Dr. Larry Berkelhammer is a retired mind-body medicine psychologist. He has lived well with several chronic medical conditions since childhood. For decades he endured the frustration of not knowing the causes of his physical problems. Then, well into adulthood, he was diagnosed with two autoimmune diseases and a primary immunodeficiency disease. At the same time, he was told there were no known cures for any of them and that pharmacological treatment for some would make others worse. A long-time mindfulness and internal martial arts practitioner faced with this reality, Dr. Berkelhammer became curious about the power of those practices to improve health and well-being. He trained with several world leaders in psychooncology, psychophysiology, psychoneuroimmunology. He also trained for many years in the internal martial art of tai chi chuan under T.T. Liang and later under William C.C. Chen. Since the spring of 2018 he has been training in internal wing chun within the Chu Shong Tin lineage under Sifu Nima King at Mindful Wing Chun.
After treating patients for 19 years in private practice, Dr. Berkelhammer retired and spent his time writing, teaching and serving non-profit organizations that serve people with chronic medical conditions. Dr. Berkelhammer’s teaching appears in his two books: In Your Own Hands: New Hope for People with Chronic Medical Conditions (Self-Efficacy Press Jan. 2014, 98-0991243709) and Doctor’s Partner: The Self-Empowered Patient (Self-Efficacy Press Dec 2020).
Doctor’s Partner: The Self-Empowered Patient serves as a guide in how to take charge of your medical care. This book describes all the things that the most savvy medical patients do to receive optimal care.
Several years of presentations, interviews, and articles are available on his extensive website: https://larryberkelhammer.com.
In one of the studies, half of a large group of students with the earliest signs of a cold went to Karmu, the healer. The other half were treated at the Harvard Health Service. Most of those treated at Harvard Health developed severe colds.…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-11-03 09:00:222015-09-27 18:39:50Video: Is Love the Most Powerful Medicine?
In this study, after controlling for potential confounding variables, research psychologists discovered that the most friendly, openhearted people have the lowest rates of cancer and the most optimally functioning immune systems. In other studies,…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-10-27 09:00:022015-09-27 18:33:09Video: Friendly People Have Better Immune Function
In this prospective study at Johns Hopkins, which was carried out for thirty years, the medical students who in medical school were deemed to be most likely to have meaningful relationships throughout life, were found to have far less cancer…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-10-20 09:00:472015-09-27 18:27:16Video: Meaningful Relationships Correlate with Less Cancer
In this prospective study of breast cancer patients, those who confided in others had higher survival rates. There was a clear correlation between social support and higher survival rates. This study was conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Maunsell.
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-10-13 09:00:292015-09-27 18:15:42Video: Social Support Improves the Odds of Beating Cancer
This is a case study of a woman treated for intractable asthma with what both the doctor and the patient believed was a powerful new, experimental drug. The doctor, in disbelief over the rapid cure using the drug, believed the drug company had…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-10-06 09:00:402015-10-06 16:02:25Video: The Mind Overrides Medical Treatment
In this case study, from the early 20th century, physician William Osler cured a small boy of whooping cough. In the days before antibiotics, whooping cough was commonly fatal. Dr. Osler made an emergency house call to the young boy, who was…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-09-29 09:00:362015-09-29 12:33:51Video: Love May Be the Most Powerful Medicine
This case study is of someone with three distinct personalities. The three personalities have anatomical and physiological differences that are recognizable by any observer. When this person switches personalities, a chronic disease that the…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-09-22 09:00:192015-09-22 16:56:20Video: Your Personality Alters Your Anatomy
Our degree of mental health and wellbeing significantly influences the immune system and its ability to defend against cancer and other debilitating chronic and life-threatening diseases. Studies of schizophrenics and others who tend to split…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-09-15 09:00:042015-09-22 16:52:51Video: Mental Health and Cancer
In a study at Baylor College of Medicine, researchers divided of group of patients who needed arthroscopic knee repair into two groups. One group got the arthroscopic surgery. The other group got sham surgery, whereby the holes were made for…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-09-08 09:00:592015-09-22 16:49:45Video: The Mind Can Heal the Body
