Overview

Is there healing beyond the walls of a modern hospital? Wil Gesler examines how different environments affect physical, mental, spiritual, social and emotional components of healing. He argues that because place and healing are inextricably linked, much more attention should be paid to this fascinating and important correlation. Synthesizing concepts from health geography, environmental psychology, medical anthropology and medical sociology, Gesler's analysis is relevant to many fields. The book describes four dimensions found in healing environments - natural, built, symbolic and social - and applies these ideas to three places that achieved a lasting reputation for healing: Epidauros in Greece, Bath in England, and Lourdes in France. Gesler compares these places to the modern hospital, advocating that health care should go well beyond biomedical solutions to modern health care problems.

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9780742519558

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Reviews

Healing Places asserts emphatically and eloquently that place matters to health. The case studies provide fascinating evidence that links between healing and place are well grounded in history and are now being reconsidered in hospital design. This book will be important reading for researchers, teachers, and professionals with an interest in health care settings. [It] adds weight to a major shift in contemporary thinking: reassessing the links between place and health.--Kearns, Robin A.

Gesler brings important insights to our understanding of healing, making innovative connections between different kinds of environments in the process. He highlights the complexity of health, and the importance of understanding how healing takes place in, and is shaped by particular places. Healing Places demonstrates clearly that geographers have an important and original contribution to make in understanding health and wellbeing, both historically and in the present day. * Area * Healing Places asserts emphatically and eloquently that place matters to health. The case studies provide fascinating evidence that links between healing and place are well grounded in history and are now being reconsidered in hospital design. This book will be important reading for researchers, teachers, and professionals with an interest in health care settings. [It] adds weight to a major shift in contemporary thinking: reassessing the links between place and health. -- Robin A. Kearns, The University of Auckland

Author Information

Wilbert M. Gesler is Professor of Geography at the University of North Carolina.

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