Medicine Interactions

Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative Therapies

JUST AS MAINSTREAM medicine has fairly consistent approach to the disease, the fact al-ternative medicine. The most widely used in alternative medicine are the six principles of naturopathic medicine. In one form or another, these principles should be revised again and again throughout the second section of this text. The following principles are described by Dr. Catherine Downey and extract from his chapter on naturopathic medicine.

1. The healing power of nature (Vis medicatix naturae)

The body has the inherent ability to establish, maintain and restore health. The healing process is ordered and intelligent: the nature heals through the response of the life force. The physician's role is to facilitate and enhance this process, to act to identify and eliminate barriers to health and recovery, and help create a healthy internal and external. In short, allow your body the right tools and heal.

2. Treat the whole person (the multifactorial nature of health and illness)

Health and disease are conditions of the whole organism, involving a complex interaction of physical, spiritual, mental factors, emotional, genetic, environmental and social. The physician must treat the whole person by taking all these factors into account. The harmonious functioning of all aspects of the person is crucial to recovery and prevention of disease and requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment.

3. First Do No Harm (Primum non nocere)

The disease is a deliberate process of the body. The process of healing includes the generation of symptoms, which are, in fact, an expression of the life force attempting to heal itself. therapeutic actions should be complementary and synergistic with this healing process. The physician's actions can support or oppose the action of the screw naturae mediator, so the methods to suppress symptoms without removing underlying causes are considered harmful and are avoided or minimized. therapeutic actions are applied in an orderly manner congruent with the internal order of the body.

4. Identify and treat the cause (Tolle causam)

The disease does not occur without cause. Underlying causes of disease must be discovered and removed or treated before a person can recover completely from illness. Symptoms are expressions of the attempt to heal the body, but they are not the cause of the disease, naturopathic medicine addresses so quickly on the root causes of disease rather than symptoms. Causes may occur on many levels, including physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. The physician must evaluate fundamental underlying causes on all levels, directing treatment at issue rather than the symptomatic expression.

5. Prevention (Prevention is the best "cure")

The ultimate goal of naturopathic medicine is prevention. This is accomplished through education and promotion of healthy lifestyle habits that create good health. The physician assesses risk factors and hereditary susceptibility to disease and makes appropriate interventions to prevent new dangers and risks to the patient. The focus is on improving health rather than on the fight against the disease. Because it is difficult to be healthy in an unhealthy world, it is the responsibility of both doctor and patient to create a healthier environment in which to live.

6. The medical education (Docere)

Beyond an accurate diagnosis and appropriate prescription, the physician must strive to create a significant health problem, the interpersonal relationship with the patient. A cooperative relationship doctor-patient relationship is inherent therapeutic value. The role of a doctor is.