Neha Sangwan - Talk Rx: Five Steps to Honest Conversation that Create Connection, Health, Happiness

Praise for TalkRx

The answer to the common complaint My doctor never has time to talk to me. I loved reading these down-to-earth conversations with a brilliant medical doctor who has taken the time to give straightforward answers to so many common communication and health-related concerns. Priceless information from a medical doctor who is the real deal.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer,New York Times best-selling author of
I Can See Clearly Now and The Power of Intention

If you have ever had your mouth say yes and your heart say no, if you have ever not had a conversation because of fear, or if you have had a conversation that turned bad, then you need TalkRx. This groundbreaking, insightful view into human relationships and Doctor Nehas prescription for communication will reduce your stress, enhance your health, and free you up to experience love, energy, and success in your life.

Mark Hyman, M.D., director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Blood Sugar Solution

Whens the last time your doctor spoke with you about the way your communication impacts your health? If your answer is never, read this book. Let Doctor Neha teach you how good communication can light up the darkest corners of your relationships.

Dr. David Eagleman, neuroscientist, New York Times bestselling author of Incognito

TalkRx is just what the doctor ordered! A different kind of prescription from a different kind of physician. You will be astounded and inspired by compelling personal experiences and patient encounters from Doctor Nehas career. Your relationships will be improved when you understand how challenging communication directly connects to physical well-being. In this book are the secrets to transforming stressful interactions. TalkRx is a masterful guide to improving your life, relationships, and health.

Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE, past president, National Speakers Association

Doctor Neha shows us how physical intelligence can lead to transformative conversations that can impact the trajectory of our lives. She teaches us how to make every interaction count to enhance our effectiveness as leaders and, perhaps more importantly, our relationship with family and friends. Best of all, we can improve both our emotional and our physical health.

Susan Sobbott, President, American Express Global Corporate Payments

Doctor Neha shows you a clear, well-marked path for finding healing truth in your mind and body and gives you the courage to share it with others.

James S. Gordon, M.D., author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey out of Depression and founder and director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine

TalkRx is a gift to us all, a book filled with new and surprising ideas and practical ways to change all the relationships in your life for the better. Doctor Neha shares the secret of how to free yourself from old, hurtful patterns of communication and discover your personal power to heal the pain in your life. This is a book that will enable many people to lead more fulfilling and joyful lives. I am grateful to Neha for writing TalkRx and to Hay House for publishing it.

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfathers Blessings

Copyright 2015 by Neha Sangwan

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast Books: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Cover design: Lexie Rhodes and Monica Gurevich Interior design: Nick C. Welch Interior photos/illustrations: Katy Putnam (Kap Art, Inc.)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Note: Names and identifying details of patients and colleagues have been changed.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sangwan, Neha, 1970

Talk rx : five steps to honest conversations that create connection, health, and happiness / Neha Sangwan, M.D.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-4019-4246-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. HealthPsychological aspects. 2. Interpersonal communicationHealth aspects. 3. Physician and patient. 4. Self-care, Health. 5. Mind and body. I. Title.

R726.5.S264 2015

613.2dc23

2014025462

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-4246-5

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1st edition, May 2015

Printed in the United States of America

To my bestie, Kathy Trostthis book simply wouldnt have happened without you.

To my parents, sisters, and niecelette, for a lifetime of love and support.

And to my patients, who are living proof that honest communication heals.

How can we be missing whats right in front of us?

A world of information is at our fingertips. We can communicate instantly with anyone anywhere anytime. Yet why is it that most of humanity feels more disconnected and lonely than ever?

Even with advanced research, the latest pharmaceuticals, and state-of-the-art technology, our rates of insomnia, anxiety, obesity, depression, and addiction are on the rise. Health care costs are spiraling out of control. And with a population of only 315 million, Americans are consuming nearly three billion prescriptions each year.

As a medical practitioner, I was trained to name diseases and then prescribe a one-size-fits-all medication to treat them. The problem is that medication has become our first line of defense to treat any symptomwithout even exploring other options. As a society, we have come to believe that using short-term fixes over and over somehow makes them long-term solutions. However, if youve watched a pharmaceutical commercial latelyand thought the list of possible side effects flashing across the screen sounded worse than the symptoms you were trying to alleviateyou know something is off.

Maybe were searching for connection, health, and happiness in all the wrong places.

As I began to work in a hospital, the patients I encountered were in crisis. They suffered from ailments such as heart attacks, strokes, pneumonia, or cancer. My days were punctuated by unforgettable moments of compassion, terror, tenderness, relief, and joyeach emotion magnified by the fact that this work was often a matter of life or death. As you can imagine, my job caring for these critically ill people was as exhausting as it was fulfilling.