In the third edition of this comprehensive book, the origins of auriculotherapy are traced to historic sources in both the East and West and make for fascinating reading, especially when it is revealed that it was a French western acupuncturist, Dr Paul Nogier, who stimulated a revival of auriculotherapy in the mid-twentieth century. Terry Oleson has a neuroscience background and wrote his doctural dissertation for psychology on the firing patterns of neurons in the somatosensory and auditory pathways. He first examined auricular diagnosis as research director of his Californian university’s pain clinic and over several years of studying auricular diagnosis, produced a positive scientific study linking auricular diagnosis to musculoskeletal pain. Dr Oleson, who is not an acupuncturist, went on to study the work of auriculotherapy pioneers and was particularly enthralled with the work in France of Dr Nogier, whom he met on three occasions at international congresses in Europe. Oleson has since taught auriculotherapy at American colleges and universities for over 20 years.
