PRE-WRITING

Alternative Medicine Vs. Traditional, Western Medicine

Alternative Medicine is Holistic, Western Medicine is Reductionist

The Western Approach to Medicine

The major difference between alternative medicine, or what I'll call holistic health, and Western
medicine, is in approach. A Western doctor, or MD, sees his duty as searching out disease,
diagnosing it, and treating it. If he does that correctly and effectively, he's done his job. Most
often, this means the doctor prescribing a pharmaceutical drug or a surgical procedure to remedy
the situation. The patients is passive in all of this
Conventional Western medicine is organized around the Theory of Diseases, which believes that
a person becomes sick because he or she contracts a disease. In this model, each disease is seen
as an independent entity which can be fully understood without regard to the person it afflicts or
the environment in which it occurs. Conventional treatments are treatments of diseases, not of
people. Most of the drugs employed in conventional medicine are designed to act as chemical
strait jackets, preventing the cells of the body from performing some function that has become
hyperactive. The side effects of these drugs are a direct extension of their actions and may be
fatal. A Harvard research team concluded that 180,000 Americans are killed in hospitals by their
doctors every year.(1) Most of these deaths occur because doctors prescribe drugs without paying
attention to the special characteristics of the person for whom the drugs are prescribed.

The Approach Of Holistic Practitioners

A holistic health practitioner sees his duty as an educator and a facilitator. He feels that the body
can heal itself, and it doesn't necessarily need outside influences (drugs, surgery) to heal from an
illness or to prevent an illness. In holistic health, the patient is an active participant. This is the
best and the worst thing about holistic health! The patient is actively involved in the healing
process. Everything you know about your body says that this is the right approach. It makes so
much sense. That's the good part. The bad thing about this is that it is hard work for the patient

Change Your Lifestyle

In most cases, the patient must make changes to their lifestyle. Change your diet, do more
exercise, stop using sugar, do these stretches, stop negative thoughts, meditate twice a day, etc.
Making lifestyle changes is immensely difficult. The only time it's easy is when you are faced
with a life-threatening disease. When you find out you have lung cancer, it's pretty easy to quit
smoking. However, it's far too late by that time. Lifestyle changes need to come before the illness
becomes manifest

Holism Versus Reductionism

Let's examine one of the big differences between holistic health and Western medicine: holism
versus reductionism. This is a major shift in perspective. Taking a holistic perspective means that
you cannot understand a single problem with a single part of the human body without looking at
the whole person. We use the short-hand mind, body, spirit to refer to the whole person. This is
not how a Western doctor is taught to see a patient. He sees the patient as the disease. This is an
epileptic, it is not a whole person who has epilepsy. He feels that he can administer a drug or
perform a surgery that will cure a person's liver without making any difference to the rest of the
person. Of course, this is never possible, so when the inevitable complications arise, the Western
doctor deals with those one at a time, often causing additional problems for the person, whether
in body, mind or spirit
One Person Three Parts: Body, Mind & Spirit
Even those three parts of the person are treated by separate people in Western society. The body
is the domain of the medical doctor. The mind is the domain of the psychiatrist. Spirit is left to
the priest, rabbi or pastor. There is no overlap in roles, except for referrals from one to the other.
In our bodies, of course, there is tremendous overlap. A loss of connection to God or the universe
will cause no end of mental and physical problems. Mental stress causes many physical diseases,
as we well know. Who can coordinate between these in the Western system? No one. Problems
falling through the cracks between mind, body and spirit is a common failure of Western
medicine. A holistic practitioner understands the interconnections between mind, body and spirit.
They work on the connections, and, although the practitioner may not be an expert in all three,
they focus on the overlaps rather than ignoring them
Our Future with Western Medicine

It is not at all difficult to see where our present medical system is leading us if we observe the
everyday events that normally occurs in our present time since the emergence of the our so called
high technology in the medical field. The big question is are we winning the war against
diseases? Have we able to prolong the life span of our people with this present medical
technology or have we just prolong the pain and agonies for the sake of money. Every year in
every parts of the world we build new hospitals and medical clinics and we are producing more
doctors to augment the system but nevertheless we were not able to stop chronic diseases like
cancer, heart disease, HIV, Alzheimer and lots of other diseases that continue to dominate our
evolution. We seem to be in the wrong track in trying to win the battle against invading
pathogens when in fact more people are dying with cancer and heart disease every year. We have
to open our eyes to the fact that drugs and doctors does not heal only the body's innate
intelligence can. The body it self is the only healer but many of us failed to see the truth.

A. Western Medicine Effects

1. The expensive cost medicines beyond the reach of many Filipinos.

2. People were misinformed and were program to believe that doctors and drugs can heal.
3. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics had lead the existence of highly resistant strain of
bacteria and virus.
4. The vaccination program which was forcefully implemented in many countries
resulted in the high incident rates of autistic children.
5. Patient are treated no as a whole person but like robots with individual prts that ca be
treated separately.
6. The side effects of drugs is sometimes more dangerous and fatal than the disease itself.
7. Safe and cheap alternative procedures are deliberately hidden to the public because
vested interest of people who are making money from sick people.
B. Alternative Natural Medicine

1. Herbal medicines are much safer, no side effects and are inexpensive and effective.
2. Many people who have no access to modern medicines because of poverty are going
back to Mother Natures cure and are learning the use of many medicinal herbs for
their medical problem.
3. Substitute for expensive antibiotics are being rediscovered and are more effective and
affordable in many cases. Example is MMS (Miracle Mineral Supplement by Jim
Humble)
4. Electronic medicine similar to Dr. Raymond Rife machines are now becoming
popular again.
5. Patient are treated as a whole person, the relation between the mind and the physical
body is being considered extensively in addition to the environment and way of life.