Explain how Norman Cousins devised his own alternative treatment, the outcome, and how he subsequently influenced health care.

A. In 1964, Saturday Review of Literature editor Norman Cousins was diagnosed with
ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory degenerative disease of the spinal connective tissue,
and given a 1 in 500 probability of recovery.
B. After hospitalization and large doses of anti-inflammatory drugs, Cousins questioned the effectiveness of the drugs, unending tests, hospital routine, and hospital food. He also objected to passively observing his health care and wanted to take an active part in healing.
C. Cousins chose to stay in a nice hotel instead of a hospital. Instead of taking drugs, he gave himself prescriptions of healthy foods, large vitamin C doses, an optimistic outlook, and a regular schedule of watching movies and TV shows that made him laugh.
D. Cousins eventually recovered completely from a condition thought to have no cure.
E. He published a 1976 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, and a 1979 book about his experience with the article as its first chapter.
F. Norman Cousins accepted an Adjunct Professor of Medical Humanities position offered him by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
1. This enabled him to advocate for alternative treatments within the context of conventional medicine.
A. He wrote and spoke about the power we have within to heal ourselves.
B. He advocated for the need to widen medicine to include psychological factors in healing,
and to be patient-centered.
C. He promoted the healing powers of positive emotions for the rest of his life, until 1990.
Through sharing his own story and through his advocacy, Cousins helped influence medical care to shift from the domination of the biomedical model, which identified the causes of diseases as pathogens, to acceptance of a biopsychosocial model, which identifies psychological, cultural, and social factors as underlying disease and health as well.