SEXUAL HEALING

Another miraculous prescription for mental and physical health, this time with sex as the cure-all. Clinical psychoneurologist and prolific author Pearsall (Ten Laws of Lasting Love, 1993; Making Miracles, 1991, etc.) has discovered—or perhaps invented would be a more accurate word—a new field of medicine that he dubs psychoneurosexuality, or PNS, which explores the relationship among the brain, the mind, the immune system, and sexuality. He begins by explaining the theory of PNS, arguing that it goes beyond Dr. Bernie Siegel's self- healing approach (Love, Medicine and Miracles, 1986) and Dr. David Spiegel's research on the value of social support for sick people (Living Beyond Limits, 1993) to focus on the healing power of an intimate two-person relationship. Such a relationship, he asserts, can help ameliorate all illnesses, but it is especially useful in dealing with old age, heart disease, and cancer. Next, Pearsall attacks what he calls the domination of the ``sex syndicate,'' self-styled experts in the mechanics of sex who in his view have overlooked the power of intimacy and the meaning of love. He concludes with a how-to section on becoming a sexual healer, which involves identifying one's own sexual style, determining one's sexual fitness, and following a weekly three- part sexual workout that consists of ten minutes of shared laughter (he provides a dozen unfunny sex jokes as ``laughrodisiacs''), ten minutes of weeping, and thirty minutes of ``erotorobics'' with one's partner. Couples are urged to take the Pearsall Psychological Inventory, included in the appendix, to discover their potential capacity for sexual healing. There is a real message here about human relationships, but it's swamped by numerous and repetitious lists, the too-cute made-up expressions, and the pseudoscientific jargon. A clear case of overkill.