"The
Doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will
interest his patients in the care of the human frame,
in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."
- Thomas Edison
To fully appreciate this growing shift towards a new
medical paradigm, however, it is important to understand
what alternative medicine is.
In
its broadest sense, the term alternative
medicine is used simply
to denote approaches to health and healing that do
not rely on drugs, surgery, and/or other conventional
medical procedures for treating illness.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
The underlying concepts of alternative medicine are
far older than those of conventional, allopathic medicine,
and have, in fact infused various healing traditions
around the world since the dawn of recorded history.
As
early as 5,000 B.C.E., for example “physician-sages” formulating
the healing traditions of both traditional Chinese medicine.
(TCM) and Ayurvedic medicine (from India) recognized
that human beings were comprised of body, mind, and spirit,
and that health represented a harmonious balance within
all three of these aspects of existence, as well as the
free flow of invisible vital energy ( known as China
as qi and in India as prana) throughout the various body
systems. Since that time, in healing traditions worldwide,
medical wisdom evolved with a framework that linked health
to this state of harmony and disease to a state of disharmony
or imbalance, and took into account the multiple factors
that contributed to both.
THE PURPOSE OF MEDICINE: WAR OR REPAIR?
The
thrust of modern conventional medicine can be described
by the metaphor of war. Disease is considered an invasion
by an enemy and treatment is aimed at developing “magic
bullets” in the form of drugs and vaccines to eliminate
that enemy. We have seen, for example a failed “war
on cancer,” a proliferation of antibiotics, and
a growing number of surgical procedures, cell-killing
radiation treatments, and chemical medications (such
as chemotherapy), all of which do harm to the body, in
one form or another, in their attempts to restore health.
Lost
in this approach is the concept of repairing the imbalances
that allow the illnesses to occur in the first
place. Medical science has become one-sided in its focus,
increasingly losing sight of the whole person in its
attempt to treat the body’s individual parts.
“A more useful metaphor for medicine would be
repair, not war,” says John R. Lee, M.D., of Sebastopol,
California. “If we think of the body as a house,
we see that problems lie in the gaps and breakdowns that
occur in the foundation, allowing various pests to make
their way inside. The contemporary physician addresses
this problem by selling you poisons or traps to kill
or catch the pests. But this still doesn’t prevent
other undesirables from coming in through the gaps in
the future. How much better it would be for your physician
to learn where the holes are and help you to repair them,
while teaching you how to prevent them from occurring
again”.
HOLISTIC HEALING PRINCIPLES
The following 12 principles, established by the board
of trustees of the American Holistic Medical Association,
lie at the heart of the new paradigm of health care that
is emerging in the 21st century.
1.
Holistic physicians embrace a variety of safe, effective
diagnostic
and treatment options. These include education
for lifestyle changes and self-care, complementary diagnostic
and treatment approaches, and conventional drugs and
surgery.
2. Searching for the underlying causes of disease is
preferable to treating symptoms alone.
3. Holistic physicians expend as much effort in establishing
what kind of patient has a disease as they do in establishing
what kind of disease a patient has.
4. Prevention is preferable to treatment and is usually
more cost-effective. The most cost-effective approach
evokes the patient’s own innate healing capacities.
5. Illness is viewed as a manifestation of a dysfunction
of the whole person, not as an isolated event.
6. A major determining factor in the healing process
is the quality of the relationship established between
physician
and patient, in which the patient is encouraged to take
responsibility for his or her health.
7. The ideal physician-patient relationship considers
the needs, desires, awareness, and insight of the patient,
as well as of the physician.
8. Physicians significantly influence patients by their
example.
9. Illness, pain, and the dying process can be learning
opportunities for both patients and physicians.
10. Holistic physicians encourage their patients to evoke
the healing power of love, hope humor, and enthusiasm,
and to release the toxic consequences of hostility, shame
greed, depression, and prolonged fear, anger, and grief.
11. Unconditional love is life’s most powerful
medicine. Holistic physicians strive to adopt an attitude
of unconditional
love for patients, themselves, and other practitioners.
12. Optimal health is much more than the absence of sickness.
It is the conscious pursuit of the highest qualities
of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual,
and social aspects of human experience.
Selecting an Alternative Practitioner
The
choice to explore alternative medicine can be a crucial
turning point in one’s life, affecting
physical as well as mental and emotional health. With
the help of an alternative practitioner, it is possible
to take control of one’s personal health, and thereby
eliminate the sense of frustration and helplessness that
many feel when dealing with conventional medicine.
But how does one go about selecting an alternative practitioner?
Not surprisingly, many of the same criteria used to choose
a conventional doctor are important in seeking out an
expert in natural medicine. Yet because the very nature
of the alternative approach is far more encompassing
than the conventional one, there are a number of other
critical factors that should be taken into account in
the selection process. The following suggestions offer
basic guidelines for choosing an alternative practitioner:
Educate yourself about the general principles of alternative
health care.
The
success of alternative care is dependent upon an informed
patient as well as a knowledgeable practitioner.
Even after selecting a practitioner, the education process
must continue, becoming an ongoing aspect of a person’s
approach to alternative care. AS Garry F. Gordon, M.D.
co-founder of the American College of Advancement in
Medicine, notes, “I encourage people to learn to
become their own doctor and use health practitioners
as ‘educators,’ realizing that we can learn
something from everyone.”
If you are selecting a general practitioner, choose
someone with a diverse background and expertise in a
wide variety of disciplines.
“I think you want to find someone who has a relatively
eclectic background,” says Elson Haas, M.D., Director
of the Preventive Medical Center of main, in San Rafael,
California. “A great limitation of conventional
medicine is that the only choice is really drugs or surgery.
Ideally,
you want someone who can use both natural approaches
as well as pharmaceutical ones, someone who can balance
their rational approach with a more intuitive approach,
so that they are not just operating from their own bias.”
Find a practitioner with whom you can communicate openly
and with whom you have a good rapport.
“If you do not have a doctor who will sit back
and listen to what you have to say for 20 minutes to
a half-hour,” says John R. Lee, M.D., of Sebastopol,
California,” you do not have a doctor who is going
to find the cause.” Adds Dr. Gordon: “If
you don’t feel you can communicate adequately and
get your questions answered, you need to shop some more,
because any anxiety over the doctor-patient selection
puts a negative damper on the healing process”
Select a physician who is sensitive to your particular
needs and circumstances.
Dr.
Haas stresses the importance of what he calls “patient-centered” health
care. “This means you really take the person as
the primary mode and really work around what their needs
are,” he says.
Choose an alternative approach in which you have confidence.
In
Alternative medicine, the mental and emotional aspects
of healing cannot be separated from the physical. It
is vital; therefore, that one believes in the alternative
method one has chosen. As Dr. Gordon explains, “If
I could show you stacks of evidence about homeopathy,
but you tell me that you will never understand how it
works, I’m going to get half the effect from you
than I would from a person that had a neighbor whose
life was saved by homeopathy, was well-informed about
therapy, and was ready to take a homeopathic remedy when
they walked in the door”.
Source: Alternative Medicine author: Burton Goldberg
