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.

Conclusion
In my opinion, a holistic approach is better in almost every case for almost
every person. Understanding the linkages between mind, body and spirit is
essential to understanding how to stay well and how to heal. Western
medicine can play a part within the scope of holistic health by offering
emergency solutions to problems that arise quickly and need to be fixed
immediately.
Humans have existed for millions of years without hospitals, doctors and
their drugs which proved that our continued existence does not depend on
any medical system at all. Mother nature have provided all our needs since
the beginning of time to present. Nature is the book of God written in a
language that is accessible to every humans regardless of race, place or
beliefs and it is from where humans started to learn the basics of living and
surviving. Earth is the university of life and it is in this place that we will learn
to uncover the secrets of the human body and discover the innate powers
within us to use in our life journey. We are spiritual entities in flesh and blood
and not physical entity with spirit. To be able to use all the powers given to
us we must discover first who we really are and what we are given.
The Supreme Creator had provided everything we need to survive in this
planet and we need to trust Him that He did not forget anything not even the
least of things that we need. Everything is already given but we need to
learn how to get it, we need to know how knock so the door will open and we
need to learn how to ask to be given. Life is a continues learning process,
lessons are given one after another in the ladder of progress. The only
permanent thing in life is change.

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.