the last decade there has been an explosion of... Read full article »