All About Holistic Medicines and Treatments

In modern times there is a trend towards holistic studies. There is a general disillusionment among intellectual circles all over the world with the Cartesian and Newtonian models of the world and their corresponding attitude towards life.

The change in thinking began with the startling discoveries of modern sub-atomic physics. It became disillusionment as people began realizing the disastrous results of our ruthless exploitation of nature, which has now brought us near to the verge of ecological holocaust. Scientists, philosophers, and thinkers every where are searching for a new philosophy and a new way of life more wholesome and healthy.

This probing and exploring has given rise to holistic sciences-holistic psychology, holistic medicine, biology and others. The 'study of parts' as in the traditional classical sciences has proved inadequate for explaining integrated systems as a whole, and although compartmentalized studies are useful, they have to be complemented with another type of study which takes into consideration the integrated totality. In short, this is the attitude of the modern advocates of holistic sciences.

Modern western medicine too, is based upon the Cartesian subject-object dichotomy. Allopathic medicine studies the human being as a physical body made up of organs and cells. Thus to a doctor, the body appears something like a machine made up of cells, organs, joints, and muscles, which function due to electro-magnetic and chemical reactions. The great and astounding advances in medicine, especially in medical technology, have taken place solely because of this mechanistic conceptualization of the human body. Unfortunately, however, the great successes and advances have strengthened the attachment of medical men to their present ways of thinking and doing things and their approaches towards their patients is becoming more and more technical rather than humane.

Man is not merely a body, or a conglomeration of cells, flesh, bones and blood. He also has a mind with complex emotions and thoughts. And he is a social being as well. Unless medical science takes into consideration of all these aspects and treats the whole human being - and not merely the human machine - it cannot be considered complete. In an attempt to obtain a holistic, complete system of medicine, in recent times there has been great interest and quest into various ancient systems of medicine like Ayurveda, the principles of Homoeopathy, Naturopathy, Chinese systems of medicine etc.

Understandably, medical philosophers have shown interest even in primitive methods of healing, prevalent among the tribal people and aborigines. Faith healing and the role of religion in physical too have come under the searchlight of modern researchers.