The year 2010 means the end of the Millennium's "Noughties".
The past decade has brought about many changes to the lifestyles of people throughout the world, including how they view medical treatment.
So it's no wonder the Millennium has become an era of alternative medicine, where holistic treatment has gained the upper hand over conventional treatment.
In 2000, there was a study comparing alternative treatment and conventional treatment. The researcher asked people which they chose first when they got sick and how much they paid for their treatment.
It was revealed people opted for alternative medicine three times more than conventional medicine, while the expense of conventional medicines was 10 times higher than that of alternatives.
Why do people choose alternative medicine? The answer lies in its nature.
We can compare the characteristics of both medicines as follows:
1. Alternative medicines originated from people, for people, aimed at people helping each other. Conventional medicines are mostly business orientated.
2. The principal idea of alternative medicines is self-healing. What an alternative doctor does is helping patients correct internal and external factors for self-healing. Conventional doctors, however, have never realised the power of self-healing and believe in human intervention. Therefore, drugs are the powerful weapons of conventional medicines.
3. Alternative medicines stress self-reliance. Therefore, along the way to healing, people should change their lifestyle and eating habits. It is the medicine of independence, whereas the conventional medicines are those of dependence. With conventional medicine, people rely totally on hospitals and drugs all their lives.
4. Because alternative medicines stress change, doctors work on guiding people towards their health "destination". Doctor-patient relationships are like a brotherhood. Conventional medicine, however, is something indoctrinated by research, mostly backed by drug companies. Therefore conventional doctors are commanders on the war against diseases. A conventional doctor acts like God in a white gown. He is the one who determines life or death for patients.
5. Because we are composed of body and mind, self-healing needs the adjustment of both, the mind is the master who controls the body. Therefore, alternative medicines consider that mind power plays the major role. It makes up more than 50% in the healing process. If we enhance the patient's mind power, spontaneous healing may occur occasionally. Conventional medicines put a very low value on mind power. The highest role of the mind in conventional medicines is just a supportive factor in the area of psychiatry.
6. Alternative medicine came about through one of the following ways:
- From the folk medicines in communities such as Traditional Medicine in China, Ayuravidics of Indian people, Thai Traditional Medicine of Siam people, American Indian medicines utilising crystals, smoke and feathers.
- From some psychic practices of religious or non-religious communities such as yoga, Qigong, Taichi, Reiki, praying therapy, urine therapy etc.
- From the lateral thinking of conventional doctors who turn their interest towards more natural methods of healing such as Dr Samual Hahnemann, Dr Sagen Ishizuka, Dr Henry S Tanner, Dr Dean Ornich and so on.
The development path of alternative medicine is from practice to theory, whereas conventional medicines develop from theory to practice.
By considering the framework of alternative medicine, we can conclude that the main principal or philosophy is treatment without drugs.
To practice alternative medicine, a doctor should ask whether or not he believes in the philosophy of treatment without drugs. This is the key contradiction to the conventional doctors who attach themselves to drugs unconditionally.
During my time as a conventional medical student, we had a saying: "It would be better to be a dog than a doctor without drugs."
Such a remark embodies the difference between conventional and alternative medicines.
Nevertheless, as time passed, the popularity of alternative medicines in the last decade has deviated from the originas ethos. Such deviations are caused by the following factors:
1. The spread of consumerism makes people cling to their belief that money can buy anything from beauty and youth to cleanliness (detoxification). People don't want to change their lifestyle but prefer a short cut to being healthy - quick, abrupt change, no patience and no sweating.
2. The practitioners themselves have no experience on self-healing, hence they have no faith in natural power. They don't like the hard work of changing a patient's lifestyle. They tend to utilise easier ways, a short cut to healing for their clients.
3. Globalisation has created an era of competition in beauty and anti-aging business orientated firms. Therefore, the territory of alternative medicines is being flooded with vitamins and supplements, detoxifying agents and instruments, modernised psychic detectors and aura rechargers. The health-orientated person is less reliant on himself and turns to alternative doctors who encourage the use of vitamin supplements and technological devices, rather than helping people to change their lifestyle. It's a sad fact that some detoxifying agents or devices haven't been proven for their effectiveness. Some are fake and some are over emphasised.
To summarise, even though the gate-way of alternative medicines has been opened, consumerism has abused both doctors and consumers. They are not as connected to nature as their predecessors who laid the foundations of natural medicines. While they have switched from chemical drugs to vitamins and psychic instruments, they are still on the path of dependency medicines.
This is a great deviation from the philosophy of alternative medicines.
If you are health-orientated or an alternative medicines practitioner, please ask yourselves the most important question. Do you believe in natural healing and the treatment without drugs?
If the answer is yes, then we are companions on the road to alternative medicines.
Alternative health care is indeed gaining popularity nowadays. Should you choose this path, you must have a firm belief in its methods and faith that you are capable of self-healing. Also, choose your alternative healer wisely.
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