In my view Integrative medicine has been burdened by following a paradigm of understanding that is not congruent with its own deeper understanding of health and ill-health.
For a very long time without realizing it I was driven by a paradigm of medicine that was actually stuck in the same mind set that I was taught in medical school. I used different names such as Holistic medicine, Integrative medicine, Functional medicine, Complementary medicine and alternative medicine and generally focused on supporting health rather than treating disease and paid much more attention to the doctor-patient relationship nevertheless I very slowly began to understanding that there was still something machine like in that understanding.
In my view Integrative medicine has been burdened by following a paradigm of understanding that is not congruent with its own deeper understanding of health and ill-health.
The conventional medical paradigm is based on the Newtonian, linear cause-effect understanding in which ‘matter’ is dominant. Newtonian science therefore dissects the matter object, which in this case is the physical body, and subjects the body to scientific investigation. This approach defines the anatomy of the body and its physiological underpinning. Ill-health and disease become distortions of anatomy and physiology, which can be corrected with drugs, supplements, surgery and a host of other approaches used by integrative doctors. Drugs and surgery treat the symptoms, while it is assumed that integrative approaches has its focus on supporting health rather than treating the disease.
Clearly both approaches when combined should make a more complete and holistic approach to ill-health. There is now sufficient evidence to recognize that the human being is not just a body made of flesh and driven by physiological flow, and while the psychological aspects and the psychosomatic aspects have been added to the above understanding, nevertheless most practitioners don’t have much time to spend talking and listening to patients.
