Leaving the Medical Model
By Baris Karaduman
Changing paradigms is actually something we do everyday. When we leave home and go to work, we mentally shift gears from our household rules to our work-setting rules. We ac-cept, and quite naturally, that different settings have different structures, where a change in approach applies.
Working with alternative therapies is no different. Traversing from one theory to an-other is just like “switching hats,” something most health professionals know how to do quite well. Another example is shifting from one language to another; for example, from English to Spanish. Both say the same thing, but in different ways, and filtered through the culture of the mother tongue.
Perhaps the easiest way to reconcile the notion of alternative therapies and alternative perspectives is to use Venn diagrams as presented in the illustration.
The human body existed before allopathic medicine began. Allopathic medicine has made tremendous strides in explaining and manipulating the body’s function, yet there is far more to know. The large circle symbolizes the body and all there is to know. The some-what smaller circle symbolizes what we currently know in a mainstream medical frame-work. Given the current perspective of allopathic medicine, it is likely that all there is to know cannot be reached, as some aspects of its function lie outside of current theory. Cur-rent theory and knowledge therefore must expand.
Alternative medicine approaches the body from different theoretical perspectives. It is likely that it too has gleaned some understanding of the body. Some of its understanding intersects with the allopathic perspective and some lies outside of the bounds of allopathic theory. Some of this perspective is entirely outside the bounds of mainstream medicine, with no reconcilable bridge.
These are all subsets of the whole. Combining differing perspectives allow the whole to be perceived when one perspective alone cannot. Trying to explain the entire human body according to one theory is like attempting to explain particle physics by Newtonian me-chanics. The nature of particle probabilities simply requires a different viewpoint because the behavior of real life exceeds the capabilities of one theory alone. In the same way, com-bining multiple health perspectives maximizes the opportunity to discern the problem and work towards its solution. A complementary medical approach has more to offer than either allopathic or alternative approaches alone. Physicists accept multiple theories. Psycholo-gists work commonly with different theories. Why can’t we?
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