Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine by Candace Pert, Ph.D.

A Book Review 

Molecules of Emotion:
The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine

by Candace Pert, Ph.D.

Candace Pert, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist whose extraordinary career began with her 1972 discovery of the opiate receptor. She speaks to mixed audiences of mainstream professionals, alternative practitioners and seekers of wholeness about the exciting world of biomedicine, molecular theory, and psychoneuroimmunology. As she puts it, "I do what most scientists abhor, I seek to inform, to educate and inspire all manner of people". For Candace Pert, science is a search for truth and she is creating a new paradigm in the science arena. "The science I have come to know and love is unifying, spontaneous, intuitive, caring--a process more akin to surrender than to dominion. I have come to believe that science, at its very core, is a spiritual endeavor."

In her groundbreaking book Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine, Pert provides startling and decisive answers to the challenging questions that scientists and philosophers have pondered for centuries. By establishing the biomolecular basis for our emotions and explaining these new scientific developments in a clear and accessible way, Pert empowers us to understand ourselves, our feelings, and the connection between our minds and our bodies-or bodyminds-in ways we could never possibly have imagined before. From explaining how there is a scientific basis to popular wisdom about phenomena such as "gut feelings" to making comprehensible recent breakthroughs in cancer and AIDS research, Pert provides us with an intellectual adventure of the highest order.

In Molecules of Emotion, Pert gives us more than a story of scientific discovery. Woven into her clear explanations of the science underlying her work is the remarkable story of how, faced with personal and professional obstacles, she has grown as a woman and a mother and how her personal and spiritual development has made possible her remarkable scientific career.

Pert writes in Chapter 13, "Truth":

" The tendency to ignore our emotions is "oldthink", a remnant of the still-reigning paradigm that keeps us focused on the material level of health, the physicality of it. But the emotions are a key element in self-care because they allow us to enter into the bodymind's conversation. By getting in touch with our emotions, both by listening to them and by directing them through the psychosomatic network, we gain access to the healing wisdom that is everyone's natural biological right."

"And how do we do this? First by acknowledging and claiming all our feelings, not just the so-called positive ones. Anger, grief, fear--these emotional experiences are not negative in themselves; in fact, they are vital for our survival. We need anger to define boundaries, grief to deal with our losses, and fear to protect ourselves from danger. It's only when these feelings are denied, so that they cannot be easily and rapidly processed through the system and released, that the situation becomes toxic…And the more we deny them, the greater the ultimate toxicity, which often takes the form of an explosive release of pent-up emotion. That's when emotion can be damaging to both oneself and others, because its expression becomes overwhelming, sometimes violent."

"So my advice is to express all of your feelings, regardless of whether you think they are acceptable, and then let them go…When your emotions are moving and your chemicals flowing, you will experience feelings of freedom, hopefulness, joy, because you are in a healthy, "whole" state."

"The goal is to keep information flowing, feedback systems working, and natural balance maintained, all of which we can help to achieve by a conscious decision to enter into the bodymind's conversation."

Pert goes on to explain the eight ways to use awareness and intention to tap into the psychosomatic network, in order to prevent disease and maximize health:

• Becoming conscious.

• Accessing the Psychosomatic Network (psychological counseling, hypnotherapy, touch therapy, personal-growth seminars, meditation and prayer)

• Tapping into your dreams.

• Getting in touch with your body (she offers an appendix on alternative manipulative and energetic therapies)

• Reducing stress (meditation, relaxation music, play and self-honesty)

• Exercise

• Eating wisely (including environment, consciousness, gratitude)

• Avoiding substance abuse

Candace Pert is currently a Research Professor at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC where she continues with AIDS research on the Peptide-T drug that shows potential for blocking the AIDS virus from entering a particular receptor to which it binds. Pert will be speaking in October at the 13th Annual National Conference" Designing and Connecting Powerful Learning Experiences" to be held at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, MO. For information, contact: Center for the Advancement of Reform in Education (816) 501-4651.

Molecules of Emotion was first published in 1997 and released in 1999 as a paperback.

Book review by Cynthia Morin first appeared in Dance of the Soul issue October 1999. Copyright  by author and  Seeds for A New Humanity.  Reprinted here with permission. All rights reserved. Contact author at cynthia@studio8creations.com