The necessary subjectivity of bodymind medicine: Candace Pert's molecules of emotions

This article discusses the relevance of Candace Pert's Molecules of Emotions (1997) to the development of bodymind medicine and argues that Pert's research and conceptual analysis provide the missing link connecting the messages of the mind to physiological effects in the body. The research and analysis also present a fundamental challenge to both the reigning body of medicine and the scientific commitment to so-called objectivity by positing a human organism that can act upon itself with thoughts and feelings--that is, through subjectivity. The contention is twofold: The only adequate medical science is one in which the patient's subjectivity is written into the health and disease equation. But for this to happen the classical/modern concept of science needs to be dramatically reconfigured.