The essential tools for making our own best medical decisions, cutting through the confusion caused by the health-care system, the media, and gaps in our own reasoning. Making the right medical choices is harder than ever. Whether we're deciding to take a cholesterol drug or choosing a cancer treatment, we are overwhelmed by information from all sides: our doctors' recommendations, dissenting expert opinions, confusing statistics, conflicting media reports, the advice of friends, claims on the Internet, and a never-ending stream of drug company ads. Your Medical Mind shows us how to chart a clear path through this sea of confusion. Drs. Groopman and Hartzband reveal that each of us has a set of deeply rooted beliefs whose profound influence we may not realize when we make medical decisions. How much trust we place in authority figures, in statistics, or in other patients' stories, in science and technology or in natural healing, and whether we seek the most or the least treatment-all are key factors that shape our choices. Recognizing our preferences and the external factors that might lead our thinking astray can make a dramatic, even lifesaving, difference in our medical decision making. When conflicting information pulls us back and forth between options, when we feel pressured by doctors or loved ones to make a particular choice, or when we have no previous experience to guide us through a crisis, Your Medical Mind will prove an essential companion. The authors interviewed scores of patients who have struggled with situations such as these. They also drew on research and insights from doctors, psychologists, economists, and other experts to help reveal the array of forces that can aid or impede our thinking. They show us the subtle strategies drug advertisers use to influence our choices: they unveil the extreme-sometimes dangerously misleading-power of both narratives and statistics. And they help us understand how to improve upon a universal human shortcoming- assessing the future impact of the decisions we make now. Jerome Groopman, a New Yorker writer and bestselling author, is an oncologist who guides his patients through life-or-death decisions. Pamela Hartzband is a noted endocrinologist and educator at Harvard Medical School who helps patients make critical decisions about their long-term health. As patients, the authors have very different preferences, yet they are united when conveying the book's groundbreaking message: we can cut through the confusion and arrive at decisions that serve us best.

傑爾姆•格羅普曼

●哈佛大學醫學院教授，美國貝斯以色列女執事醫療中心主任，在癌癥與艾滋病研究領域處於世界領先地位。

●在哥倫比亞大學獲得醫學博士學位後，至馬薩諸塞州總醫院擔任住院醫生，先後入選美國國傢科學院醫學研究所院士、美國科學促進會會士。

●定期為《華爾街日報》《新共和》《華盛頓郵報》撰文，《紐約客》簽約作者，《紐約時報》暢銷書作傢。

帕米拉•哈茨班德

●哈佛大學醫學院助理教授，美國知名內分泌科醫生，被評為“美國最好的醫生”之一。

●哈佛大學醫學博士，在甲狀腺、腎上腺等疾病和女性健康領域頗有成就。

●常與丈夫格羅普曼閤作一起為《紐約時報》《華爾街日報》《新英格蘭醫學雜誌》以及其他科學期刊撰稿。