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Disadvantages of western medicine
Medieval medicine and modern medicine historians
Medieval medicine and modern medicine historians
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Western vs Eastern Medicine
“Healing is a matter of time, but sometimes also a matter of opportunity. Hence medical practice must not depend primarily on plausible theories but on experience combined with reason” Hippocrates
Spirituality is not restricted to any religious denomination nor is it limited to the pursuit of knowledge. It is however, the fundamentals of Eastern and Western medicine in their approach towards health and wellbeing.
Medicine and religion can be found linked together in some of the earliest civilizations. It was believed that dieties caused ailments and sometimes hindered cures. Disease was viewed as the work of a supernatural force bestowed upon wrong doers as punishment. To avoid the burden of caring for the disabled, they were often killed. The use of herbs and incantations were used as treatments.
The History of Western Medicine
Western medicine began after WWII in the nineteenth century. It’s roots developed in Ancient Greece and Egypt. The Greek Physician, Hippocrates, known as the “father of medicine” believed that the key to good health is in moderation. His establishment of medical ethics is the basis of the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors today.
Cruz II
Some of contributors to the development of medicine as we know it today include Aristotle, Plato, Servetus, Harvey, and Pastuer.
The History of Eastern Medicine
Eastern medicine is rooted in traditional culture dating back over 3,000 years. Doctors were divided into four departments: Dietetic (food and beverage hygiene); Diseases (internal medicine); Sores (external medicine); and Veterinary. The medicinal materials used consisted of herbs, minerals and animal. Ancient texts show record of Stone needle acupuncture; and references to ailment...
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Western medicines limitations and drawbacks are high cost, limited access, side effects that do not address all factors. The problem is masked by fast fixes with medicinals made in a lab that may cause additional harm. Advancements in chemistry, genetics and lab technology prove Western medicine to be most effective in trauma care and emergency medicine.
Eastern medicine is all natural with no dangerous sides effects. The healing process takes longer but general outcomes can often be longer lasting. The cost of treatment is substantially lower yet most are still not recognized as healthcare by insurance companies therefore, are not covered.
Eastern medicine is not a substitute for conventional healthcare but, by a composition of Western medicines scientific knowledge and the holistic approach of Eastern medicine, we could actually maximize our healing potential.
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...
In modern medicine when an ailment arises it can be quickly diagnosed, attributed to a precise bacteria, virus, or body system, and treated with medication, surgery or therapy. During the time before rational medical thought, this streamlined system of treatment was unheard of, and all complaints were attributed to the will of the multitude of commonly worshiped Greek gods (Greek Medicine 1). It was during the period of Greek rationalism that a perceptible change in thought was manifested in the attitudes towards treating disease. Ancient Greece is often associated with its many brilliant philosophers, and these great thinkers were some of the first innovators to make major developments in astrology, physics, math and even medicine. Among these academics was Hippocrates, one of the first e...
Hippocrates (c. 460-377 BC) was born on the Aegean island of Cos, Greece. He learned his medical practices from his father, Heracleides, and Ancient Greek physician Herodicos of Selymbria. Like many big Greek names of the time, Hippocrates was thought to have come from the Gods. He was considered a descendent of Asclepios, the God of Medicine. Two major creations of Hippocrates have upheld the biggest influence on medical history. The peak of his career was during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C), where his healing tactics helped Athenian warriors (“Hippocrates”, 1998).
Pfeiffer, Carl J. The Art and Practice of Western Medicine in the Early Nineteenth Century. Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland, 1985.
Many traditional Native medicines and healing practices were discouraged with the advent of Western medicine, but now there is a movement to return to traditional ways (Zubek, 1994, p. 1924). Modern Western medicine treats the symptoms to cure a diseased state when the body is out of homeostasis. Native American healing traditions do this as well with herbs and plants suited to the purpose. These Native healing traditions also include sacred rituals, chants, and purification rites to help bring the spirit and mind of the afflicted back into balance. In effect, treating the whole person, not only the disease. A blending of these two healing practices could bring about better prognoses for today's patients. The purpose of this paper is to show the views of practicing physicians and their patients in regards to Native American healing traditions. It also discusses a hot spring in Alaska, where participants go to experience holistic healing in the mineral springs and the success they have experienced using this form of healing process.
Hippocrates used his knowledge of natural healing to help many people recover from what ails them in an attempt to; also, learn more of people’s sicknesses. Hippocrates once thoroughly examined the king of Macedonia, who was very sick at the time, and aided him in “recovering from tuberculosis”- which he did recover from (World Biography, 4).
Many people didn’t believe in medicine at all. The most commonly used treatment was prayer. Ordinary people relied on methods their parents and grandparents used, such as lucky charms, magic spells and herbal cures. Some of the herbal cures were quite useful.
Early man's medicine was mixture of fear, folklore and superstition. They used plants that resembled the diseased or injured body part with shapes or colors that copied them. For example, yellow leaves were good for Jaundice and red ones for blood. If a leaf resembled the shape of the liver, that is were it was used. Native Americans were great inventors and well ahead of their times. They developed syringes, had knowledge of anesthetics and antiseptics as well as knowing how ...
In this paper I will be discussing the two most prevalent models of health. These two models of health are not, of course, total opposites. Similar to terms such as gay and straight they are two definitive labels placed upon a broad spectrum that is hardly definitive. There exists in this case as well a large clouded middle between the two limiting labels. These are collections of thoughts about how to go about continuing life. These two paradigms in modern healthcare I hope will one-day come to know one another. For now let us say that in generally speaking there are two different approaches or models of medicine and they are allopathic and holistic. Allopathic is another term for our modern western medicine, which in the United States is the dominant one and the one most familiar to the masses. The other, the holistic model, also known as alternative, is commonly associated with older ideas that originated in the East.
Early Greek medicine was more of a divine matter. It was believed that the God Asclepius was the god of medicine. Priests would live at his temples and claimed they knew the ways of healing people. It was not until around 500 B.C., a Greek physician named Alcmaeon began to dissect animals to observe their skeleton, muscles, and brain. This was most probably the first ever to describe a phenomenon through objective observations. Through his observations, he believed that illness was due to an imbalance in the body. This idea prevailed for many centuries in the history of medicine.
Hippocrates, often called the “father of medicine” was one of the earliest contributors to modern science. He was called the father of medicine because through his medical school, he separated medical knowledge and practice from myth and superstition basing them instead of fact, observation, and clinical ...
Every year, approximately 230, 000 to 400. 00 deaths are caused by iatrogenic deaths ( in other words, these are deaths caused by wrong medical treatments). Two of the prominent yet some what contrasting types of medicine are, Ayurveda, the Indian traditional medicine, and Modern (aka western) medicine. Both of these have their own processes and methods of healing, which over the years have created their own followers. While Ayurveda addresses the root causes of the disease through identifying the imbalances in the elements, called “Doshas”, it also emphasizes on a spiritual lifestyle which for most people in today's world is a sea change. On the other hand, western medicine addresses the symptoms and provides instant albeit temporary relief for suffering. Needless to say there are more followers of the western medicine due to its immediate impact on subsiding the pain. Out of lack of awareness to the significance of traditional medicine, especially Ayurveda, many doctors and researchers are against the use of Ayurvedic and traditional medicines, which limits the potential of curing certain ailments of patients without additional side effects.
As the centuries unrolled and new civilizations appeared, cultural, artistic, and medical developments shifted toward the new centers of power. A reversal of the traditional search for botanical drugs occurred in Greece in the fourth century BC, when Hippocrates (estimated dates, 460-377 BC), the "Father of Medicine," became interested in inorganic salts as medications.
The Western Culture focuses on two methods of healing: chemically engineered compounds and surgical procedures. For instance, in the United States, individuals have the option of antidepressants with or without the aid of cognitive therapy(Selhub 2007) Most individuals choose the quick approach due to its alluring quick fix scheme. These contrasts different from the Eastern Culture’s main focus: the power of the mind and the energy from within: mind, body, and soul. The effects of Eastern Culture’s approach have been proven to be enduring and beneficial to the individuals involved. The Western Culture would greatly
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.