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.
When Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients were given a placebo that they believed was the same drug that had previously controlled their PD symptoms, they got that same symptom relief from the placebo. What happened was that their powerful beliefs…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-09-01 09:00:582015-11-02 06:41:02Video: The Endogenous Pharmacy and the Mind
When oncologists diagnose patients with cancers that carry a very high fatality rate, they need to give them hope. They can do this by focusing on the patients who got well rather than on the ones who died. For example, with cancers that carry…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-08-18 09:00:282015-08-17 20:05:55Video: The Importance of Hope
A study done in the San Francisco Bay Area (Alameda County) over a nine year period showed that the people with the highest quality and quantity of social support and connections had the lowest rates of sickness and death.
An eight year follow-up…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-08-11 09:00:542015-08-17 20:06:10Video: Your Friends and Family May Save Your Life
Psychologist Lawrence LeShan spent his entire adult life practicing psychotherapy with advanced metastatic cancer patients. When he threw out the old Freudian model in which he had been trained, his patients began to unexpectedly go into remission.…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-08-04 09:00:212015-08-04 08:43:08Video: Lawrence LeShan’s Cancer Patients Go Into Remission
In one study, oncologists were asked what they considered to be the single most important patient attribute that makes the greatest difference in patient outcomes. In treating over a hundred thousand cancer patients, over 90% of the oncologists…
The most powerful treatment any doctor can administer may be that of offering sincere, authentic hope. The most deadly treatment may be that of delivering a dire prognosis without giving the patient any chance of recovery.
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-07-21 09:00:032015-08-28 13:16:08Video: Hope is Medicine; Lack of Hope is a Curse
In this video, I mentioned the Japanese study in which poison ivy was rubbed on the forearms of boys known to be allergic to the plant. In the first part of the experiment, a poison ivy leaf was rubbed on the forearms of teenage boys known to…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-07-14 09:00:142015-07-13 18:37:14Video: Your Mind Can Neutralize Allergens and Even Some Toxins
In a case study published in a major medical journal, cardiologist Bernard Lown reports on a patient admitted with irreparable heart damage following a massive heart attack. In the days before transplants, this patient was not expected to survive.…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-06-16 09:00:342015-08-28 13:16:08Video: Mental Imagery Can Cure and Can Kill
In the 1880s Dr. William Osler started the first residency program for medical students in the United States. He told his (Johns Hopkins) residents: “Ask not what disease the patient has, but rather, what patient the disease has.” Mental…
https://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.png00Larry Berkelhammerhttps://larryberkelhammer.com/wp-content/images/2021/05/2105-lbphd_logo.pngLarry Berkelhammer2015-06-09 09:00:342015-06-09 08:14:11Video: Mental Attitude Often Determines Physical Health
