The Healing Bond explores the nature of the relationship between healer and patient in a variety of settings, with the emphasis on the issue of therapeutic responsibility. The contributors - health care professionals and social scientists - investigate how responsibility is distributed between healer and patient. Can it be shared among more than one practitioner? What is the role of professional organizations in defining and safeguarding the relationship? Is the bond between the healer and practitioner a dynamic aspect of the healing process itself? If the bond changes over time, what wider social forces influence it?

These questions are investigated from a variety of professional and academic perspectives, covering both 'orthodox' and 'non-orthodox' forms of healing practice. The contributors look at health care as a whole and deal with specific areas of health such as midwifery, psychoanalysis, naturopathy, the relations between medicine and the state, and the appeal of 'quacks'. They also confront particular issues of current concern, including medical litigation, codes of ethics for complementary practitioners, and cooperation between orthodox and complementary medicine.

Written by people from a wide range of backgrounds - medical sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, medicine, complementary therapy, the law - The Healing Bond is unique in taking into account the perspectives of the healers themselves. It will therefore be of great value to students, teachers and practitioners in a variety of disciplines, including medical sociology, anthropology and medicine, as well as to healers.