Alternative medicine is experiencing a much-deserved revival in American society.
The medical profession and patients alike are pursuing a holistic approach towards a .
healthier lifestyle, incorporating alternative practices with traditional medicine.
From the early 1900's on, medical practice shifted gradually away from humanistically.
oriented and integrative principles. Fifty years ago, infectious disease was the major cause of .
death. The medical profession evolved its present methods to combat the situation. Since then, .
infectious disease is controlled and epidemics basically eliminated; the main problem.
now is chronic diseases. Health policies and strategies ask whether we can tolerate further.
fragmentation of body from mind, whether we do not need human care more than mindless .
equipment, inorganic chemicals, and treatment modeled on the production line. With such .
diverse yet interrelated causes, only an integrative approach will be of any use; an approach.
which focuses on how we live, eat, and work. The current medical model does not educate the.
patient or encourage him to seek responsibility in promoting well-being. Its reliance on drugs.
and machines undercut the patient's motivation and opportunity to that responsibility.
The most effective healing system known, that present in the human body, is by-passed, and is .
the chance for the client to work toward his own health. Integrated health thinking recognizes .
that an individual is more than the sum of his organs, limbs, or internal systems; that illness is .
more than an invasive attack by a specifically identified agent, it is more than alternative and.
traditional practices combined; and that treatment is more than localized relief of symptoms or .
the palliative action of drugs. If improved health in society is the objective, new approaches .
must be developed. A new medicine is emerging, one which takes a broader approach to health.