Acupuncture in Practise

By H. MacPherson and T. J. Kaptchuk. Churchill Livingstone, 1996. Hardback, 482 pages. English.

These cases, written by a great range of eminent practitioners throughout the Western world, are characterised by their extremely detailed presentation, by the attention paid to the life history and emotional responses of the patient, and by the daring fact that the clinical outcome is not always an unqualified success. Each case is characterised by a detailed presentation of case history and present symptoms, diagnosis and analysis, discussion of treatment principles and approach, point selection and explanation, and treatment outcome. In each case moreover, we are presented with a real person whom we get to know by reading the case. Equally, in most cases we learn a lot about the practitioner, since most have chosen to be quite self-revealing.