|
Medicine and Thought
1) The Mechanicist Model: this model
arises from the influence of the Cartesian paradigm on the biology and the
medicine of the XVIII century.
This model considers the human being as a machine which parts could be
independently analyzed; the illness is seen as the defective work of any
of these parts.
Body and mind are separated from each other without any relationship
medicine-psychology.
In this way, if the body is a perfect machine, like a watch, according to
Descartes, the illness is a breakdown and the doctor is a technician who
repairs it.
Even though the analytic Cartesian method has been a step forward in the
technological, biological and medical field, the fact that the progressive
analysis of the parts focuses in every time smaller fragments of the human
body has led modern medicine to disregard the patient, the human being
behind each illness and to lose the capacity of treating the healing
phenomenon of the patient.
The healing process can be applied to illnesses or wounds, but not to ill
people.
It would be interesting to see how this mechanicist model is impregnated
in all the areas of knowledge and life: ecology, political economy,
medicine, education, etc.
2) The Holistic Model: Simultaneously
with the persistence of the mechanicist approach in our culture and way of
thinking the reality, what it is globally understood as a HOLISTIC MODEL
appears or in fact reemerges. In medicine, it would mean that the human
organism is conceived as a living system with components related with each
other and interdependent.
Although live organisms behave and can be studied as a machine, that doesn’t
mean they are a machine.
In other words, the nature of a whole is always different from the
addition of the parts.
In modern terminology the HOLISTIC model is an ancient term. Also, as it
will be analyzed later on, homeopathy can be said to be holistic as long
as it is based on the Vitalism , a philosophical stream of occidental
thought.
From a wide perspective, Holism is also recognized to be part of other
bigger systems in which a continuous physical and social interaction takes
place. The current ecological approach about the planet or the systemic
psychology, among others, emerges from this interaction.
|
Rationalism
Mechanicist Model
Allopathy |
Empiricism
Holistic Model
Homeopathy
|
|
1- The organism is
divided into parts
|
1- The organism is
considered as a Whole |
|
2- Body and mind are
separated |
2- Body and mind are in
a Functional Unit: physical, emotional and mental aspects.
|
|
3- Humoral physiology |
3- Energetic physiology
|
|
4- Group of humors |
4- Animated by Vital
Force
|
|
5- The body is
considered as a machine in good or bad conditions |
5- The body is
considered as a dynamic system integrated into other systems (family,
social, etc.)
|
|
6- The illness is seen
as an “enemy” to be eliminated or suppressed.
|
6- The illness is seen
as a “process” in which the individual asks for help
|
|
7- Self-healing capacity
is not taken into account |
7- Self-healing or
defensive capacity is promoted
|
|
8- Treats the symptoms
to eliminate or suppress them |
8- Treats the symptoms
as defense mechanisms or guides
|
|
9- “Standard” treatment |
9- Individual treatment
|
|
10- Everybody suffers in
the same way |
10- Each person
expresses him/herself according to their particular characteristics |
|
11- Emphasis laid on the
diagnosis of the illness
|
11- Emphasis laid on the
diagnosis of the sick person
|
|
12- Treatment with
medicines opposite to the process
|
12- Treatment with
medicines similar to the process and the person
|
|
13- The treatment relies
on medicines or surgery |
13- the treatment
contemplates other options besides medicines (psychotherapy,
complementary therapies, etc)
|
|
14- The diagnosis relies
on objective tests such as analysis, radiographies, etc. |
14- It also includes the
reacting modality, that is to say the subjectivity
|
|
15- The patient depends
on the doctor and subordinates to him |
15- The patient is
involved in the healing process and tries to take care of his own
health
|
|
16- Prevention depends
on what the doctor prescribes or decides to do |
16- The patient commits
him/herself as they know health is conquered day after day |
Etymologically speaking the
word “Homeopathy” comes from the Greek language:
Homios= Alike/Similar Pathos = Illness
Homeo–pathy= Alike/similar illness
|
