THE MEDICINE MAGE

A former immunologist lays the holistic groundwork for what she perceives as imperative changes needed in modern medicine.

In her timely guide, health and wellness coach Zhong, aka Dr. Z, addresses the critical conundrum of burnout affecting medical workers. With the problem amplified by the current pandemic, she recognizes the detrimental effects of chronic stress on the health care community and outlines how beneficial change can occur through her 12-step transformative program. She begins by isolating seven signs associated with burnout, which she likens to a soldier’s PTSD, a “moral injury” where someone’s “core value, identity, purpose, and self-worthiness are jeopardized by loyalty to the institute.” Withdrawal, weakness, and loss of compassion as a frontline worker can become a crisis, the author writes. While she concedes that burnout is an inevitable consequence, Zhong asserts that it allows opportunities for radical, beneficial paradigm shifts in health care systems. These changes include a general revision toward more health-focused approaches, the integration of holistic healing into disease management procedures, and the incorporation of organic learning and unlearning processes into one’s scope of medical practice. The author’s 12-step program for “future doctors for the new world” forms the book’s core and includes practical guidance on envisioning the future of health care, focusing on personal and professional attention and intention, centering oneself amid a chaotic world, mastering emotions, and finding empowerment. Zhong believes the modern practice of medical care is generally and irrationally grounded in both a fear and an avoidance of death. Her program uniquely encourages an impartiality concerning life and death, as both are “equally beautiful parts of the process.”

To better illustrate and support her methodology in revamping medical practices, Zhong effectively includes aspects of spiritualism, poetry, allegorical storytelling, and personal observations in the manual. A section chronicling her own history growing up in Shanghai alongside her experiences as a biomedical researcher forms the basis of her ideology and affords readers a deeper perspective on the author. Watershed influences like practicing qi gong energy work and meditation became the impetus for Zhong’s eventual career change as she passionately envisioned new directions. The author openly describes her immense passion for creating a sanctuary training center for “soul-crushed and energetically depleted” health care professionals who desire renewed clarity and purpose and, most importantly, to “experience various healing modalities that are not taught in medical school.” Despite the pandemic lockdown, she proceeded with developing the Medicine Mage Academy, a yearlong, intuitive holistic training program conducted in a nature-based setting and encompassing aspects of organic learning and “consciousness downloading.” But in later chapters, the author veers into uncharted territory and the book loses some of its initial focus. Some readers may find her more science-minded inclusion of Taoism, the quantum entanglement phenomenon, interspecies telepathy, and theories on artificial intelligence and superconsciousness overly complex and distracting from her central theme of transformational wellness practices through human interconnectedness. Those able to extract and retain the volume’s central message will find Zhong’s enlightening and liberating suggestions on revamping health care a breath of fresh air.

A timely, profound, multidimensional guide on alternative methods of medical care delivery.