Holistic Medicine
Modern medicine or mainstream medical practices primarily concentrate on the physical health of a patient as apposed to the symptoms. Physical discomforts demand our attention and it is difficult to ignore symptoms when our bodies physically hurt. Modern medicine is utilized in many ways to mask the symptoms with out looking at the cause.
Alternative medicine, integrative medicine and complementary medicine encompass a broader spectrum defined as holistic healing or holistic medicine. Holistic healing is taking an approach utilizing an alternative to conventional care. Holistic medical practitioners consider the whole person in the quest for wellness and optimal health. The philosophy is that by gaining proper balance in life one can have optimal health and wellness. Practitioners believe that the body is made of of interdependent parts: body, mind, spirit, and emotions. If each is not working properly then another would be affected and manifests into an illness.
Holism approaches disease and health from many angels. The belief is that treating the whole self rather than only the illness, or the symptom. The field of holistic medicine is very diverse. It includes conventional and alternative therapies but also focuses on lifestyle. Holistic medicine could also include supplements that could produce the same affect as a conventional drugs. Some utilize acupuncture, guided imagery, healing touch, yoga, meditation. This list goes on with hundreds of options.
Holism is a lifestyle approach. “The holistic healer recognizes that our discomforts or pains are merely symptoms of an imbalance (What is Holistic Healing, 2014).” This imbalance may be the result of lack of exercise, too little sleep, and an unhealthy ...
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Acupuncture, ayurveda, chiropractice, homeopathy, meditation, osteopathy, and yoga are just a few of the many types of medicine practiced all over the world. According to the western establishment, all these forms of medicine are called alternative medicines. However, some of the aforementioned techniques have been in continuous use for over six thousand years, predating western medicine by over four thousand years. Yet, still many M.D.'s reject alternative forms of medicine. One of the buzzwords in medicine in recent years has been "holistic medicine". Physicians are becoming more aware of the need to treat the whole patient rather than just certain symptoms. Due to this realization, a small percentage of doctors are turning to ancient forms of medicine as a guide to alternative treatments. As alternative forms of medicine emerge in the western world, Christian scientists need to determine the moral, religious, and scientific validity of such techniques in order to gain a more holistic approach to medicine.
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
Complementary and alternative treatments are identified as a group of medical and healing systems different from the traditional ones. This type of approach centers on individualized treatment for the patient, treats the body as a whole, and promotes self healing and search for the spiritual nature of each individual. One of the crucial points that conventional and alternative medicine have in common is the awareness on good nutrition and the promotion of preventive care (White House Commission, 2014).
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...
There has been a growing trend over the past few years in health care using Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) or also known as Eastern medicine. The new and emerging type of health care has been around for thousands of years, but in recent years have been more accepting in Western culture. CAM is described as, “a wide range of practices, technologies and treatments not traditionally associated with the medical professions or medical curriculum” (Solomon & Adams, 2015). There are many different types of CAM health care. Some of the more popular practices include acupuncture, massage therapy, aromatherapy, reflexology, chiropractic and herbal remedies. Each of these therapies are used in different ways to help with the overall
Even with all today’s advances in medicine, 30% of adults and 12% of children use healthcare outside of the conventional or mainstream medicine. When non-mainstream medicine is used in place of conventional medicine it is known as alternative. When non-mainstream medicine is used with conventional medicine it is known as complementary. A combination of conventional and complementary is known as integrative medicine. Complementary and alternative medicine, also known as CAM, is the use of medical products and practices that are not part of standard medical care. It is most commonly used by people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by an event. Symptoms usually include behavior
My topic is about how holistic medicine is used. I became interested in this topic because all I knew about medicine was the modern western practices. As an occupation when I am older I would like to go into the medical field. This influenced me to want learn about what other medical treatments were used and then I learn what holistic medicine is. All I know about holistic medicine is that it is an alternative form of healing and incorporates the entire person. Also, I know that there are many different natural treatments that are incorporated into holistic remedies including acupuncture. Through my research I am planning on discovering what holistic medicine is, what holistic practitioners believe, what different treatments there are, what one must to do become a holistic specialist, and what the different factors that are included in holistic medicine.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western Medicine (WM) differ from each other in many ways. TCM favors a holistic approach, views the universe and body philosophically and develops inductive tools and methods to guide restoring the total balance of the body. In Chinese medicine, the correct balance between Yin and Yang make up the vital energy, Qi, an essential life-sustaining substance of which all things are made. Some Traditional remedies include herbal medicines, acupuncture, massage and moxibustion, an herbal heat therapy. Western medicine is closely linked to the scientific method and emphasizes biochemical processes causes disease, its treatment and health. This form of treatment views all medical phenomena as cause-effect sequences and relies on drugs, radiation and surgery to alleviate symptoms and cure diseases. As you see, the two types of medicine are completely challenged differently depending on the doctor, the diagnosis, and the treatment options. All of these are completely different when compared with each other.
There are varying descriptions from Holistic Medicine, Alternative Medicine, Natural Medicine to Complementary Medicine. They all embrace the concept of interconnectedness and that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. All aspects from the animal to human bond, environment, and lifestyle are considered when treating the
After the industrial revolution in the 18th century in Europe and America, there was the rapid industrial and economic growth in the 19th century, which in turn caused various scientific discoveries and various invention therefore making more progress in identifying illnesses and developing modes of treatment and cure, this was where modern medicine started. After the industrial revolution there were more industries, which in turn created a lot of work-related diseases and poor hygiene, also as the cities began to grow larger, more communicable diseases began to increase, cases like typhoid and cholera became epidemics. As well, due to the changes occurring, more and more people became more aware and since there was democracy there became an increase in demand for health care. There were also the wars that occurred, causing injuries which needed to be treated. Modern medicine evolves to solve the problems of the society at a given time and various advances in this mode of health care has occurred over the years. It has been seen that modern medicine is a positive influence in the society today for various reasons, the goal of the modern medicine is to achieve good health of the citizens, and modern medicine is experimental which is capable of advanced diagnosis. Likewise, modern medicine has an effect on the social and economic state of the modern society. Modern medicine is understood as the science of treating, diagnosing or even preventing illnesses using improved sophisticated technology. This mode of treatment involves a variety of methods, using diet, exercise, treatment by drugs or even surgery.
Health is considered a complete wellness of a body including physical, mental and social well-being and Holistic Health is considered a wellness of a whole body including mind, body and spirit. According to American Holistic Medicine Association “Holistic medicine is the art and science of healing that addresses the whole person – body, mind and spirit” (Wollumbin, page 3). Holistic Health is an alternate way to treat, prevent, and wellness of an illness and achieves the best possible level of health. It focuses on the whole body rather than just symptoms or diseases. It is an approach to heal the physical, psychological, environmental, spiritual, nutritional health of one’s being. For each individual, the definition of holistic health is different and in simple words it is an alternate way of treatment where physical, mental, emotional and spiritual works equally together to attain a health. In western medicine, standard treatment is given with drugs or surgery according to symptoms or diseases or injuries where a doctor or a physician determines the ways of treatment and the patient has to follow the recommendations. Whereas, holistic health is a complete opposite way to treat the illness where patients cooperate in their illnesses, take the responsibility of their treatments, make their own decision for own level of well-being and thoroughly participate in their health care plan.
Modern medicine mixes chemicals and does extensive testing, while herbal remedies come from naturally grown herbs. For every argument there is two sides, herbal remedies lack dosage instructions, regulations, and may interact with current medication, as well as modern medicines also have improved treatments. With improvements made on information and studies of herbal remedies, they would prevail over modern
Over the centuries, ancients made use of several treatment methods. Two of them are modern medicine and traditional medicine. Alternative medicine is older than modern one. That effective therapy has used for many centuries on the patience when modern medicine has not occurred in the world. Because it has improved in China, it can be called Traditional Chinese Medicine. In contrast, modern medicine has been in used since 1900’s. In this system, drugs’ testes are done in safety laboratories with care and nicety, and their side effects are located before they are given to the patient. However, sometimes the side effects are not blocked so, people have to take another pill to get better. It makes people to take more chemicals into their bodies. Further, modern medicine has splendid efficacy on the fatal diseases. Even, alternative medicine which people’s ancestors utilized stayed in the background when modern medicine has just found, it works at the present time efficaciously. ****** Therefore, using alternative medicine is more helpful to get better than modern medicine because there are fewer drugs, side effects; there is placebo effect and holistic therapy.