In tribute to the life and impact of Dan Benor his books are resources are now available free of charge at a www.danielbenor.com

Dr. Daniel Benor, MD Obituary 

By John Freedom 

Dan made his transition on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 at the age of 81. He died peacefully in his sleep at home, surrounded by his wife Linda, step-son, his cat and dogs. He was in a lot of physical pain, and so we are grateful that he is now resting in peace. 

Daniel J. Benor, MD, was a holistic psychiatrist and psychotherapist. In his later years he specialized in the treatment of anxiety, chronic pain and psychosomatic conditions. He received his BA in psychology at UCLA, and his medical degree at UCLA Medical School, followed by a fellowship at the UCLA neuropsychiatric institute. After becoming disenchanted with mainstream medicine and drug treatments for mental disorders, Dan studied alternative therapies including meditation, guided imagery, gestalt therapy, transactional analysis, hypnosis, EMDR and energy psychology. He was a true innovator, and developed a novel therapy he called WHEE: the Wholistic Hybrid of EMDR and EFT. He taught these methods at conferences and workshops internationally for over 40 years, including at CAIET and ACEP. 

Dan was blessed with an insatiable curiosity, and he loved learning. He wrote, "As a child, I thought that grownups knew everything and that one day I would be a grownup and I would know everything! There is a little part of me that hasn’t given up on this search for knowledge and understanding of life, the universe and everything...." 

Dan’s lifework was "Wholistic Healing" (which he always spelled with a “W.”) He emphasized the need to address and heal the Whole Person, including body, mind, emotions, relationships and Spirit. In his classes and trainings he synthesized Western medicine and traditional psychotherapy with intuition, prayer, and spiritual approaches, as well as EM and EP. 

Dan was a meticulous scholar, editor and researcher. He was the author of Healing Research, Volumes I-III, and many articles on health and spiritual healing. He was the founder and editor of the International Journal of Healing and Caring, the Wholistic Healing Research website, and maintained a database of "remarkable recoveries," case histories of people who recovered from chronic illness using spiritual and wholistic methods. He was a founding diplomat of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine, founder of the Council for Healing, and for many years served on the advisory boards of Alternative Therapies, Subtle Energies (ISSSEEM), Frontier Sciences and the Advisory Board of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine (UK). 

His books include Wholistic Healing for the Highly Sensitive Person; Consciousness, Bioenergy and Healing; and Seven Minutes to Natural Pain Release. (This last book is, in my opinion, the finest book ever written on the psychodynamics of chronic pain and how to treat it naturally). 

Dan is survived by his wife Linda, and several children and grandchildren. He was the recipient of ACEP’s Contribution To The Field Award in 2021. An online Celebration of Dan's Life will be held sometime in the fall. 

Dan was a shining light, and mere words cannot begin to capture his kindness, gentleness, generosity and his huge open-heartedness. It would be an understatement to say that “Dan touched many people.” He will be warmly remembered and deeply missed by those of us fortunate enough to have been blessed by his love and his presence. 

[Used with permission and reprinted from International Journal of Healing and Caring 2022, 22(4)5-7. The International Journal of Healing and Caring is distributed electronically as an open access journal, available at no charge. You may print your downloaded copy of this article or any other article for relaxed reading. We encourage you to share this article with friends and colleagues.] 

Tribute by Council Member Mary Frost RN

I met Dan in 2004 when I joined the Council for Healing as a representative for Healing Touch

International. Over the years I have observed him to be a very patient, kind and wise person

with a keen intellect and deep commitment to holistic health care and healing. It has been a

great privilege to know him and to have him as a treasured colleague. He has taught me

much and his innovative healing method, Transformative Wholistic Reintegration (TWR),

formerly known as WHEE, is stunningly effective in assisting clients in overcoming

troublesome emotions. Dan was a gifted healer and therapist and I am so very proud to call

him teacher, mentor, and friend.

Thank you Dan Benor!

Tribute By Cay Randall-May, Ph.D.

Daniel Benor was unique aside from his prodigious sholarship and contributions to the

understanding of healing. He brought together practitioners who would otherwise not have

known each other personally. His legacy catalyzes our continual dialogue on the nature of

healing. Throughout the decades that I was privileged to participate in the Council for Healing,

Dan spoke with me privately many times. He truly listened to me and never seemed distracted

from what we were discussing. He led the Council through inspiration, not by overshadowing

or dominating anyone. He encouraged diversity of viewpoint and independence of perspective

among all with whom he interacted. Strength through diversity is the legacy which he leaves to

the Council for Healing and, more importantly, to healing in general.