Healing Places

by Wilbert M. Gesler

Is there healing beyond the walls of a modern hospital? Healing Places looks at how different environments affect our physical, mental, spiritual, social, and emotional healing. It sets out four dimensions found in healing environments―natural, built, symbolic, and social―and applies these ideas to three places that achieved a lasting reputation for Epidauros in Greece, Bath in England, and Lourdes in France. Gesler's engaging and innovative approach draws from a variety of fields, from geography and environmental psychology to medicine, sociology, and anthropology. Comparing these healing places to today's hospital, Gesler shows that place and healing are inextricably linked and advocates that health care should go well beyond biomedical solutions.

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Eric Windhorst · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Healing Places, Gesler asserts that certain places are healing (thought of holistically--physical, emotional, mental, spiritual)because their natural, built, social, and symbolic 'environments' promote human health.

While I found Gesler's hypothesis interesting, I did not find the depth of his idea's overly inspiring and found his writing style lacking as well. Overall, however, Healing Places was a good introduction to the geographic concept of 'therapeutic landscapes.'