
The Connection Cure
The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging
Julia Hotz(Author)
Headline Home (Publisher)
Published on 11. June 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-0354-2308-8 (ISBN)
Description
'A brave, fascinating, and persuasive read - and will soon become the definitive book on social prescribing. Full of integrity, humor, and great storytelling, this book will change lives, and possibly the world.'
Dr. Michael Dixon, OBE, author of Time to Heal and former NHS National Lead for Social Prescription
In this combination of diligent science reporting, moving patient success stories, and surprising self-discovery, journalist Julia Hotz helps us discover lasting and life-changing medicine in our own communities.
Traditionally, when we get sick, health care professionals ask, "What's the matter with you?" But around the world, teams of doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers have started to flip the script, asking "What matters to you?" Instead of solely pharmaceutical prescriptions, they offer 'social prescriptions'-referrals to community activities and resources, like photography classes, gardening groups, and volunteering gigs.
The results speak for themselves. Science shows that social prescribing is effective for treating symptoms of the modern world's most common ailments-depression, ADHD, addiction, trauma, anxiety, chronic pain, dementia, diabetes, and loneliness. As health care's de facto cycle of "diagnose-treat-repeat" reaches a breaking point, social prescribing has also proven to reduce patient wait times, lower hospitalization rates, save money, and reverse health worker burnout. And as a general sense of unwellness plagues more of us, social prescriptions can help us feel healthier than we've felt in years.
As Hotz tours the globe to investigate the spread of social prescribing to over thirty countries, she meets people personifying its revolutionary potential: an aspiring novelist whose art workshop helps her cope with trauma symptoms and rediscover her joy; a policy researcher whose swimming course helps her taper off antidepressants and feel excited to wake up in the morning; an army vet whose phone conversations help him form his only true friendship; and dozens more. The success stories she finds bring a long-known theory to life: if we can change our environment, we can change our health. By reconnecting to what matters to us, we can all start to feel better.
Dr. Michael Dixon, OBE, author of Time to Heal and former NHS National Lead for Social Prescription
In this combination of diligent science reporting, moving patient success stories, and surprising self-discovery, journalist Julia Hotz helps us discover lasting and life-changing medicine in our own communities.
Traditionally, when we get sick, health care professionals ask, "What's the matter with you?" But around the world, teams of doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers have started to flip the script, asking "What matters to you?" Instead of solely pharmaceutical prescriptions, they offer 'social prescriptions'-referrals to community activities and resources, like photography classes, gardening groups, and volunteering gigs.
The results speak for themselves. Science shows that social prescribing is effective for treating symptoms of the modern world's most common ailments-depression, ADHD, addiction, trauma, anxiety, chronic pain, dementia, diabetes, and loneliness. As health care's de facto cycle of "diagnose-treat-repeat" reaches a breaking point, social prescribing has also proven to reduce patient wait times, lower hospitalization rates, save money, and reverse health worker burnout. And as a general sense of unwellness plagues more of us, social prescriptions can help us feel healthier than we've felt in years.
As Hotz tours the globe to investigate the spread of social prescribing to over thirty countries, she meets people personifying its revolutionary potential: an aspiring novelist whose art workshop helps her cope with trauma symptoms and rediscover her joy; a policy researcher whose swimming course helps her taper off antidepressants and feel excited to wake up in the morning; an army vet whose phone conversations help him form his only true friendship; and dozens more. The success stories she finds bring a long-known theory to life: if we can change our environment, we can change our health. By reconnecting to what matters to us, we can all start to feel better.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
419 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0354-2308-8 (9781035423088)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Julia Hotz
The Connection Cure
The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging
E-Book
06/2024
Headline Home
€3.70
Available for download
Person
Julia Hotz is a solutions-focused journalist based in New York. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Scientific American, The Boston Globe, Time magazine, and more. She helps other journalists report on the big new ideas changing the world at the Solutions Journalism Network. The Connection Cure is her first book.