View source for Biography:Deepak Chopra

{{short description|Indian-American proponent of New Age philosophy and alternative medicine; physician, public speaker, and writer}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Deepak Chopra
| image       = Deepak Chopra 2013 (cropped).jpg
| image_size  =
| caption     = Chopra in 2013
| birth_place = [[Place:New Delhi|New Delhi]], [[History:British Raj|British India]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Inc |first1=Encyclopaedia Britannica |title=Encyclopaedia Britannica Almanac 2010 |date=2010 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. |isbn=9781615353293 |pages=42 |url=https://books.google.com/?id=kd2bAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA42&dq=%22Deepak+Chopra%22+%22british+india%22#v=onepage&q=%22Deepak%20Chopra%22%20%22british%20india%22&f=false |language=en}}</ref>
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1946|10|22}}<ref>{{cite book|author1=Deepak Chopra|author2=Sanjiv Chopra|title=Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny, and the American Dream|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdAGdB_D6XMC&pg=PR3|year=2013|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-544-03210-1|pages=5–|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref>
| death_date  =
| death_place =
| alma_mater  = All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
| occupation  = Alternative medicine advocate, public speaker, writer
| salary      = 
| title       =
| spouse      = Rita Chopra
| relatives   = Sanjiv Chopra (brother)
| children    = Mallika Chopra<br />Gotham Chopra
| citizenship  = American<ref>{{cite news |author=Jeffrey Brown |title=Chopra Brothers Tell Story of How They Became Americans and Doctors in Memoir |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment-jan-june13-chopra_05-30/ |newspaper=PBS News Hour |date=May 13, 2013 |accessdate=January 7, 2015 }}<br />{{cite book|author1=Deepak Chopra|author2=Sanjiv Chopra|title=Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny, and the American Dream|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdAGdB_D6XMC&pg=PA194|year=2013|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-544-03210-1|page=194|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}<br />{{cite book|author=Boye Lafayette De Mente|title=Cultural Failures That Are Destroying the American Dream! – The Destructive Influence of Male Dominance & Religious Dogma!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-6WsEOi-7EC&pg=PA42|date=January 1, 1976|publisher=Cultural-Insight Books|isbn=978-0-914778-17-2|page=42}}</ref>
}}

'''Deepak Chopra''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|iː|p|ɑː|k|_|ˈ|tʃ|oʊ|p|r|ə}}; {{IPA-hi|d̪iːpək tʃoːpraː|lang}}; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-born American author and [[Medicine:Alternative medicine|alternative-medicine]] advocate.<ref>{{cite news|title=Deepak Chopra|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/|work=The Huffington Post|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref><ref name=Kaufman2013/> A prominent figure in the [[Philosophy:New Age|New Age]] movement,<ref name=time261114>{{cite news|last1=Alter|first1=Charlotte|title=Deepak Chopra on Why Gratitude is Good For You|url=http://time.com/3606692/deepak-chopra-gratitude-wellbeing/|accessdate=December 16, 2014|work=Time|date=November 26, 2014}}</ref> his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in alternative medicine.<ref name=Gamel2008/> 

Chopra studied medicine in India before emigrating in 1970 to the United States, where he completed residencies in internal medicine and endocrinology. As a licensed physician, in 1980 he became chief of staff at New England Memorial Hospital (NEMH).<ref name="restless" /> In 1985 he met [[Biography:Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]], and became involved with the [[Organization:Transcendental Meditation movement|Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement]]. Shortly thereafter he resigned his position at NEMH to establish the [[Chemistry:Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health|Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center]].<ref name=baer2003 /> In 1993 Chopra gained a following after he was interviewed about his books on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show''.<ref name=dunkel2005>{{cite news|last=Dunkel|first=Tom|title=Inner Peacekeeper|url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-04-29/news/0504290067_1_deepak-chopra-chopra-and-dr-pillar-candles|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|year=2005|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref> He then left the TM movement to become executive director of Sharp HealthCare's Center for Mind-Body Medicine. In 1996 he co-founded the Chopra Center for Wellbeing.<ref name="restless" /><ref name=baer2003 /><ref name=Steele2012>{{cite book|author=David Steele|title=The Million Dollar Private Practice: Using Your Expertise to Build a Business That Makes a Difference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vypmz76KeAC&pg=PA26|date=September 11, 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-22081-8|pages=26–}}</ref>

Chopra believes that a person may attain "perfect health", a condition "that is free from disease, that never feels pain", and "that cannot age or die".<ref name=baerp240/><ref name=perfect/> Seeing the human body as undergirded by a "quantum mechanical body" composed not of matter but of energy and information, he believes that "human aging is fluid and changeable; it can speed up, slow down, stop for a time, and even reverse itself," as determined by one's state of mind.<ref name=baerp240/><ref name=ageless/> He claims that his practices can also treat chronic disease.<ref name=aids /><ref name=AshmanBarringer2005 />

The ideas Chopra promotes have regularly been criticized by medical and scientific professionals as [[Unsolved:Pseudoscience|pseudoscience]].<ref name=Tompkins2008/><ref name=Nightline /><ref name=jaco/><ref name="Indie-Bullshit"/> The criticism has been described as ranging "from the dismissive to... the damning".<ref name=Tompkins2008 /> Philosopher [[Biography:Robert Todd Carroll|Robert Carroll]] writes that Chopra, to justify his teachings, attempts to integrate [[Philosophy:Ayurveda|Ayurveda]] with [[Physics:Quantum mechanics|quantum mechanics]].<ref name="skepdic-web" /> Chopra says that what he calls "[[Unsolved:Quantum healing|quantum healing]]" cures any manner of ailments, including cancer, through effects that he claims<!-- "these are his claims and basically no one else's" per edit summary for this revision--> are literally based on the same principles as quantum mechanics.<ref name=AshmanBarringer2005/> This has led physicists to object to his use of the term "quantum" in reference to medical conditions and the human body.<ref name=AshmanBarringer2005/>  [[Biology:Evolutionary biology|Evolutionary biologist]] [[Biography:Richard Dawkins|Richard Dawkins]] has said that Chopra uses "quantum jargon as plausible-sounding hocus pocus".<ref>{{cite web
|url= https://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/richard-dawkins-plays-god_b_3467484.html|title= Richard Dawkins Plays God: The Video (Updated)|first= Deepak|last= Chopra|date= June 19, 2013|website=The Huffington Post|accessdate= October 7, 2017}}</ref> Chopra's treatments generally elicit nothing but a placebo response<ref name=Gamel2008/> and have drawn criticism that the unwarranted claims made for them may raise "false hope" and lure sick people away from legitimate medical treatments.<ref name=Tompkins2008/>

==Biography==
=== Early life and education ===
Chopra was born in [[Place:New Delhi|New Delhi]], {{wipe|India}}<ref name=Chamberlain2015>{{cite news |url=http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/backstage-a-lesson-in-concentration-from-deepak-chopra-1.2082540|title=Backstage: A lesson in concentration from Deepak Chopra|last=Chamberlain|first=Adrian|date=October 10, 2015|work=Times Colonist}}</ref> to Krishan Lal Chopra (1919–2001) and Pushpa Chopra.<ref>Chopra and Chopra 2013, pp. 5, 161.</ref> His paternal grandfather was a sergeant in the British Indian Army. His father was a prominent cardiologist, head of the department of medicine and cardiology at New Delhi's Moolchand Khairati Ram Hospital for over 25 years, and was also a lieutenant in the British army, serving as an army doctor at the front at Burma and acting as a medical adviser to Lord Mountbatten, viceroy of India.<ref>Chopra 2013, pp. 5–6, 11–13; {{cite news|title=The Chopra Brothers|author=Michael Schulder|url=http://cnnradio.cnn.com/2013/05/24/the-chopra-brothers/|publisher=CNN|date=May 24, 2013}}</ref> {{as of |2014}}, Chopra's younger brother, Sanjiv Chopra, is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and on staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.<ref>[http://services.bidmc.org/Find_a_doc/doc_detail.asp?sid=41414643494642 "Chopra, Sanjiv, MD"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220044307/http://services.bidmc.org/Find_a_doc/doc_detail.asp?sid=41414643494642 |date=December 20, 2008 }}, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Retrieved May 15, 2014.</ref>

Chopra completed his primary education at St. Columba's School in New Delhi and graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 1969.<!--check year-->{{citation needed|reason=Poorly sourced material, variously states 1968 and 1969|date=May 2015}}<ref>The [http://aiimsonians.org/UserDetails.aspx?rollno=09/1964/0435&name=DEEPAK%20CHOPRA AIIMSonians alumni site] notes he joined AIIMS in 1964. Retrieved August 25, 2015.</ref> He spent his first months as a doctor working in rural India, including, he writes, six months in a village where the lights went out whenever it rained.<ref>Deepak Chopra, ''Return of the Rishi'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1991, p. 1.</ref> It was during his early career that he was drawn to study [[Biology:Endocrinology|endocrinology]], particularly neuroendocrinology, to find a biological basis for the influence of thoughts and emotions.<ref name="interviewww">{{cite web|author=Carl Lindgren |url=http://www.streeteditors.com/2010/03/31/international-dreamer-deepak-chopra/ |title=International Dreamer – Deepak Chopra |work=Map Magazine's Street Editors |date=March 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716154106/http://www.streeteditors.com/2010/03/31/international-dreamer-deepak-chopra/ |archivedate=July 16, 2011 }}</ref>

He married in India in 1970 before emigrating, with his wife, to the United States that same year.<ref name=dunkel2005 /> The Indian government had banned its doctors from sitting the American Medical Association exam needed to practice in the USA, consequently Chopra had to travel to Sri Lanka to take it. After passing he arrived in the United States to take up a clinical internship at Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, New Jersey, where doctors from overseas were being recruited to replace those serving in Vietnam.<ref>Chopra 1991, p. 57; Deepak Chopra, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ijyqWzDrY "Special Keynote with Dr. Deepak Chopra"], November 2013, from 2:50 mins; Richard Knox, [https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston/doc/747826331.html "Foreign doctors: a US dilemma"], ''Boston Globe'', June 30, 1974.</ref>

Between 1971 and 1977, he completed residencies in internal medicine at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts, the VA Medical Center, St Elizabeth's Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.<ref>[http://health.usnews.com/doctors/deepak-chopra-707300 "Dr. Deepak K Chopra"], ''U.S. News and World Report''.</ref> He earned his license to practice medicine in the state of Massachusetts in 1973, becoming board certified in internal medicine, specializing in endocrinology.<ref>[http://profiles.ehs.state.ma.us/Profiles/Pages/PhysicianProfile.aspx?PhysicianID=6568 "Deepak K. Chopra, M.D."], Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine; [http://www.abim.org/services/verify-a-physician.aspx "Verify a Physician's Certification"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213180934/http://www.abim.org/services/verify-a-physician.aspx |date=December 13, 2013 }}, American Board of Internal Medicine.</ref>

=== East Coast years ===
Chopra taught at the medical schools of [[Organization:Tufts University|Tufts University]], [[Organization:Boston University|Boston University]] and [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lambert|first=Craig A.|date=July 1989|title=Quantum Healing: An Interview with Deepak Chopra, M.D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-sDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA47#v=onepage&q&f=false|journal=Yoga Journal|volume=|issue=87|pages=47–53|via=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yv30AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA59#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Prophets, Gurus, and Pundits: Rhetorical Styles and Public Engagement|last=Young|first=Anna M.|publisher=SIU Press|year=2014|isbn=9780809332953|location=|pages=59–68|language=en|oclc=871781118}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MRdDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT162&lpg=PT162&dq=Deepak+Chopra#v=onepage&q=Deepak%20Chopra&f=false|title=The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide for Finding Your Place in the World|last=Hill|first=Maria|publisher=BookBaby|year=2016|isbn=9781682224755|location=|pages=|language=en|oclc=953493840}}</ref> and became Chief of Staff at the New England Memorial Hospital (NEMH) (later known as the Boston Regional Medical Center) in Stoneham, Massachusetts, before establishing a private practice in Boston in endocrinology.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=XGA3rfJt2iMC&pg=PA121#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Toward an Integrative Medicine|page=121|work=google.se|accessdate=April 25, 2016|isbn=9780759103023|last1=Baer|first1=Hans A.|year=2004}}</ref>

[[File:Maharishi Mahesh Yogi with NandkishoreC.jpg|thumb|left|Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was an influence on Chopra in the 1980s.]]
While visiting New Delhi in 1981, he met the Ayurvedic physician Brihaspati Dev Triguna, head of the Indian Council for Ayurvedic Medicine, whose advice prompted him to begin investigating Ayurvedic practices.<ref>Chopra 1991, p. 105ff.</ref> Chopra was "drinking black coffee by the hour and smoking at least a pack of cigarettes a day."<ref>Chopra 1991, p. 125.</ref> He took up [[Unsolved:Transcendental Meditation|Transcendental Meditation]] to help him stop, and {{as of|lc=y|2006}}, he continued to meditate for two hours every morning and half an hour in the evening.<ref name=nova>{{cite web|author=Rosamund Burton |title=Peace Seeker |url=http://www.novamagazine.com.au/article_archive/2006/06_04_Peace%20seeker.htm |work=Nova Magazine |date=June 4, 2006 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105164338/http://www.novamagazine.com.au/article_archive/2006/06_04_Peace%20seeker.htm |archivedate=November 5, 2013 }}</ref><!--update this-->

Chopra's involvement with TM led to a meeting in 1985 with the leader of the TM movement, [[Biography:Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]], who asked him to establish an Ayurvedic health center.<ref name=baer2003>Baer 2003, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3655336?seq=5 p. 237].</ref><ref>Chopra 1991, p. 139ff</ref> He left his position at the NEMH. Chopra said that one of the reasons he left was his disenchantment at having to prescribe too many drugs: "[W]hen all you do is prescribe medication, you start to feel like a legalized drug pusher. That doesn't mean that all prescriptions are useless, but it is true that 80 percent of all drugs prescribed today are of optional or marginal benefit."<ref name=Ahmed>Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, [http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/50186/ "The Crisis of Perception"], ''Media Monitors Network'', February 29, 2008.</ref>

He became the founding president of the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine, one of the founders of Maharishi Ayur-Veda Products International, and medical director of the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Health Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts. The center charged between $2,850 and $3,950 a week for Ayurvedic cleansing rituals such as massages, [[Biology:Enema|enema]]s and oil baths, and TM lessons cost an additional $1,000. Celebrity patients included Elizabeth Taylor.<ref>Elise Pettus, "The Mind–Body Problems," ''New York'', August 14, 1995, ([https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28 pp. 28–31], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95 95]), p. 30. Also see Deepak Chopra, "Letters: Deepak responds," ''New York Magazine'', September 25, 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7eQCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16 p. 16].</ref> Chopra also became one of the TM movement's spokespeople. In 1989, the Maharishi awarded him the title "Dhanvantari of Heaven and Earth" ([[Chemistry:Dhanvantari|Dhanvantari]] is the Hindu physician to the gods).<ref name=Humes2009p297>Cynthia Ann Humes, "Schisms within Hindu guru groups: the Transcendental Meditation movement in North America," in James R. Lewis, Sarah M. Lewis (eds.), ''Sacred Schisms: How Religions Divide'', Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 297. Also see Cynthia Ann Humes, "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the TM Technique," in Thomas A. Forsthoefel, Cynthia Ann Humes (eds.), ''Gurus in America'', State University of New York Press, 2005, pp. 68–69.</ref> That year Chopra's ''Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine'' was published, followed by ''Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide'' (1990).<ref name="restless" />

=== West Coast years ===
In June 1993, he moved to California as executive director of Sharp HealthCare's Institute for Human Potential and Mind/Body Medicine, and head of their Center for Mind/Body Medicine, a clinic in an exclusive resort in Del Mar, California that charged $4,000 a week and included Michael Jackson's family among its clients.<ref name=Pettus1995p31>Pettus (''New York Magazine'') 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA31 p. 31].</ref> Chopra and Jackson first met in 1988 and remained friends for 20 years. When Jackson died in 2009 after being administered prescription drugs, Chopra said he hoped it would be a call to action against the "cult of drug-pushing doctors, with their co-dependent relationships with addicted celebrities".<ref>Deepak Chopra, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/a-tribute-to-my-friend-mi_b_221268.html "A Tribute to My Friend, Michael Jackson"].</ref><ref>''The Huffington Post'', June 26, 2009; Gerald Posner, [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-02/chopra-michael-jackson-could-have-been-saved/ "Deepak Chopra: How Michael Jackson Could Have Been Saved"], ''The Daily Beast'', July 2, 2009, p. 4.</ref>

Chopra left the Transcendental Meditation movement around the time he moved to California in January 1993.<ref>Pettus (''New York Magazine'') 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA31 p. 31]; Baer 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XGA3rfJt2iMC&pg=PA129 p. 129].</ref> Mahesh Yogi claimed that Chopra had competed for the Maharishi's position as [[Biography:Guru|guru]],<ref>Deepak Chopra, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/the-maharishi-years-the_b_86412.html "The Maharishi Years – The Untold Story: Recollections of a Former Disciple"], ''The Huffington Post'', February 13, 2008.</ref> although Chopra rejected this.<ref name="ET">{{cite news|url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2004-06-22/news/27378174_1_alternative-medicine-loyalty-employee|title='Employee loyalty comes first, the rest will follow' – Economic Times|last=Nilanjana Bhaduri Jha|date=June 22, 2004|work=The Times of India|accessdate=June 4, 2014}}</ref> According to [[Biography:Robert Todd Carroll|Robert Todd Carroll]], Chopra left the TM organization when it "became too stressful" and was a "hindrance to his success".<ref name=SkepDict>{{cite book|first=Robert Todd|last=Carroll|title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PA48|date=January 11, 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-04563-3|page=48}}</ref> Cynthia Ann Humes writes that the Maharishi was concerned, and not only with regard to Chopra, that rival systems were being taught at lower prices.<ref>Humes 2005, p. 69; Humes 2009, pp. 299, 302.</ref> Chopra, for his part, was worried that his close association with the TM movement might prevent Ayurvedic medicine from being accepted as legitimate, particularly after the problems with the [[Chemistry:Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health|''JAMA'' article]].<ref>Cynthia Ann Humes, "Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Perfect Health through Enlightened Marketing in America," in Frederick M. Smith, Dagmar Wujastyk (eds.), ''Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms'', State University of New York Press, 2008, p. 324.</ref> He also stated that he had become uncomfortable with what seemed like a "cultish atmosphere around Maharishi".<ref name="lynch">{{cite news | work = The New York Times | first = Claire | last = Hoffman | date = February 22, 2013 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/david-lynch-transcendental-meditation.html | title = David Lynch Is Back … as a Guru of Transcendental Meditation}}</ref>

In 1995, Chopra was not licensed to practice medicine in California where he had a clinic. However, he did not see patients at this clinic "as a doctor" during this time.<ref name=LLC1995 /> In 2004, he received his California medical license, and {{as of|lc=y|2014}} is affiliated with Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California.<ref>[https://www.breeze.ca.gov/datamart/detailsCADCA.do?selector=false&selectorType=&selectorReturnUrl=&anchor=726a20a.0.0 "Chopra, Deepak"], California Department of Consumer Affairs. Retrieved March 23, 2016.</ref><ref>[http://health.usnews.com/doctors/deepak-chopra-707300 "Dr. Deepak K Chopra"], ''U.S. News & World Report''. Retrieved March 23, 2016.</ref><ref>[http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ca/scripps-la-jolla-hospitals-and-clinics-6931130/doctors/endocrinologists "Endocrinologists, Scripps La Jolla Hospitals and Clinics"], ''U.S. News & World Report''. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529090535/http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ca/scripps-la-jolla-hospitals-and-clinics-6931130/doctors/endocrinologists |date=May 29, 2014 }}</ref> Chopra is the owner and supervisor of the Mind-Body Medical Group within the Chopra Center, which in addition to standard medical treatment offers personalized advice about nutrition, [[Biology:Circadian rhythm|sleep-wake cycles]] and [[Social:Stress management|stress management]], based on mainstream medicine and Ayurveda.<ref>[http://www.chopra.com/our-services/medical-consultations/overview "Mind–Body Medical Group"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529085401/http://www.chopra.com/our-services/medical-consultations/overview |date=May 29, 2014 }}, Chopra Center; Deepak Chopra, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElAuKQx5_5w "The Mind–Body Medical Group at the Chopra Center"], The Chopra Well, May 26, 2014.</ref> He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.<ref>[http://www.chopra.com/about-us/deepak-chopra-md "Deepak Chopra, M.D."], The Chopra Center.</ref>

=== Alternative medicine business ===
Chopra's book ''Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old'' was published in 1993.<ref name="restless">{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1997/sep/07/magazine/tm-29576/2|title=So Rich, So Restless|last=Perry|first=Tony|date=September 7, 1997|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=November 10, 2013}}</ref> The book and his friendship with Michael Jackson gained him an interview on July 12 that year on ''Oprah''. Paul Offit writes that within 24 hours Chopra had sold 137,000 copies of his book and 400,000 by the end of the week.<ref>Paul A. Offit, ''Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine'', HarperCollins, 2013, p. 39; [http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/full-transcript-your-call-with-dr-deepak-chopra-169389 "Full Transcript: Your Call with Dr Deepak Chopra"], NDTV, January 23, 2012; also see Craig Bromberg, "Doc of Ages," ''People'', November 15, 1993.</ref> Four days after the interview, the Maharishi National Council of the Age of Enlightenment wrote to TM centers in the United States, instructing them not to promote Chopra, and his name and books were removed from the movement's literature and health centers.<ref>For the National Council's letter, Humes 2005, p. 68; Humes 2009, p. 297; for the rest, Pettus (''New York Magazine'') 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA31 p. 31].</ref> Neuroscientist Tony Nader became the movement's new "Dhanvantari of Heaven and Earth".<ref>Humes 2008, p. 326.</ref>

Sharp HealthCare changed ownership in 1996 and Chopra left to set up the Chopra Center for Wellbeing with neurologist David Simon, now located at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.<ref>{{cite news |title=David Simon, 61, mind-body medicine pioneer, opened Chopra Center for Wellbeing |date=February 9, 2012 |newspaper=U-T San Diego |url=http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/Feb/09/david-simon-61-mind-body-medicine-pioneer-opened |author=David Ogul |page=1 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.is/20140520033604/http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/Feb/09/david-simon-61-mind-body-medicine-pioneer-opened |archivedate=May 20, 2014  }}</ref> In his 2013 book, ''Do You Believe in Magic?'', Paul Offit writes that Chopra's business grosses approximately $20&nbsp;million annually, and is built on the sale of various [[Medicine:Alternative medicine|alternative medicine]] products such as herbal supplements, massage oils, books, videos and courses. A year's worth of products for "anti-ageing" can cost up to $10,000, Offit wrote.<ref name=magic>{{cite book |title=Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine |first=Paul|last=Offit|publisher=HarperCollins |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-06-222296-1 |pages=245–246}}</ref> Chopra himself is estimated to be worth over $80&nbsp;million {{as of|lc=y|2014}}.<ref>Rowe 2014, [http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2014/may/03/truly-madly-deepak-chopra/ Truly, madly, deeply Deepak Chopra].</ref> {{As of|2005}}, according to Srinivas Aravamudan, he was able to charge $25,000 to $30,000 per lecture five or six times a month.<ref>Srinivas Aravamudan, ''Guru English: South Asian Religion in a Cosmopolitan Language'', Princeton University Press, 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tusUlz2jb00C&pg=PA257 p. 257].</ref> Medical anthropologist Hans Baer said Chopra was an example of a successful entrepreneur, but that he focused too much on serving the upper-class through an alternative to medical [[Social:Hegemony|hegemony]], rather than a truly [[Holism|holistic]] approach to health.<ref name="baerp240">{{cite journal|last1=Baer|first1=HA|title=The work of Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra—two holistic health/New Age gurus: a critique of the holistic health/New Age movements.|journal=Medical Anthropology Quarterly|date=June 2003|volume=17|issue=2|pages=240–241|pmid=12846118|jstor=3655336|doi=10.1525/maq.2003.17.2.233|url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/bafa58f0a7f706304c2505fe53cf3739436a984a}}</ref>

=== Teaching and other roles ===
Chopra serves as an [[Social:Adjunct professor|adjunct professor]] in the marketing division at [[Organization:Columbia Business School|Columbia Business School]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Deepak Chopra {{!}} Columbia Business School Directory|url=http://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/cbs-directory/detail/dc2839|publisher=Columbia Business School, Columbia University in the City of New York|accessdate=December 12, 2015}}</ref> He serves as adjunct professor of executive programs at the Kellogg School of Management at [[Organization:Northwestern University|Northwestern University]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Deepak Chopra – Faculty – Kellogg School of Management|url=http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/directory/chopra_deepak.aspx|publisher=Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University|accessdate=March 18, 2016}}</ref> He participates annually as a lecturer at the ''Update in Internal Medicine'' event sponsored by Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.<ref>{{cite web|title=Update in Internal Medicine|url=http://www.updateinternalmedicine.com/faculty/|work=updateinternalmedicine.com/faculty|publisher=updateinternalmedicine.com|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref> [[Biography:Robert Todd Carroll|Robert Carroll]] writes of Chopra charging $25,000 per lecture, "giving spiritual advice while warning against the ill effects of materialism".<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Todd Carroll|chapter=Auyrvedic medicine|title=The Skeptic's Dictionary|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PA48|date=2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-04563-3|page=48}}</ref>

In 2015, Chopra partnered with businessman Paul Tudor Jones II to found JUST Capital, a non-profit firm which ranks companies in terms of just business practices in an effort to promote economic justice.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Stanley|first1=Alessandra|title=A Plan to Rank 'Just' Companies Aims to Close the Wealth Gap|url=http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/12/21/business/a-plan-to-rank-just-companies-aims-to-close-the-wealth-gap.html?_r=0&referer=https://www.google.com/|newspaper=The New York Times|accessdate=February 8, 2016|date=December 20, 2015}}</ref> In 2014, Chopra founded ISHAR (Integrative Studies Historical Archive and Repository).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-seaberg/lets-raise-ishar_b_5824760.html|title=Let's Raise ISHAR! |work=The Huffington Post|author=Maureen Seaberg|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref> In 2012, Chopra joined the board of advisors for tech startup State.com, creating a browsable network of structured opinions.<ref name="state">{{cite web | title = State.com/about | url = https://state.com/about/people | accessdate = September 9, 2013 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://www.webcitation.org/6fkkSutub?url=https://state.com/about/people | archivedate = March 4, 2016 | df = mdy-all }}</ref> In 2009, Chopra founded the {{vanchor|Chopra Foundation}}, a tax-exempt [[Organization:501(c) organization|501(c) organization]] that raises funds to promote and research alternative health.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.virginia.edu/content/chopra-and-huffington-hold-public-meditation-lawn-oct-15|title=Chopra and Huffington to Hold a Public Meditation on the Lawn Oct. 15|publisher=UVAToday|date=October 9, 2013|author=Jane Kelly}}</ref> The Foundation sponsors annual ''Sages and Scientists'' conferences.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.zapaday.com/event/362159/2/Sages+and+Scientists+Symposium.html|title=Sages and Scientists Symposium 2014 |publisher=Zapaday|date=January 22, 2014|author=Anne Cukier}}</ref> He sits on the board of advisors of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association, an organization based in the United States.<ref>[http://www.ayurvedanama.org/?page=Board_Advisors "NAMA's Board of Advisors"].</ref> Chopra founded the American Association for Ayurvedic Medicine (AAAM) and Maharishi AyurVeda Products International, though he later distanced himself from these organizations.<ref name=informed>{{cite book|first=J. Thomas|last=Butler|title=Consumer Health: Making Informed Decisions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjWc2CiAJYsC&pg=PA117|date=July 1, 2011|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers|isbn=978-1-4496-7543-1|pages=117–}}</ref> In 2005, Chopra was appointed as a senior scientist at The Gallup Organization.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/corporate/19318/Gallup-Senior-Scientists.aspx |title=Gallup Senior Scientists |publisher=Gallup.com |accessdate=February 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110216111128/http://www.gallup.com/corporate/19318/Gallup-Senior-Scientists.aspx |archivedate=February 16, 2011 }}</ref> Since 2004, he has been a board member of Men's Wearhouse, a men's clothing distributor.<ref name=USAToday2013>{{cite news|last=Belton|first=Beth|title=Men's Wearhouse fires back at George Zimmer|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/06/24/mens-wearhouse-zimmer/2454305/|accessdate=July 10, 2013|newspaper=USA Today|date=June 25, 2013}}</ref> In 2006, he launched Virgin Comics with his son Gotham Chopra and entrepreneur [[Biography:Richard Branson|Richard Branson]].<ref>David Segal, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/02/AR2007030201862.html "Deepak Chopra And a New Age Of Comic Books"], ''The Washington Post'', March 3, 2007.</ref> In 2016, Chopra was promoted from voluntary assistant clinical professor to voluntary full clinical professor at the [[Organization:University of California, San Diego|University of California, San Diego]] in their Department of Family Medicine and Public Health.<ref name=Robbins2016>{{cite news |url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/mar/15/UCSD-Deepak-Chopra/|title=UCSD deepens ties with Deepak Chopra|last=Robbins|first=Gary|date=March 15, 2016|work=U-T San Diego}}</ref>

===Personal life===
Chopra and his wife have, {{as of|lc=y|2013}}, two adult children and three grandchildren.<ref name=Kaufman2013>Chopra 1991, pp. 54–57; Joanne Kaufman, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/realestate/deepak-chopra-an-inner-stillness-even-on-the-subway.html?smid=fb-share&_r=2& Deepak Chopra – An 'Inner Stillness,' Even on the Subway]," ''The New York Times'', October 17, 2013.</ref> He lives in a $14.5 million "health-centric" condominium in Manhattan.<ref name=VM2014>{{cite web|url=http://ny.curbed.com/2014/2/26/10139186/deepak-chopra-drops-14-5m-on-health-centric-delos-condo|title=Deepak Chopra Drops $14.5M on Health-Centric Delos Condo|author=Zoe Rosenberg|publisher=Vox Media|date=February 26, 2014|accessdate=December 25, 2016}}</ref>

== Ideas and reception ==

Chopra believes that a person may attain "perfect health", a condition "that is free from disease, that never feels pain", and "that cannot age or die".<ref name=baerp240/><ref name=perfect/> Seeing the human body as being undergirded by a "quantum mechanical body" comprised not of matter but of energy and information, he believes that "human aging is fluid and changeable; it can speed up, slow down, stop for a time, and even reverse itself," as determined by one's state of mind.<ref name=baerp240/><ref name=ageless/> He claims that his practices can also treat chronic disease.<ref name=aids /><ref name=AshmanBarringer2005 /><!--TODO: expand this summary-->

=== Consciousness ===
Chopra speaks and writes regularly about [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]], including the study of consciousness and [[Philosophy:Vedanta|Vedanta]] philosophy. He is a philosophical [[Philosophy:Idealism|idealist]], arguing for the primacy of consciousness over matter and for [[Philosophy:Teleology|teleology]] and intelligence in nature – that mind, or "dynamically active consciousness", is a fundamental feature of the universe.<ref>Deepak Chopra, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scI9ZFImN8o "What Is Consciousness & Where Is It?"], discussion with Rudolph Tanzi, [[Biography:Menas Kafatos|Menas Kafatos]] and Lothar Schäfer, Science and Nonduality Conference, 2013, 08:12 mins.
* Attila Grandpierre, Deepak Chopra, P. Murali Doraiswamy, Rudolph Tanzi, Menas C. Kafatos, [http://www.neuroquantology.com/index.php/journal/article/view/703/627 "A Multidisciplinary Approach to Mind and Consciousness"], ''NeuroQuantology'', 11(4), December 2013 (pp. 607–617), p. 609.</ref>

In this view, consciousness is both subject and object.<ref>Deepak Chopra, [[Biography:Stuart Hameroff|Stuart Hameroff]], "The 'Quantum Soul': A Scientific Hypothesis," in Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Franklin Santana Santos (eds.), ''Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship'', Springer, 2011 (pp.&nbsp;79–93), p. 85.</ref> It is consciousness, he writes, that creates reality; we are not "physical machines that have somehow learned to think...[but] thoughts that have learned to create a physical machine".<ref name=quantum/> He argues that the evolution of species is the evolution of consciousness seeking to express itself as multiple observers; the universe experiences itself through our brains: "We are the eyes of the universe looking at itself".<ref>Deepak Chopra, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4c_CrQzUGw "Dangerous Ideas: Deepak Chopra & Richard Dawkins"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522014546/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4c_CrQzUGw |date=May 22, 2014 }} University of Puebla, November 9, 2013, 26:23 mins.
* Also see Deepak Chopra, [[Biography:Menas Kafatos|Menas Kafatos]], Rudolph E. Tanzi, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/from-quanta-to-qualia_b_1948416.html "From Quanta to Qualia: The Mystery of Reality (Part 1)"], [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/from-quanta-to-qualia-wha_b_1966954.html "(Part 2)"], [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/from-quanta-to-qualia-the_b_2038207.html "(Part 3)"], [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/from-quanta-to-qualia-the-mystery-of-reality_b_2118820.html "(Part 4)"], ''The Huffington Post'', October 8, 15, 29 and November 12, 2012.</ref> He has been quoted as saying "[[Biography:Charles Darwin|Charles Darwin]] was wrong. Consciousness is key to evolution and we will soon prove that."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-conclave-2015-deepak-chopra-motivation-guru-author-darwin/1/423746.html|title=India Today Conclave 2015: Darwin was wrong, says Deepak Chopra|date=March 13, 2015|work=India Today}}<br />As quoted by {{cite web|url=http://ncse.com/blog/2015/04/why-does-deepak-chopra-hate-me-0016257|title=Why Does Deepak Chopra Hate Me?|date=April 8, 2015|author=Steve Newton|work=NCSE blog}}<br />As quoted by {{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/20/deepak-chopra-blasts-scientist-who-criticized-his-view-of-evolution-the-scientist-fires-back/|title=Deepak Chopra blasts scientist who criticized his view of evolution. The scientist fires back.|date=May 20, 2015|author=Valerie Strauss|work=The Washington Post (blog)}}</ref> He opposes [[Philosophy:Reductionism|reductionist]] thinking in science and medicine, arguing that we can trace the physical structure of the body down to the molecular level and still have no explanation for beliefs, desires, memory and creativity.<ref>Deepak Chopra and [[Biography:Leonard Mlodinow|Leonard Mlodinow]], ''War of the Worldviews'', Random House, 2011, p. 123.</ref>
In his book ''Quantum Healing'', Chopra stated the conclusion that [[Quantum entanglement|quantum entanglement]] links everything in the Universe, and therefore it must create consciousness.<ref name=dnews>{{cite news|last1=O'Neill|first1=Ian|title=Does Quantum Theory Explain Consciousness?|url=http://news.discovery.com/space/does-quantum-theory-explain-consciousness-110526.htm|accessdate=August 11, 2014|work=Discovery News|publisher=Discovery Communications, LLC|date=May 26, 2011}}</ref>

=== Approach to health care {{anchor|Quantum healing}}===
[[File:Deepak Chopra 2006 C.jpg|thumb|Deepak Chopra at a book signing in 2006]]
Chopra argues that everything that happens in the mind and brain is physically represented elsewhere in the body, with mental states (thoughts, feelings, perceptions and memories) directly influencing physiology by means of [[Biology:Neurotransmitter|neurotransmitter]]s such as [[Biology:Dopamine|dopamine]], [[Chemistry:Oxytocin|oxytocin]] and [[Chemistry:Serotonin|serotonin]]. He has stated, "Your mind, your body and your consciousness – which is your spirit – and your social interactions, your personal relationships, your environment, how you deal with the environment, and your biology are all inextricably woven into a single process … By influencing one, you influence everything."<ref>Deepak Chopra, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0IOf08pTRc "Deepak Chopra Meditation"], courtesy of YouTube, December 10, 2012.</ref>

Chopra and physicians at the Chopra Center practise integrative medicine, combining the [[Medicine:Medical model|medical model]] of conventional Western medicine with alternative therapies such as yoga, mindfulness meditation, and [[Philosophy:Ayurveda|Ayurveda]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Deepak Chopra and the Chopra Center|url=http://www.religionfacts.com/a-z-religion-index/deepak_chopra.htm|publisher=ReligionFacts.com|accessdate=July 22, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Oprah Winfrey & Deepak Chopra Launch All-New Meditation Experience 'Expanding Your Happiness'|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Oprah-Winfrey-Deepak-Chopra-Launch-All-New-Meditation-Experience-Expanding-Your-Happiness-20140714|website=Broadway World|accessdate=July 22, 2014}}</ref> According to Ayurveda, illness is caused by an imbalance in the patient's ''[[Chemistry:Dosha|dosha]]s'' or humors, and is treated with diet, exercise and meditative practices<ref>For imbalance, see Baer 2004, p. 128; for the rest, Chopra 2009 [1989], pp. 222–224, 234ff.</ref> – based on the [[Medicine:Evidence-based medicine|medical evidence]] there is, however, nothing in Ayurvedic medicine that is known to be effective at treating disease, and some preparations may be actively harmful, although meditation may be useful in promoting general wellbeing.<ref name=cruk>{{cite web |title=Ayurvedic medicine |publisher=Cancer Research UK |url=http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/treatment/complementary-alternative/therapies/ayurvedic-medicine |accessdate=|quote=There is no scientific evidence to prove that Ayurvedic medicine can treat or cure cancer or any other disease.|date=August 30, 2017 }}</ref>

In discussing health care, Chopra has used the term "quantum healing", which he defined in ''Quantum Healing'' (1989) as the "ability of one mode of consciousness (the mind) to spontaneously correct the mistakes in another mode of consciousness (the body)".<ref>Chopra 2009 [1989], pp. 15, 241; Deepak Chopra, [https://www.chopra.com/ccl/healing-wisdom "Healing wisdom"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521041812/https://www.chopra.com/ccl/healing-wisdom |date=May 21, 2014 }}, The Chopra Center, June 12, 2013.
* That he uses the term "quantum healing" as a metaphor, see Richard Dawkins, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsH1U7zSp7k "Interview with Chopra"], ''The Enemies of Reason'', [http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-enemies-of-reason Channel 4 (UK)], 2007, 01:16 mins.</ref>
This attempted to wed the Maharishi's version of Ayurvedic medicine with concepts from physics, an example of what cultural historian Kenneth Zysk called "New Age Ayurveda".<ref>Suzanne Newcombe, "Ayurvedic Medicine in Britain and the Epistemology of Practicing Medicine in Good Faith," in Smith and Wujastyk 2008, pp. 263–264; Kenneth Zysk, "New Age Ayurveda or what happens to Indian medicine when it comes to America," ''Traditional South Asian Medicine'', 6, 2001, pp. 10–26. Also see Francoise Jeannotat, "Maharishi Ayur-veda," in Smith and Wujastyk 2008, p. 285ff.</ref>
The book introduced Chopra's view that a person's thoughts and feelings give rise to all cellular processes.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1056/NEJM198912143212426|title = Book Review ''Quantum'' Healing: Exploring the frontiers of mind/body medicine| journal=New England Journal of Medicine| volume=321| issue=24| pages=1688|year = 1989|last1 = Zamarra|first1 = John W.}}</ref>

Chopra coined the term ''quantum healing'' to invoke the idea of a process whereby a person's health "imbalance" is corrected by [[Physics:Quantum mechanical|quantum mechanical]] means. Chopra said that quantum phenomena are responsible for health and wellbeing. He has attempted to integrate [[Philosophy:Ayurveda|Ayurveda]], a traditional Indian system of medicine, with quantum mechanics, in order to justify his teachings. According to [[Biography:Robert Todd Carroll|Robert Carroll]], he "charges $25,000 per lecture performance, where he spouts a few platitudes and gives spiritual advice while warning against the ill effects of materialism".<ref name="skepdic-web" />

Chopra has equated [[Medicine:Spontaneous remission|spontaneous remission]] in cancer to a change in quantum state, corresponding to a jump to "a new level of consciousness that prohibits the existence of cancer". Physics professor [[Biography:Robert L. Park|Robert L. Park]] has written that physicists "wince" at the "New Age quackery" in Chopra's cancer theories, and characterizes them as a cruel fiction, since adopting them in place of effective treatment risks compounding the ill effects of the disease with guilt, and might rule out the prospect of getting a genuine cure.<ref name=AshmanBarringer2005>{{cite book|editor1-first=Keith|editor1-last=Ashman|editor2-first=Phillip|editor2-last=Barringer|title=After the Science Wars: Science and the Study of Science|chapter=Chapter 9: Voodoo medicine in a scientific world|first=Robert L|last=Park|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XImEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA137|date=September 1, 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-61618-3|pages=137–}}</ref>

Chopra's claims of quantum healing have attracted controversy due to what has been described as a "systematic misinterpretation" of modern [[Physics:Physics|physics]].<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|last=Cox |first=Brian |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/02/20/why-quantum-theory-is-so-misunderstood/ |title=Why Quantum Theory Is So Misunderstood – Speakeasy – WSJ |work=The Wall Street Journal|date=February 20, 2012 |accessdate=December 15, 2012}}</ref> Chopra's connections between quantum mechanics and alternative medicine are widely regarded in the scientific community as being invalid. The main criticism revolves around the fact that [[Physics:Macroscopic|macroscopic]] objects are too large to exhibit inherently quantum properties like interference and [[Physics:Wave function collapse|wave function collapse]]. Most literature on quantum healing is almost entirely [[Philosophy:Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophical]], omitting the rigorous mathematics that makes [[Physics:Quantum electrodynamics|quantum electrodynamics]] possible.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/magic_of_quantum_physics.html |title='Magic' of Quantum Physics |publisher=Aske-skeptics.org.uk |accessdate=December 15, 2012}}</ref>

Physicists have objected to Chopra's use of terms from quantum physics, although he was awarded the satirical Ig Nobel Prize in physics in 1998 for "his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness".<ref>Park 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XImEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 p. 137]; {{cite journal| author=Victor J. Stenger |title=Quantum Quackery | url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/quantum_quackery | journal=Skeptical Inquirer | year=2007 | volume=27| issue=1|page=37|bibcode=2005SciAm.292a..34S|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0105-34}}; {{cite web | title=Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize | url=http://improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig1998 | work=Improbable Research | accessdate=December 1, 2008}}
* [[Biography:Brian Cox (physicist)|Brian Cox]] says that "for some scientists, the unfortunate distortion and misappropriation of scientific ideas that often accompanies their integration into popular culture is an unacceptable price to pay." See {{cite web|author=Brian Cox|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/02/20/why-quantum-theory-is-so-misunderstood/ |title=Why Quantum Theory Is So Misunderstood |work=The Wall Street Journal|date=February 20, 2012}}
* The main criticism revolves around the fact that [[Physics:Macroscopic|macroscopic]] objects are too large to exhibit inherently quantum properties like interference and [[Physics:Wave function collapse|wave function collapse]]. Most literature on quantum healing is almost entirely [[Philosophy:Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophical]], omitting the rigorous mathematics that makes [[Physics:Quantum electrodynamics|quantum electrodynamics]] possible. See {{cite web|url=http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/magic_of_quantum_physics.html |author = Doug Bramwell | title='Magic' of Quantum Physics |publisher=Association for Skeptical Enquiry|accessdate=December 15, 2012}}</ref>
When Chopra and Jean Houston debated Sam Harris and [[Biography:Michael Shermer|Michael Shermer]] in 2010 on the question "Does God Have a Future?", Harris argued that Chopra's use of "spooky physics" merged two language games in a "completely unprincipled way".<ref name=Nightline/>
Interviewed in 2007 by [[Biography:Richard Dawkins|Richard Dawkins]], Chopra said that he used the term ''quantum'' as a metaphor when discussing healing and that it had little to do with quantum theory in physics.<ref>[[Biography:Richard Dawkins|Richard Dawkins]], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsH1U7zSp7k "Interview with Chopra"], ''The Enemies of Reason'', [http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-enemies-of-reason Channel 4 (UK)], 2007; Deepak Chopra, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/richard-dawkins-plays-god_b_3467484.html "Richard Dawkins Plays God: The Video (Updated)"], ''The Huffington Post'', June 19, 2013.</ref>

Chopra wrote in 2000 that his AIDS patients were combining mainstream medicine with activities based on Ayurveda, including taking herbs, meditation and yoga.<ref>Dann Dulin, [http://www.danndulin.com/deepakchopra.html "The Medicine Man"], interview with Deepak Chopra, ''A&U magazine'', 2000.</ref> He acknowledges that AIDS is caused by the HIV virus, but says that, "'[h]earing' the virus in its vicinity, the DNA mistakes it for a friendly or compatible sound". Ayurveda uses vibrations which are said to correct this supposed sound distortion.<ref>Chopra 2009 [1989], pp. 37, 237, 239–241.</ref> Medical professor Lawrence Schneiderman writes that Chopra's treatment has "to put it mildly...no supporting empirical data".<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=12964263|year=2003|author=Lawrence J. Schneiderman|title=The (Alternative) Medicalization of Life|volume=31|issue=2|pages=191–7|journal=Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics |doi=10.1111/j.1748-720X.2003.tb00080.x}}</ref>

In 2001, ABC News aired a show segment on the topic of distance healing and prayer.<ref name=Wanjek2003 /> In it Chopra said that "there is a realm of reality that goes beyond the physical where in fact we can influence each other from a distance".<ref name=Wanjek2003 /> Chopra was shown using his claimed mental powers in an attempt to relax a person in another room, whose [[Medicine:Vital signs|vital signs]] were recorded in charts which were said to show a correspondence between Chopra's periods of concentration and the subject's periods of relaxation.<ref name=Wanjek2003 /> After the show, a poll of its viewers found that 90% of them believed in distance healing.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |first=Gary P |last=Posner |title=Hardly a Prayer on ABC's 20/20 Downtown |year=2001 |issue=November/December |url=http://www.gpposner.com/downtown.html}}</ref> Health and science journalist Christopher Wanjek has criticized the experiment, saying that any correspondence evident from the charts would prove nothing, but that even so freezing the frame of the video showed the correspondences were not so close as claimed. Wanjek characterized the broadcast as "an instructive example of how bad medicine is presented as exciting news" which had "a dependence on unusual or sensational science results that others in the scientific community renounce as unsound".<ref name=Wanjek2003>{{cite book|first=Christopher |last=Wanjek |title=Bad Medicine: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Distance Healing to Vitamin O |series=Wiley Bad Science Series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIJ5TKh7mPgC&pg=PA224|year=2003 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-471-46315-3 |pages=224– |accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref>

=== Alternative medicine ===

Chopra has been described as "America's most prominent spokesman for Ayurveda".<ref name=informed /> His treatments benefit from the placebo response.<ref name=Gamel2008 /> Chopra states "The placebo effect is real medicine, because it triggers the body's healing system."<ref name=Chopra2012SFC>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/chopra/article/I-Will-Not-Be-Pleased-Your-Health-and-the-3798901.php|title=I Will Not Be Pleased – Your Health and the Nocebo Effect|last=Deepak|first=Deepak|date=October 17, 2012 |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> Physician and former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon Harriet Hall has criticized Chopra for his promotion of Ayurveda, stating that "it can be dangerous", referring to studies showing that 64% of Ayurvedic remedies sold in India are contaminated with significant amounts of heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, and cadmium and a 2015 study of users in the United States who found elevated blood lead levels in 40% of those tested."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hall|first1=Harriet|title=Ayurveda: Ancient Superstition, Not Ancient Wisdom|url=https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/ayurveda_ancient_superstition_not_ancient_wisdom|website=Skeptical Inquirer|accessdate=February 1, 2018}}</ref>

Chopra has metaphorically described the AIDS virus as emitting "a sound that lures the DNA to its destruction". The condition can be treated, according to Chopra, with "Ayurveda's primordial sound".<ref name=aids /> Taking issue with this view, medical professor Lawrence Schneiderman has said that ethical issues are raised when alternative medicine is not based on empirical evidence and that, "to put it mildly, Dr. Chopra proposes a treatment and prevention program for AIDS that has no supporting empirical data".<ref name=aids>{{cite journal|pmid=12964263|year=2003|last1=Schneiderman|first1=LJ|title=The (alternative) medicalization of life|volume=31|issue=2|pages=191–7|journal=Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics |doi=10.1111/j.1748-720X.2003.tb00080.x}}</ref>

He is placed by [[Biography:David Gorski|David Gorski]] among the "quacks", "cranks" and "purveyors of woo", and described as "arrogantly obstinate".<ref name=Gorski2016>{{cite web |title=Deepak Chopra tries his hand at a clinical trial. Woo ensues |author=David Gorski |url=http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/09/16/deepak-chopra-tries-his-hand-at-a-clinical-trial-woo-ensues/ |accessdate=December 20, 2016}}</ref> ''{{wipe|The New York Times}}'' in 2013 stated that Deepak Chopra is "the controversial New Age guru and booster of alternative medicine".<ref name=Kaufman2013 /> ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' magazine stated that he is "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine."<ref name=Dare2016>{{cite news |url=http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2016-mar-stephen-dare-interviews-deepak-chopra|title=Stephen Dare Interviews Deepak Chopra|last=Dare|first=Stephen|date=March 15, 2016|work=Metro Jacksonville}}</ref> He has become one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in the holistic-health movement.<ref name=Gamel2008>{{cite journal |author=Gamel JW |url=http://jwgamel.com/p8.html|title=Hokum on the Rise: The 70-Percent Solution|journal=The Antioch Review|volume=66|issue=1|year=2008|page=130|quote=It seems appropriate that Chopra and legions of his ilk should now populate the halls of academic medicine, since they carry on the placebo-dominated traditions long ago established in those very halls by their progenitors}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' argued that his publishers have used his medical degree on the covers of his books as a way to promote the books and buttress their claims.<ref name=LLC1995>{{cite book|last=LLC|first=New York Media|title=New York Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95|accessdate=December 16, 2014|date=August 14, 1995|publisher=New York Media, LLC|pages=95–}}</ref> In 1999 ''Time'' magazine included Chopra in its list of the 20th century's heroes and icons.<ref>For ''Time'', Peter Rowe, "Truly, madly, deeply Deepak Chopra," ''U-T San Diego'', May 3, 2014, [http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/May/03/truly-madly-deepak-chopra p. 1] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.is/20140527182719/http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/May/03/truly-madly-deepak-chopra |date=May 27, 2014 }}; for Clinton, ''Public Papers of the presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 2000–2001, January 1 to June 26, 2000'', Government Printing Office, 2001, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1dLGaeRX6f8C&pg=PA508 p. 508].</ref> Cosmo Landesman wrote in 2005 that Chopra was "hardly a man now, more a lucrative new age brand – the David Beckham of personal/spiritual growth".<ref>{{cite news|last=Landesman|first=Cosmo|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/theres-an-easy-way-to-save-the-world-xq6mdc0wqs5|title=There's an easy way to save the world|work=The Sunday Times|location=London|date=May 8, 2005|accessdate=November 10, 2017}} {{subscription required}}</ref> For [[Biography:Timothy Caulfield|Timothy Caulfield]], Chopra is an example of someone using scientific language to promote treatments that are not grounded in science: "[Chopra] legitimizes these ideas that have no scientific basis at all, and makes them sound scientific. He really is a fountain of meaningless jargon."<ref name=cbc1>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/deepak-chopra-timothy-caulfield-twitter-1.3953538|title=Deepak Chopra, Timothy Caulfield end Twitter feud|date=January 26, 2017|work=CBC News|access-date=November 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114220802/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/deepak-chopra-timothy-caulfield-twitter-1.3953538|archive-date=November 14, 2017|url-status=}}</ref> A 2008 ''Time'' magazine article by Ptolemy Tompkins commented that for most of his career Chopra had been a "magnet for criticism", and most of it was from the medical and scientific professionals.<ref name=Tompkins2008 /> Opinions ranged from the "dismissive" to the "outright damning".<ref name=Tompkins2008 /> Chopra's claims for the effectiveness of alternative medicine can, some have argued, lure sick people away from medical treatment.<ref name=Tompkins2008 /> Tompkins however considered Chopra a "beloved" individual whose basic messages centered on "love, health and happiness" had made him rich because of their popular appeal.<ref name=Tompkins2008>{{cite news |last=Tompkins |first=Ptolemy |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,402038,00.html |title=New Age Supersage |date=November 14, 2008 |work=Time |quote=Ever since his early days as an advocate of alternative healing and nutrition, Chopra has been a magnet for criticism—most of it from the medical and scientific communities. Accusations have ranged from the dismissive—Chopra is just another huckster purveying watered-down Eastern wisdom mixed with pseudo science and pop psychology—to the outright damning. |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412104650/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C402038%2C00.html |archivedate=April 12, 2009  }}</ref> English professor George O'Har argues that Chopra exemplifies the need of human beings for meaning and spirit in their lives, and places what he calls Chopra's "sophistries" alongside the emotivism of Oprah Winfrey.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1353/tech.2000.0174 |title=Magic in the Machine Age |year=2000 |author=George M. O'Har|journal=Technology and Culture |volume=41 |issue=4 |page=864|jstor=25147641}}</ref> [[Biography:Paul Kurtz|Paul Kurtz]] writes that Chopra's "regnant spirituality" is reinforced by [[Philosophy:Postmodern philosophy|postmodern]] criticism of the notion of objectivity in science, while Wendy Kaminer equates Chopra's views with irrational belief systems such as New Thought, Christian Science, and [[Religion:Scientology|Scientology]].<ref>Paul Kurtz, ''Skepticism and Humanism: The New Paradigm'', Transaction Publishers, 2001, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q34zdaoq0xIC&pg=PA110 p. 110]; {{cite journal| title=The Corrosion of the American Mind| author=Wendy Kaminer| authorlink=Wendy Kaminer| journal=The Wilson Quarterly| volume=32| issue=2| year= 2008| page=92| jstor=40262377}}{{cite web|last1=Kaminer|first1=Wendy|title=The Corrosion of the American Mind|url=https://wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/spring-2008-backbone-infrastructure-for-americas-future/the-corrosion-of-the-american-mind/|website=Wilson Quarterly|publisher=Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars|accessdate=May 1, 2018|ref=text_342eb89bf70b4702921276d66e0c2cee}}</ref>

=== Aging ===
Chopra believes that "ageing is simply learned behaviour" that can be slowed or prevented.<ref name=mumbo>{{cite news |title=Junk medicine; The triumph of mumbo jumbo |type=Book review |first=Mark |last=Henderson |newspaper=The Times |date=February 7, 2004 |page=4}}</ref> Chopra has said that he expects "to live way beyond 100".<ref name="Wheen2005">{{cite book|author=Francis Wheen|title=How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFjebcPiBdwC&pg=PA46|date=July 6, 2005|publisher=PublicAffairs|isbn=978-0-7867-2352-2|pages=46–}}</ref> He states that "by consciously using our awareness, we can influence the way we age biologically...You can tell your body not to age."<ref name="Quackwatch">{{cite web|url=http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/chopra.html |author=Stephen Barrett |title=A Few Thoughts on Ayurvedic Mumbo-Jumbo |accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref> Conversely, Chopra also says that aging can be accelerated, for example by a person engaging in "cynical mistrust".<ref name=LoI>{{cite journal |journal=Forbes |title=Lord of immortality |type=Book review |year=1994 |last=Moukheiber |first=Zina |volume=153 |issue=8 |page=132}}</ref> [[Biography:Robert Todd Carroll|Robert Todd Carroll]] has characterized Chopra's promotion of lengthened life as a selling of "hope" that seems to be "a false hope based on an unscientific imagination steeped in mysticism and cheerily dispensed gibberish".<ref name="skepdic-web">{{citation |url=http://www.skepdic.com/chopra.html |work=[[Philosophy:The Skeptic's Dictionary|The Skeptic's Dictionary]] |first=Robert Todd |last=Carroll |authorlink=Robert Todd Carroll |title=Deepak Chopra |date=May 19, 2013 |accessdate=}}</ref>

=== Spirituality and religion ===
Chopra has likened the universe to a "reality sandwich" which has three layers: the "material" world, a "quantum" zone of matter and energy, and a "virtual" zone outside of time and space, which is the domain of God, and from which God can direct the other layers. Chopra has written that human beings' brains are "hardwired to know God" and that the functions of the human nervous system mirror divine experience.<ref name=god>{{cite journal |title=God as best seller: Deepak Chopra, Neal Walsch and New Age theology |author=Lois Malcolm |journal=The Christian Century |volume=120 |issue=19 |year=2003 |page=31}} ''commenting on'' {{cite book|author=Deepak Chopra|title=How To Know God|year= 2008|publisher=Ebury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4090-2220-6}}</ref> Chopra has written that his thinking has been inspired by [[Biography:Jiddu Krishnamurti|Jiddu Krishnamurti]], a 20th-century speaker and writer on philosophical and spiritual subjects.<ref>{{cite book | title=Krishnamurti: 100 Years | last=Blau | first=Evelyne | page=[https://archive.org/details/krishnamurti100y00blau/page/233 233] | publisher=Stewart, Tabori, & Chang | date=May 1995 | isbn=978-1-55670-407-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/krishnamurti100y00blau/page/233 }}</ref>

In 2012, reviewing ''[[Religion:War of the Worldviews|War of the Worldviews]]''{{snds}}a book co-authored by Chopra and [[Biography:Leonard Mlodinow|Leonard Mlodinow]]&nbsp;– physics professor Mark Alford says that the work is set out as a debate between the two authors, "[covering] all the big questions: cosmology, life and evolution, the mind and brain, and God". Alford considers the two sides of the debate a false opposition, and says that "the counterpoint to Chopra's speculations is not science, with its complicated structure of facts, theories, and hypotheses," but rather [[Occam's razor]].<ref name="Alford">{{cite journal|title=Is science the antidote to Deepak Chopra's spirituality? |first=Mark |last=Alford |journal=[[Unsolved:Skeptical Inquirer|Skeptical Inquirer]] |volume=36 |issue=3 |year=2012 |page=54 |url=http://alford.fastmail.us/Chopra_Mlodinow_SI.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105184137/http://alford.fastmail.us/Chopra_Mlodinow_SI.html |archivedate=November 5, 2012 }}</ref>

In August 2005, Chopra wrote a series of articles on the creation-evolution controversy and [[Unsolved:Intelligent design|Intelligent design]], which were criticized by science writer [[Biography:Michael Shermer|Michael Shermer]], founder of [[Organization:The Skeptics Society|The Skeptics Society]].<ref name="ChopEin">{{cite news | last=Chopra | first=Deepak | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/intelligent-design-withou_b_6105.html | title=Intelligent Design Without the Bible | work=The Huffington Post | date=August 23, 2005|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last= Shermer | first= Michael | url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shermer/skyhooks-and-cranes-deep_b_6179.html | title=Skyhooks and Cranes: Deepak Chopra, George W. Bush, and Intelligent Design | work= The Huffington Post|accessdate=November 30, 2008|date=March 28, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last=Chopra|first=Deepak|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/rescuing-intelligent-desi_b_6164.html|title=Rescuing Intelligent Design – But from Whom? | work=The Huffington Post|date=August 24, 2005|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref> In 2010, Shermer said that Chopra is "the very definition of what we mean by pseudoscience".<ref name=Nightline />

=== Position on skepticism ===
[[Biography:Paul Kurtz|Paul Kurtz]], an American [[Philosophy:Scientific skepticism|skeptic]] and [[Philosophy:Secular humanism|secular humanist]], has written that the popularity of Chopra's views is associated with increasing anti-scientific attitudes in society, and such popularity represents an assault on the objectivity of science itself by seeking new, alternative forms of validation for ideas. Kurtz says that medical claims must always be submitted to open-minded but proper scrutiny, and that skepticism "has its work cut out for it".<ref name=kurtz>{{cite book|author=Paul Kurtz|title=Skepticism and Humanism: The New Paradigm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q34zdaoq0xIC&pg=PA110|year=2001|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-3411-7|page=110|accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref>

In 2013, Chopra published an article on what he saw as "skepticism" at work in Wikipedia, arguing that a "stubborn band of militant skeptics" were editing articles to prevent what he believes would be a fair representation of the views of such figures as [[Biography:Rupert Sheldrake|Rupert Sheldrake]], an author, lecturer, and researcher in [[Unsolved:Parapsychology|parapsychology]]. The result, Chopra argued, was that the encyclopedia's readers were denied the opportunity to read of attempts to "expand science beyond its conventional boundaries".<ref name=coyne>{{cite journal|first=Jerry A|last=Coyne|title=Pseudoscientist Rupert Sheldrake Is Not Being Persecuted, And Is Not Like Galileo|journal=The New Republic|date=November 8, 2013|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/115533/rupert-sheldrake-fools-bbc-deepak-chopra}}</ref> The biologist [[Biography:Jerry Coyne|Jerry Coyne]] responded, saying that it was instead Chopra who was losing out as his views were being "exposed as a lot of scientifically-sounding psychobabble".<ref name=coyne />

More broadly, Chopra has attacked skepticism as a whole, writing in ''The Huffington Post'' that "No skeptic, to my knowledge, ever made a major scientific discovery or advanced the welfare of others."<ref name=perils>{{cite web |work=The Huffington Post |first=Deepak |last=Chopra |title=The Perils of Skepticism |date=November 30, 2009|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/the-perils-of-skepticism_b_373788.html |accessdate=April 25, 2016}}</ref> Astronomer [[Biography:Phil Plait|Phil Plait]] said this statement trembled "on the very edge of being a blatant and gross lie", listing [[Biography:Carl Sagan|Carl Sagan]], [[Biography:Richard Feynman|Richard Feynman]], [[Biography:Stephen Jay Gould|Stephen Jay Gould]], and Edward Jenner among the "thousands of scientists [who] are skeptics", who he said were counterexamples to Chopra's statement.<ref name=plait>{{cite journal |title=Deepak Chopra: redefining 'wrong' |first=Phil |last=Plait |date=December 1, 2009 |url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/12/01/deepak-chopra-redefining-wrong/ |journal=Discover |accessdate=}}</ref>

=== Misuse of scientific terminology ===

Reviewing Susan Jacoby's book, ''The Age of American Unreason'', Wendy Kaminer sees Chopra's popular reception in the USA as being symptomatic of many Americans' historical inability (as Jacoby puts it) "to distinguish between real scientists and those who peddled theories in the guise of science". Chopra's "nonsensical references to quantum physics" are placed in a lineage of American religious [[Unsolved:Pseudoscience|pseudoscience]], extending back through [[Religion:Scientology|Scientology]] to Christian Science.<ref name=jaco>{{cite journal| title=The Corrosion of the American Mind (reviewing ''The Age of American Unreason'' by Susan Jacoby)| first=Wendy| last=Kaminer| authorlink=Wendy Kaminer| journal=The Wilson Quarterly| volume=32
| issue=2| year= 2008| page=92| jstor=40262377| quote=Then came Scientology, the "science" of positive thinking, and, more recently, New Age healer Deepak Chopra's nonsensical references to quantum physics| title-link=Susan Jacoby}}</ref> Physics professor [[Biography:Chad Orzel|Chad Orzel]] has written that "to a physicist, Chopra's babble about 'energy fields' and 'congealing quantum soup' presents as utter gibberish", but that Chopra makes enough references to technical terminology to convince non-scientists that he understands physics.<ref name="orzel">{{cite web|url=http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2013/10/11/malcolm-gladwell-is-deepak-chopra|title=Malcolm Gladwell Is Deepak Chopra|last=Orzel|first=Chad|date=October 11, 2013|publisher=ScienceBlogs|accessdate=October 13, 2013}}</ref> English professor George O'Har writes that Chopra is as an exemplification of the fact that human beings need "magic" in their lives, and places "the sophistries of Chopra" alongside the [[Philosophy:Emotivism|emotivism]] of Oprah Winfrey, the special effects and logic of ''Star Trek'', and the magic of ''Harry Potter''.<ref name="OHar2000">{{cite journal |doi=10.1353/tech.2000.0174 |title=Magic in the Machine Age |year=2000 |last1=O'Har |first1=George M |journal=Technology and Culture |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=862–864}}</ref>

Chopra has been criticized for his frequent references to the relationship of [[Physics:Quantum mechanics|quantum mechanics]] to [[Biology:Healing|healing]] processes, a connection that has drawn skepticism from physicists who say it can be considered as contributing to the general confusion in the popular press regarding [[Physics:Measurement in quantum mechanics|quantum measurement]], [[Physics:Decoherence|decoherence]] and the [[Biography:Werner Heisenberg|Heisenberg]] [[Physics:Uncertainty principle|uncertainty principle]].<ref name=csi>{{cite journal| last=Stenger | first=Victor J|title=Quantum Quackery | url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/quantum_quackery | journal=[[Unsolved:Skeptical Inquirer|Skeptical Inquirer]] | year=1997| volume=21| issue=1|page=37–}}</ref> In 1998, Chopra was awarded the satirical Ig Nobel Prize in physics for "his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness".<ref>{{cite web | title=Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize | url=http://improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig1998 | work=Improbable Research | accessdate=December 1, 2008}}</ref> When interviewed by ethologist and evolutionary biologist [[Biography:Richard Dawkins|Richard Dawkins]] in the Channel 4 (UK) documentary ''The Enemies of Reason'', Chopra said that he used the term "quantum physics" as "a metaphor" and that it had little to do with quantum theory in physics.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Enemies of Reason |url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-enemies-of-reason |publisher=Channel 4 |accessdate=}}</ref> In March 2010, Chopra and Jean Houston debated Sam Harris and [[Biography:Michael Shermer|Michael Shermer]] at the [[Organization:California Institute of Technology|California Institute of Technology]] on the question "Does God Have a Future?" Shermer and Harris criticized Chopra's use of scientific terminology to expound unrelated spiritual concepts.<ref name=Nightline>{{cite episode|url=http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaceOff/nightline-face-off-god-future/story?id=10170505 |title=Face-Off: Does God Have a Future|network=ABC|air-date=March 23, 2010|accessdate=July 9, 2010|series=Nightline|season=30|number=58|transcript=Transcript from the Internet Archive|transcript-url=https://archive.org/details/WMAR_20100324_033500_Nightline}}</ref> A 2015 paper examining "the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit" used Chopra's Twitter feed as the canonical example, and compared this with fake Chopra quotes generated by a spoof website.<ref name="Indie-Bullshit">{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-find-a-link-between-low-intelligence-and-acceptance-of-pseudo-profound-bulls-a6757731.html | title=Scientists find a link between low intelligence and acceptance of 'pseudo-profound bulls***' | work=The Independent | date=December 4, 2015 | accessdate=December 11, 2015}}</ref><ref name="HuffPo-Bullshit">{{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pseudo-intellectual-profound-bullshit-study_5661acb4e4b079b2818e4020 | title=Study Finds People Who Fall For Nonsense Inspirational Quotes Are Less Intelligent | work=The Huffington Post | date=December 4, 2015 | accessdate=December 11, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Pennycook2015">{{cite journal | last = Pennycook | first = Gordon | display-authors = etal | title = On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound b......t | journal = Judgment and Decision Making | volume = 10 | issue = 6 | pages = 549–563 | publisher = Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM) and the European Association for Decision Making (EADM) | location = Pennsylvania | date = November 2015 | url = http://journal.sjdm.org/15/15923a/jdm15923a.html | accessdate = December 3, 2015}}</ref>

=== Yoga ===
In April 2010, Aseem Shukla, co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation, criticized Chopra for suggesting that [[Philosophy:Yoga|yoga]] did not have its origins in [[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]] but in an older Indian spiritual tradition.<ref>{{cite news|last=Shukla |first=Aseem |url=http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/aseem_shukla/2010/04/dr_chopra_honor_thy_heritage.html |title=April 28, 2010 |work=The Washington Post |accessdate=February 18, 2011}}</ref> Chopra later said that yoga was rooted in "consciousness alone" expounded by Vedic rishis long before historic Hinduism ever arose. He said that Shukla had a "fundamentalist agenda". Shukla responded by saying Chopra was an exponent of the art of "How to Deconstruct, Repackage and Sell Hindu Philosophy Without Calling it Hindu!", and he said Chopra's mentioning of fundamentalism was an attempt to divert the debate.<ref name="Honor thy heritage">{{cite news|last=Shukla |first=Aseem |url=http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/aseem_shukla/2010/04/dr_chopra_honor_thy_heritage.html |title=Dr. Chopra: Honor thy heritage |work=The Washington Post |accessdate=February 18, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Shukla |first=Aseem |url=http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/aseem_shukla/2010/04/hinduism_and_sanatana_dharma_one_and_the_same.html |title=On Faith Panelists Blog: Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma: One and the same – Aseem Shukla |work=The Washington Post |accessdate=July 9, 2010}}</ref>

== Legal actions ==
In May 1991, the ''Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') published an article by Chopra and two others on Ayurvedic medicine and TM.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=1817464 |doi= 10.1001/jama.265.20.2633 | title=Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Modern insights into ancient medicine |date=May 22, 1991 |author=Hari M. Sharma | author2 = B. D. Triguna | author3 = Deepak Chopra |journal=Journal of the American Medical Association |volume=265 |issue=20 |pages=2633–4, 2637}}</ref> ''JAMA'' subsequently published an erratum stating that the lead author, Hari M. Sharma, had undisclosed financial interests, followed by an article by ''JAMA'' associate editor Andrew A. Skolnick which was highly critical of Chopra and the other authors for failing to disclose their financial connections to the article subject.<!--can't find this quote: who characterized the paper as a "thinly disguised advertisement for the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement and its products".--><ref>{{cite journal |title=Financial Disclosure|journal=JAMA |volume=266 |issue=6 |page=798 |doi=10.1001/jama.1991.03470060060025 |date=August 14, 1991 }}; {{cite journal |pmid=1817475|url=http://www.aaskolnick.com/mav.htm |date=October 2, 1991| author= Andrew A. Skolnick |title=Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Guru's marketing scheme promises the world eternal 'perfect health' |volume=266 |issue=13 |pages=1741–1750 |journal=JAMA|doi=10.1001/jama.1991.03470130017003}}.
* Also see {{cite journal |author=Andrew A. Skolnick |title=The Maharhish Caper: Or How to Hoodwink Top Medical Journals |url=http://www.aaskolnick.com/naswmav.htm |journal=ScienceWriters |date=Fall 1991}}</ref> Several experts on meditation and traditional Indian medicine criticized ''JAMA'' for accepting the "shoddy science" of the original article.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=1925571|date=October 11, 1991|author1=Robert Barnett |author2=Cathy Sears |title=JAMA gets into an Indian herbal jam|volume=254|issue=5029|pages=188–189|journal=Science|doi=10.1126/science.1925571|jstor=2885745|bibcode=1991Sci...254..188B}}</ref> Chopra and two TM groups sued Skolnick and ''JAMA'' for defamation, asking for $194&nbsp;million in damages, but the case was dismissed in March 1993.<ref>Pettus (''New York Magazine'') 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA31 p. 31]; {{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/18/magazine/deepak-s-days-in-court.html |title=Deepak's Days in Court |newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 18, 1996}}</ref> 

After Chopra published his book, ''Ageless Body, Timeless Mind'' (1993), he was sued for [[Copyright infringement|copyright infringement]] by Robert Sapolsky for having used, without proper attribution, a chart displaying information on the [[Biology:Endocrinology|endocrinology]] of [[Medicine:Stress|stress]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Kazak |first=Don |url=http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/monthly/1997_Mar_5.book_talk.html |title=matDon Kazak, "Book Talk", ''Time'' (March 5, 1997) |publisher=paloaltoonline.com |date=March 5, 1997|accessdate=August 1, 2012}}</ref> An out-of-court settlement resulted in Chopra correctly attributing material that had been researched by Sapolsky.<ref>{{cite news|author=TNN |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/The-mind-body-/articleshow/37759314.cms |title=The Times of India, Halyeema Sayed, The Mind-Body, April 15, 2001 |work=The Times of India |date=April 15, 2001|accessdate=February 18, 2011}}</ref>

== Select bibliography ==
{{As of|2015}}, Chopra has written 80 books, 21 of them ''New York Times'' bestsellers, which have been translated into 43 languages.<ref>[http://www.harpercollins.com/cr-102280/deepak-chopra Harper Collins author bio].</ref> His book ''The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success'' was on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list<ref name=Presley2014>{{cite news|last1=Presley Noble|first1=Barbara|title=SPENDING IT: OFF THE SHELF; Habits of Highly Effective Authors|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/02/business/spending-it-off-the-shelf-habits-of-highly-effective-authors.html|accessdate=December 15, 2014|work=The New York Times|date=April 2, 1995}}</ref> for 72 weeks.<ref name=McGee2005>{{cite book|last=McGee|first=Micki|title=Self-Help, Inc.: Makeover Culture in American Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SntPAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|accessdate=December 15, 2014|date=August 10, 2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988368-4|pages=71–}}</ref>

'''Books'''
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* (1987) {{cite book|title=Creating Health|url=https://archive.org/details/creatinghealthbe00chop|url-access=registration|place=New York|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-395-42953-2|date=January 1987}}
* (1989) {{cite book|title=Quantum Healing|place=New York|publisher=Bantam Books|isbn=978-0-553-05368-5|url=https://archive.org/details/quantumhealingex00chop_0|year=1989}}
* (1991) {{cite book|title=Perfect Health|place=New York|publisher=Bantam Books|isbn=978-0-553-81367-8|year=2001}}
* (1991) {{cite book|title=Return of the Rishi: A Doctor's Story of Spiritual Transformation and Ayurvedic Healing|place=Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-395-57420-1|year=1991|url=https://archive.org/details/returnofrishidoc00chop}}
* (1993) {{cite book|title=Ageless Body Timeless Mind|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-517-59257-1|year=1993|url=https://archive.org/details/agelessboel00chop}}
* (1994) {{cite book|title=The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success|url=https://archive.org/details/sevenspiritualla00choprich|url-access=registration|place=San Rafael|publisher=Amber Allen Publishing and New World Library|isbn=978-1-878424-11-2|year=1994}}
* (1995) {{cite book|title=The Return of Merlin|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-517-59849-8|year=1995}}
* (1995) {{cite book|title=The Way of the Wizard|place=New York|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-517-70434-9|year=1995}}
* (1996) {{cite book|title=The Path to Love|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-517-70622-0|year=1997|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/pathtoloverenewi0000chop}}
* (2000) with David Simon, {{cite book|title=The Chopra Center Herbal Handbook|place=New York|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-609-80390-5|year=2000|url=https://archive.org/details/chopracenterherb00davi}}
* (2004) {{cite book|title=The Book of Secrets|place=New York|publisher=Harmony|isbn=978-0-517-70624-4|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofsecrets00deep|year=2004}}
* (2008) {{cite book|title=The Soul of Leadership|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-307-40806-8|year=2010|url=https://archive.org/details/soulofleadership0000chop}}
* (2008) {{cite book|title=The Third Jesus|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-307-33831-0|year=2008}}
* (2009) {{cite book|title=Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-307-45233-7|year=2009|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780307452337}}
* (2011) with [[Biography:Leonard Mlodinow|Leonard Mlodinow]], {{cite book|title=War of the Worldviews|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-307-88688-0|year=2011|url=https://archive.org/details/warofworldviewss00deep}}
* (2011) with Gotham Chopra, {{cite book|title=The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes: Harnessing Our Power to Change the World|publisher=HarperOne|isbn=978-0-06-205966-6|title-link=The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes: Harnessing Our Power to Change the World|date=May 31, 2011}}
* (2012) {{cite book|title=God: A Story of Revelation|place=New York|publisher=HarperOne|isbn=978-0-06-202069-7}}
* (2012) with Rudolph E. Tanzi, {{cite book|title=Super Brain|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-307-95682-8|year=2012}}
* (2013) with Sanjiv Chopra, {{cite book|title=Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny, and the American Dream|place=New York|publisher=New Harvest|isbn=978-0-544-03210-1|year=2013|url=https://archive.org/details/brotherhooddharm0000chop}}
* (2013) {{cite book|title=What Are You Hungry For?|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-7704-3721-3|year=2013}}
* (2015) with Rudolph Tanzi, {{cite book|title=Super Genes|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-8041-4013-3|year=2015}}
* (2017) with [[Biography:Menas Kafatos|Menas Kafatos]], {{cite book|title=You Are the Universe|place=New York|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0307889164|title-link=You Are The Universe (book)|year=2017}}:

{{div col end}}

== See also ==
* [[Medicine:Celebrity doctor|Celebrity doctor]]
* [[Philosophy:Hard problem of consciousness|Hard problem of consciousness]]
* Indian Americans
* Indians in the New York City metropolitan region
* List of people in alternative medicine
* [[Philosophy:Panpsychism|Panpsychism]]
* [[Philosophy:Spiritual naturalism|Spiritual naturalism]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=perfect>{{cite book |first1=Deepak |last1=Chopra |title=Perfect Health—Revised and Updated: The Complete Mind Body Guide |publisher=Three Rivers Press |location=New York, NY |date=December 2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hk8sFvZv-1oC |page=7|isbn=9780307421432 }}</ref>

<ref name=ageless>{{cite book |first1=Deepak |last1=Chopra |title=Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old |publisher=Random House |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Eq2AFPCvaAC |page=6 |date=1997|isbn=9780679774495 }}</ref>

<ref name=quantum>{{cite book |first1=Deepak |last1=Chopra |title=Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind Body Medicine |publisher=Random House |year=2009 |orig-year=1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0SPiUOU_fIQC |pages=71–72, 74|isbn=9780307569950 }}</ref>

}} <!--end reflist-->

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|normalfont=yes|2|indent=yes}}
:Butler, J. Thomas. "Ayurveda," in ''Consumer Health: Making Informed Decisions'', Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mjWc2CiAJYsC&pg=PA117 pp. 117–118].
:Butler, Kurt and Barrett, Stephen (1992). ''A Consumer's Guide to "Alternative Medicine": A Close Look at Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Faith-healing, and Other Unconventional Treatments''. Prometheus Books, pp.&nbsp;110–116. {{ISBN|978-0-87975-733-5}}.
:{{cite journal |author=Kaeser, Eduard |title=Science kitsch and pop science: A reconnaissance |journal=Public Understanding of Science |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=559–69 |date=July 2013  |pmid=23833170 |doi=10.1177/0963662513489390 |}}
:[[Biography:Menas Kafatos|Kafatos, Menas]], Nadeau, Robert. ''The Conscious Universe: Parts and Wholes in Physical Reality'', Springer, 2013.
:{{Cite book|title=Deepak Chopra: How to Live in a World of Infinite Possibilities|first=Leon|last=Nacson|publisher=Random House|year=1998|isbn=978-0-09-183673-3}}
:Scherer, Jochen. "The 'scientific' presentation and legitimation of the teaching of synchronicity in New Age literature," in James R. Lewis, Olav Hammer (eds.), ''Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science'', Brill Academic Publishers, 2010.
{{refend}}

== External links ==

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