David Reilly: Human Healing Unlocked—Transforming Suffering into Wellbeing

From germinating 30,000 year old seeds to the effects of Type II diabetes on the National Health Service, Dr David Reilly MD’s fast paced talk on how to unlock the potential of human healing is both fascinating and touching. Using the example of one of his patients, and with a moving twist at the end, David interprets 40 years of academic research into an amazing story. David Reilly trained as a physician and a GP and evaluated aspects of complementary medicine and mind-body medicine. He approaches medicine and human caring in ways that emphasize the innate healing capacity in people, the factors that modify the healing response, and their interaction in the therapeutic encounter and relationship—ideas adopted as the core of The Fifth Wave document exploring future health in Scotland. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.