Introduction
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in complementary medicine, and indeed alternative medicine (Lee-Treweek 2002, Andrews 2004, Barry 2006). Moreover the number of professionally trained therapist and practitioners has increased giving the patient/client a better choice and at more competitive rates (Smallwood, 2005).
In this essay a critical assessment of the view that ‘patients use of complementary and alternative medicine, can be understood as part of the individualisation of responsibility for health’ will be made and argued, that there are many aspects which influence the uptake of such therapies. Responsibility for health has changed and this will be discussed by examples of sociological theories. Medical sociologists have been previously concerned with illness rather than health. Functionalists such as Parsons (1951) suggested illness was a deviance and had the effect of disruption on society which had to be controlled. He used the sick note to illustrate that the sick person was excused from performing normally, but this had to be kept to a minimum and the sick person had to want to get better. The function of the medical profession was to socially control the use of the sick note to those genuinely sick (Webb, Westergaard, 2004). However in today society the working person aims to keep working during some illnesses or at least limit the time spent away from work. To do this it involves taking some responsibility for keeping healthy and reducing the time actually being ill. Therefore by choosing to use CAM and alternative medicine, it could provide an additional method which may combat illness and help speed up recovery (Lett, 2000).
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...t approach of dictating the direction the Nation Health Service should follow. This caused a vast change in how services were delivered, with cost influencing many decisions. Clinical governance emerged in the late 1990’s when New Labour took power, and evidence based practise became the norm. Netteleton (2010) likens clinical governance to Foucault’s term of ‘governmentality’ whereby collective objectives are kept in check. Evidence- based practise is an aspect that has been the most difficult for CAM and alternative practises to combine with, as measuring and gathering quality evidence is difficult to obtain. The integration into conventional health care will depend upon finding a balance between the two disciplines. However if individualism proves to favour CAM and alternative methods then social pressure may yield quicker than the academic struggle.
Preventative medicine comes with the potential for making our lives both better and worse. Today the world in which we live in has faced steady medicalization of daily existence. Many factors have contributed to the rise of medicalization. For instance the loss in religion, the increase of faith in science, rationality, progress, increased prestige and the power of the medical profession. The medical profession and the expansion of medical jurisdiction were prime movers for medicalization. Medicalization has also occurred through social movements. Doctors are not the only ones involved in medicalization now, patients are active collaborators in the medicalization of their problem. Critics try to argue for or against the idea that this leads to a favorable versus a non -favorable outcome. This increased establishment and development of medicine, including technoscience, has resulted in a major threat to health. The medicalization of normal conditions, risks the creation of medical diagnoses that are widely inclusive and that hold the potential for further expansion. Many biologically normal conditions, like shortness, menopause, and infertility, are currently considered medical problems. These naturally occurring states are now regarded as undesirable and deviant. This process is referred to as medicalization. Although they are considered deviant, however, the process of medicalization also removes culpability: a person’s problems can be ascribed to a chemical imbalance rather than seen as reflecting his or her character or accomplishments. Some of the articles I will be looking into are Dumit’s “Drugs for life” as well as Healy’s “Pharmageddon” and Cassel’s “Selling Sickness” to explore if this process of overmedicalization has le...
In today’s world, many people assume that the latest medical technology and treatments are always the best option. However, all over the world, different techniques for curing diseases and aliments are being used. These methods fall under the category of complementary and alternative medicine.
The famous spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi said, "Homeopathy cures a greater percentage of cases than any other method of treatment. Homeopathy is the latest, most refined method of treating patients economically and non-violently” (Malik). However, Homeopathy is only one of the many natural forms of treatment that patients are utilizing in an effort to avoid conventional medicine. A clinic practice model that combines conventional medicine with Naturopathic, Complementary and other forms of alternative medicine all in one setting, is the new health paradigm called Integrative Medicine. With the public’s growing concern of being over-medicated by costly and sometimes violent conventional medicine, I am going to explain the movement towards
There are many different uses of alternative medicine and that can be used in a variety of situations. Some people may be skeptical of alternative medicine since they are not aware of the facts and statistics. By homeopathy becoming more popular people will not be as skeptical. “Despite the successes of many alternative therapies, the phrase "alternative medicine" has not acquired a completely respectable air. To many, especially doctors trained in conventional medicine, "alternative therapies" seem unscientific and dangerous” (Badertscher). As the author shows that although alternative medicine may seem skeptical to people, there are many reasons to prove that alternative medicine is an overall better solution. Badertscher also explains the many benefits to his view of alternative medicine of seeking to work with the body 's own natural healing processes” (Badertscher). For example, a person may suffer from chronic back pain may decide to go to a chiropractor instead of using medication such as oxycodone. In this Badertscher shows the benefit that using the body’s natural healing does and that it puts the person in control of their
For many centuries, humanity has been on an eternal quest for cures and treatments for many chronic conditions. At the present time, conventional medicine is mostly performed by doctors and other health care professionals, with the extensive use of pharmaceutical drugs, surgery or radiation treatments for disease treatment. Conversely, even though not as popular, complementary and alternative medicine and treatment options are slowly gaining popularity and becoming an addition to traditional medicine.
These alternative treatments include acupuncture, meditation, and therapy among many others.There is growing evidence that the desire for alternative medicine is expanding because people undergoing procedures in today’s health care system has had unmet needs as well as feelings of being uncared for (Acari & Flanagan, 2015). Alternative medicine is able to provide patients with treatments that provide relief for hard to cure problems such as back pain, neck pain, and arthritis. Many of these alternative treatments have been shown to be successful for various problems. The use of complimentary and alternative medicine as well as the open ended communication that holistic nursing provides is gaining popularity from patients who are fed up with traditional care and hospital
Ross defines and differentiates between the terms healing and curing. She recognizes the fact that healing and curing are very intertwined and it can be hard to distinguish between the two terms. There are differences between the definitions in scholarly and general settings. She references an ethnographic study of healing versus curing conducted by anthropologists Andrew Strathern and Pamela Stewart in 1999 with native groups in New Guinea. The results of the study looked at how energy used by the different types of tribal healers to either cure or heal a patient. Eastern medicine focuses on how energy interacts with the healing process in connection within the mind. Whereas Western medicine is focused on the mind and the body separately. The practice is considered a holistic approach to finding cures. According to Ross (2013), healing is more a therapeutic process targeting the whole body and specific illness including emotional, mental, and social aspects in the treatment. The act of curing is a pragmatic approach that focuses on removing the problem all together. The life experiences of a person playing into how well certain treatments will heal or cure what is ailing them. These aspects can not be defined with textbook definitions. The interaction that the healing process has with energy is a variable in the success rate. Uncontrolled emotions can have a greater impact on the inside the body than a person can realize. The exploration of energy interaction within the body can be used for greater analysis of health care systems. (21-22). Are Western healthcare facilities purposely “curing” patients just so that they return are few years later? Is Western Medicine built upon a negative feedback loop? The terminolo...
Easthope, G., 2005. Alternative Medicines. In: Germov, ed. An Introduction to Health Sociology. Melbourne :Oxford University Press, pp. 332-348.
Most of the time when going to the doctor’s office they will prescribe a prescription drug to the patient to help manage their pain. This pain can be described as a “sensation of physical or mental suffering or hurt that usually causes distress or agony to the one experiencing it.” (Taylor, Lillis, LeMone, and Lynn, 2011) However, there are some instances where medication may not be enough for some patients; they may require more relief than what a prescription drug can offer. This is why many patients may benefit from complementary and alternative therapies (CAT). These types of interventions are “complementary therapies (they can be used with traditional medical interventions and thus complement them).” (Taylor et al., 2011)
Complementary and alternative therapies are relatively new and essential options in health care, they help to increase the quality of life of patients and provide them with numerous possibilities to ensure growth of their health, beyond current medicine. Recently, these therapies, such as massage therapy and acupuncture, have become more prevalent in research. Consequently, their substitution with standard medicine in the healthcare system has been supported by the literature. The literature that supports these methods has explored why complementary therapies are needed, the different and distinct features of each therapy, and they also examine the education and knowledge those implementing the services must have. To accurately analyze if complementary and alternative therapies are valuable to the health care system, this paper will aim to learn why they are becoming predominant and why nurses should use these therapies’ to assist in improving the health of individuals. To determine the main attributes of these therapies, a variety of resources that extensively discuss complementary and alternative therapies will be examined and the paper will also examine the benefits and weaknesses they have on improving health. Lastly, this paper will aim to determine if these services should be implemented by nurses as alternative options for their patients, as nurses should have substantial knowledge pertaining to implementing these therapies.
Joos S.,(2008). The role of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Germany - a focus group study of GPs. BMC Health Services Research,8,127–140.Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2442431/
Introduction: For this essay I am going to critically discuss the biomedical model as well as the social model of health and how they both relate to the lay perspectives on health and illness.
Sociology of Health and Illness The sociological approaches focus on identifying the two sociological theories. We critically analysed the biomedical model and doctor-patient relationship. We also evaluated how the medical professionals exercise social control and the medical professional’s contribution to ill health. The difference between society and health is studied by sociologists in relation to health and illness.
Medicine as a Form of Social Control This critique will examine the view that medicine is a form of social control. There are many theorists that have different opinions on this view. This critique will discuss each one and their different views. We live in a society where there is a complex division of labour and where enormous varieties of specialist healing roles are recognised.
Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 36:2, 67-68. Simon, D. (2004). The 'Secondary'. Practicing Mind-Body-Soul Medicine. Alternative Therapies, 10:6, 62-68.