Medical Profession Ignores Mind Body Connection
In recent years it has become more accepted that there is a direct and 'unbreakable' connection between our minds and what occurs in our bodies.
However the separateness of the mind and body has a long history and still has a strong hold over our understanding of biology and how modern 'scientific medicine' is practiced.
What has been called the Cartesian view of nature places a division between the mind and physical matter (the Cartesian view was named after mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes).
This division has lead to the view of nature and therefore the human body as a mechanical system consisting of separate objects.
These objects have in turn been reduced to fundamental material building blocks and these were thought to completely determine all that happens in nature.
This fundamental view of the world is still the basis of most of our sciences and continues to have a strong hold over the many aspects of our life including most medical practices.
The belief in the certainty of scientific knowledge lies at the very basis of Cartesian thinking and it is in this certainty that the thinking has gone wrong.
Modern science has shown us that there are no absolute 'truths/facts' and that all of our ideas and 'facts' or 'truths' are limited and approximate representations.
However, belief in scientific truth is still widely held.
Many people, scientist and non-scientists are still convinced that scientific method is the only valid way of understanding nature.
Descartes view of nature can still be very useful today - but only if their limitations are recognised.
Cartesian certainty has played an important role in modern medicine's separation of the mind and body.
The separation has been useful and allowed many developments but it has also led to an imbalance in thinking and approach to the problems that are encountered in health.
The rise of modern medicine began in the nineteenth century with the advances in biology - this led to the postulation that all illness involved structural changes at the cellular level.
This approach was added to by the germ theory of disease following Pasteur's discovery of micro-organisms.
Thus we had the rise of the idea that there is a specific cause of a disease and DNA explorations are the latest endeavors in finding a specific cause.
This has led modern medicine down the path of finding the specific reason for a disease and when that specific cause is found then a specific response, often in the form of a vaccination or pharmaceutical drug is used to deal with the disease.
The advances in biology during the nineteenth century were accompanied by the rise of technology - new tools for diagnoses were invented.
The idea that the body can be equated to a machine is also responsible for the rise of modern surgery - with its removal and replacement of a part approach.
Pathologies were located, diagnosed and labeled according to a definite system of classification - the emphasis gradually went from the person to the disease.
The emphasis in modern medicine on finding the specific cellular or microbiological cause means that the multiple factors involved in a person's health and illness are neglected.
As well as ignoring the other multiple reasons involved in illness development the absolute belief in scientific medicine has led to many medical disasters and the current crisis that is being experienced in health care.
Some of the medical disasters include the use of · Pharmaceutical drugs - virtually all have potentially serious side effects some classic examples are: o Thalidomide - given as a sedative to pregnant women and this causing limb malformation in the fetus.
o Diethylstilbestrol - given to prevent threatened miscarriages.
The daughters of these women are developing vaginal cancers when they are in their twenties.
o More recently statins used for lowering cholesterol are associated with many health problems.
o Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs often used for arthritis and other inflammatory conditions are also causing many health problems.
· Oxygen therapy - this was given to premature newborn babies and cause blindness.
· Vaccinations - during the 1950s doses of monkey virus contaminated polio vaccines were administered to thousands of children.
The monkey virus causes cancer - the outworking of this medical intervention is still being experienced.
· The development of multi-resistant strains of bacteria because of the indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
These are just a few examples - there are many, many more! Doctor caused illness is so common that it has its own label - iatrogenesis.
A part of the tragedy is that many of the condition or circumstances that the medical profession was attempting to deal with, such as polio, could have been tackled from another direction.
In the case of polio for example - improved public health and sanitation measures.
The Cartesian way of thinking has also influenced the way that health care is practiced.
The separation of the mind and body has meant that the physicians are concerned with the treatment of the body and the psychiatrists and psychologists with the mind.
This separation has been a severe handicap to understanding most major diseases.
It has meant that there has been limited research on the roles of stress and the emotional states in the development of disease.
A person's thoughts and feeling are not only relevant to the development of disease but they are crucial to the process of healing.
Our thoughts and feelings influence the function of the body primarily via the nervous, circulatory and immune systems.
There is growing evidence demonstrating how the interactions between the mind, the nervous system and the immune system can have an impact on our health and disease.
The mind can be used to heal the body.
There is a great deal of work that demonstrated the connectedness of the mind and the body but this understanding rarely enters into the way that much modern medicine is practiced.
Even though stress has recently been recognised as significant source of a wide range of illnesses it still receives little attention from the medical profession - even though it has been estimated that between 60 - 90% of visits to physicians are for stress related complaints.
Although there is a great deal of evidence demonstrating that the mind and the body are connected and that one influences that other, the medical profession largely ignores this evidence.
One of the main reasons behind the medical professions lack of attention to the connection between the mind and the body is due to the history associated with the rise of modern medicine.
The beliefs that lead to the development of medicine as it is still practiced are held strongly - even though these beliefs have led to many medical disasters.
Approaches that take full account of more than just the body and are able to see influences associated with the mind (as well as the larger external and internal environment) need to be adopted.
However the separateness of the mind and body has a long history and still has a strong hold over our understanding of biology and how modern 'scientific medicine' is practiced.
What has been called the Cartesian view of nature places a division between the mind and physical matter (the Cartesian view was named after mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes).
This division has lead to the view of nature and therefore the human body as a mechanical system consisting of separate objects.
These objects have in turn been reduced to fundamental material building blocks and these were thought to completely determine all that happens in nature.
This fundamental view of the world is still the basis of most of our sciences and continues to have a strong hold over the many aspects of our life including most medical practices.
The belief in the certainty of scientific knowledge lies at the very basis of Cartesian thinking and it is in this certainty that the thinking has gone wrong.
Modern science has shown us that there are no absolute 'truths/facts' and that all of our ideas and 'facts' or 'truths' are limited and approximate representations.
However, belief in scientific truth is still widely held.
Many people, scientist and non-scientists are still convinced that scientific method is the only valid way of understanding nature.
Descartes view of nature can still be very useful today - but only if their limitations are recognised.
Cartesian certainty has played an important role in modern medicine's separation of the mind and body.
The separation has been useful and allowed many developments but it has also led to an imbalance in thinking and approach to the problems that are encountered in health.
The rise of modern medicine began in the nineteenth century with the advances in biology - this led to the postulation that all illness involved structural changes at the cellular level.
This approach was added to by the germ theory of disease following Pasteur's discovery of micro-organisms.
Thus we had the rise of the idea that there is a specific cause of a disease and DNA explorations are the latest endeavors in finding a specific cause.
This has led modern medicine down the path of finding the specific reason for a disease and when that specific cause is found then a specific response, often in the form of a vaccination or pharmaceutical drug is used to deal with the disease.
The advances in biology during the nineteenth century were accompanied by the rise of technology - new tools for diagnoses were invented.
The idea that the body can be equated to a machine is also responsible for the rise of modern surgery - with its removal and replacement of a part approach.
Pathologies were located, diagnosed and labeled according to a definite system of classification - the emphasis gradually went from the person to the disease.
The emphasis in modern medicine on finding the specific cellular or microbiological cause means that the multiple factors involved in a person's health and illness are neglected.
As well as ignoring the other multiple reasons involved in illness development the absolute belief in scientific medicine has led to many medical disasters and the current crisis that is being experienced in health care.
Some of the medical disasters include the use of · Pharmaceutical drugs - virtually all have potentially serious side effects some classic examples are: o Thalidomide - given as a sedative to pregnant women and this causing limb malformation in the fetus.
o Diethylstilbestrol - given to prevent threatened miscarriages.
The daughters of these women are developing vaginal cancers when they are in their twenties.
o More recently statins used for lowering cholesterol are associated with many health problems.
o Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs often used for arthritis and other inflammatory conditions are also causing many health problems.
· Oxygen therapy - this was given to premature newborn babies and cause blindness.
· Vaccinations - during the 1950s doses of monkey virus contaminated polio vaccines were administered to thousands of children.
The monkey virus causes cancer - the outworking of this medical intervention is still being experienced.
· The development of multi-resistant strains of bacteria because of the indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
These are just a few examples - there are many, many more! Doctor caused illness is so common that it has its own label - iatrogenesis.
A part of the tragedy is that many of the condition or circumstances that the medical profession was attempting to deal with, such as polio, could have been tackled from another direction.
In the case of polio for example - improved public health and sanitation measures.
The Cartesian way of thinking has also influenced the way that health care is practiced.
The separation of the mind and body has meant that the physicians are concerned with the treatment of the body and the psychiatrists and psychologists with the mind.
This separation has been a severe handicap to understanding most major diseases.
It has meant that there has been limited research on the roles of stress and the emotional states in the development of disease.
A person's thoughts and feeling are not only relevant to the development of disease but they are crucial to the process of healing.
Our thoughts and feelings influence the function of the body primarily via the nervous, circulatory and immune systems.
There is growing evidence demonstrating how the interactions between the mind, the nervous system and the immune system can have an impact on our health and disease.
The mind can be used to heal the body.
There is a great deal of work that demonstrated the connectedness of the mind and the body but this understanding rarely enters into the way that much modern medicine is practiced.
Even though stress has recently been recognised as significant source of a wide range of illnesses it still receives little attention from the medical profession - even though it has been estimated that between 60 - 90% of visits to physicians are for stress related complaints.
Although there is a great deal of evidence demonstrating that the mind and the body are connected and that one influences that other, the medical profession largely ignores this evidence.
One of the main reasons behind the medical professions lack of attention to the connection between the mind and the body is due to the history associated with the rise of modern medicine.
The beliefs that lead to the development of medicine as it is still practiced are held strongly - even though these beliefs have led to many medical disasters.
Approaches that take full account of more than just the body and are able to see influences associated with the mind (as well as the larger external and internal environment) need to be adopted.
