What is the difference between conventional and natural medicine? A whole world of philosophy and outlook.
Conventional Medicine
* Emphasizes diagnosis and treatment.
* Views the mind and body as separate, with little effect on each other.
* Views the body as essentially a machine with disease resulting when parts break.
* Views medicine as a military campaign. Seeks better weapons” to "combat" disease.
* Views the body as the passive recipient of treatments that "fix" it.
* Patients obey doctors' orders.
* Primary treatments include pharmaceuticals, surgery and radiation.
* Focuses on disease.
* Focuses on pain.
* Focuses on suffering, the human experience of pain.
Natural Medicine
* Emphasizes disease prevention.
* Views the mind and body as one, the "body-mind." Anything that affects one affects the other.
* Views the body as a living microcosm of the universe, with disease resulting when forces that act on it become unbalanced.
* Views medicine as an effort to restore mind/body harmony.
* Views the body as capable of self-repair and administers treatments to support self-healing.
* Individuals take an active role in their healing.
* Primary treatments include diet, exercise, stress management, social support and herbal medicines.
* Focuses on illness, the human experience of disease.
* Focuses on suffering, the human experience of pain.
* Goal is healing, the individual’s experience of physical, mental and spiritual wholeness.
From the book: Nature’s Cures by Michael Castleman
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