6 Reasons to Choose Alternative Medicine – Part 6

6. Alternative medicine came about through one of the following ways:

- From the folk medicines in communities such as Traditional Medicine in China, Ayuravedics 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.  Let me repeat this sentence in bold type.  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.