Integrative Medicine - Holistic Medicine - Medicine of the 3rd Millennium

By Uriel Franz

Discover the universe of Integrative Medicine and how it will revolutionize the approach to health. In this book we explore this discipline that unites the excellence of medical science with holistic practices and ancient knowledge. It is a comprehensive guide for health professionals and those interested in the integration of traditional methods and ancient wisdom. By delving into the principles, evidence and applications of integrative medicine, we also uncover the trends and challenges that will shape the future of this expanding field.

The book offers not only theoretical knowledge, but also practical tips and strategies for incorporating integrative medicine into everyday life. Whether it's improving quality of life, preventing illness or promoting well-being, this book is a reliable compass for those seeking an integral and personalized approach to health. Ideal for health professionals involved in the growing demand for integration between contemporary methods and ancient wisdom, the book is an invitation to personal transformation and a deeper understanding of the healing potential that lies in the convergence of science and spirituality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AHZURIA PUBLISHING
• Release date: Nov 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223442646

Book preview

Chapter 01

Integrative Medicine

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Modern medicine has made remarkable advances in recent decades, especially in the treatment of acute illnesses and emergencies. However, there is a lack of effective management of chronic conditions, the prevalence of which only increases with the ageing of the population.

Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety and many types of cancer have been a challenge for both health systems and the patients who live with them. Despite technological resources, the incidence of these diseases continues to rise.

In addition to their high prevalence, the direct and indirect costs related to these chronic conditions are astronomical and are likely to increase substantially over the coming decades if nothing is done to change this situation.

This situation shows that, in order to deal with the current epidemiological profile of populations, a paradigm shift in health care is needed. This is where the so-called Integrative Medicine comes in.

In simplified terms, we can define integrative medicine as an approach that incorporates both the resources of conventional medicine and those of other medical traditions, seeking the best of each system.

The concept of integrative medicine has been gaining momentum in academic circles and arousing greater interest among researchers and health professionals around the world. There are even centers exclusively dedicated to integrative medicine at renowned universities such as Harvard and Stanford.

But why is this hybrid approach between different medical systems so promising for improving health care and, especially, dealing with chronic diseases?

To understand the roots of this movement towards a more integrative medicine, we need to go back a little in time and understand how the separation between medicine, spirituality and philosophy took place historically.

In ancient civilizations, there was no clear distinction between physical healing, mental/emotional health and personal beliefs about life. In ancient Greece, for example, people went to temples in search of healing and spiritual guidance, as well as to the Hippocratic doctors.

Similarly, in the Eastern world, traditional Chinese medicine and Indian Ayurveda were inseparable from the philosophical principles and cosmology of each culture. There was no specialization into body and mind, which is so common in modern biomedicine.

It wasn't until the Enlightenment and the emergence of the modern scientific method that Western medicine moved away from this more comprehensive view of the human being and began to focus mainly on physical and biomedical aspects.

So-called reason came to be considered superior to subjective experience or intuitive wisdom. As a result, ancient traditions such as traditional Chinese medicine, shamanism and ayurveda came to be viewed with skepticism and even disdain by the researchers of the time.

The undeniable advances of biomedicine in interventions such as antibiotics, vaccines and surgical procedures ended up establishing its status as the dominant medicinal system, widely adopted in the West. However, in recent decades, we have also begun to see its limitations.

Exacerbated specialization and an almost exclusive focus on physical symptoms have proved insufficient to deal with the complex interaction between body, psyche and environment.

As the doctor Andrew Weil, one of the pioneers of integrative medicine, says, medical professionals have been trained to diagnose and treat disease, not to promote health. This view is very symptomatic of an approach that has lost the connection between physical body, mind and general well-being.

Fortunately, in recent decades, this view has been changing as patients and some professionals have started to look for more holistic options that treat the person as a whole. Concepts such as well-being, quality of life, self-care and preventive medicine have come into vogue.

It is in this context that integrative medicine has emerged, not as a substitute for biomedicine, but as an ally. It revives ancestral traditions of care while also incorporating modern technologies and scientific discoveries, always from a humanistic perspective.

An important milestone in this movement was the founding, in 1991, of The Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in the United States. At the head of the center was the aforementioned Dr. Andrew Weil, author of several bestsellers on the subject.

Another pioneering institution was the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, founded in 1999, which brings together more than 50 renowned universities and medical centers with programs dedicated to integrative medicine.

Currently, according to American studies, more than 60 medical schools have already incorporated some content on integrative and complementary practices into their curricula, a sign that interest in the subject is only growing.

But what really differentiates this new (in fact, ancient) approach from conventional medicine? What are its main characteristics? That's what we're going to talk about in more detail now.

One of the foundations of integrative medicine is the understanding of the deep interconnection between body, mind and emotions. According to this view, it is not possible to treat the body as a machine separate from our subjectivity, personal beliefs and psyche.

Hence the term holistic, which is often used in this context. It refers to this attention to the whole person and not to a fragmented set of disconnected organs and systems.

Another important pillar is the focus on health and vitality, not just the treatment of illness. As we've mentioned, Western medicine was mainly designed to deal with acute and emergency conditions. In integrative medicine, the idea is to add life to years, not just years to life. Therefore, it seeks to empower people to take more care of themselves, adopting positive habits that keep them healthy.

In practice, this means that as well as treating any illnesses, patients are also educated about the right diet for them, personalized exercise, stress management and connecting with themselves through nature or meditation, for example.

In general terms, integrative medicine practitioners follow the following process:

First, they listen carefully to the patient, seeking to understand their medical history and also their broader psychosocial context.

Then they develop a personalized plan combining the most diverse approaches: pharmacological therapies, surgical procedures, nutritional supplementation, herbal medicine, meditation, yoga, among many others.

Finally, they monitor the patient's progress not as a passive agent, but as an active participant in their journey towards healing and well-being.

We therefore realize that the focus is not on confronting or excluding this or that medical system, but on extracting the best that each tradition has to offer in terms of caring for human beings.

The essence of integrative medicine is, in Dr. Weil's words, to use all appropriate approaches, focusing on the most effective, safe and economical treatments for each patient.

It is also important to note that integrative health professionals do not deny the benefits of conventional high-tech medicine when it is really necessary and effective. What they are looking to do is broaden their perspective and therapeutic options to also include methods that have been proven to be beneficial, even though they are overlooked by the biomedical mainstream. We'll talk more about this later.

First, however, it should be made clear that integrative medicine should not be confused with quackery or pseudo-scientific practices that sometimes try to ride the wave of the holistic market.

Unlike these profiteers, integrative doctors are highly qualified professionals who rely on scientific rigor to discern what works and what doesn't. That's why when we talk about integrating different types of medicine, we're talking about integrative medicine.

That's why, when we talk about integrating various therapeutic resources, we're only referring to those that have been proven to be effective through well-conducted clinical studies. This is not a carte blanche to adopt any fad without evidence behind it.

Having said that, we can mention among the integrative resources most studied and applied today: acupuncture, herbal medicine, hypnotherapy, mind-body therapies such as meditation and yoga, homeopathy, anthroposophic medicine and many others.

Increasingly, these therapies are gaining ground alongside standard pharmacological and surgical treatments. In the United States, numerous renowned hospitals and clinics already offer them.

It's interesting to note that many of the so-called alternatives actually have a very long history and have only been neglected over the last 100 or 200 years by the supremacy of the biomedical model.

Homeopathy, for example, was founded by Samuel Hahnemann almost three centuries ago. Acupuncture and the medicinal use of plants go back thousands of years in China, India and other regions.

So, to a large extent, what integrative medicine proposes is to rescue what already existed, uniting the ancient and the modern. For this reason, it is often referred to as biomedical medicine: the best of both worlds.

In the case of phytotherapy, for example, the active principles of a plant are extracted to produce a standardized medicine, but of natural origin. This takes advantage of all the popular knowledge accumulated over centuries.

Meditation, on the other hand, although practiced for millennia by Eastern monks, is now studied using the most advanced imaging and brain monitoring technologies, revealing its profound (and proven) health benefits.

This marriage between the traditional and the avant-garde is extremely promising and has prompted a great deal of research. In recent years alone, dozens of systematic reviews and meta-analyses have corroborated the effects of so-called Integrative and Complementary Practices (ICPs) on various chronic diseases. Among the most notable findings are the modulation of pain and inflammation through acupuncture, the antimicrobial action of various Amazonian herbs; the role of mindfulness meditation in controlling refractory cases of migraine; the effectiveness of yoga and Tai Chi in improving symptoms in fibromyalgia, to name but a few.

In addition to the measurable clinical benefits, the potential of ICPs to prevent disease, increase longevity and promote general well-being is undeniable. And that's without the side effects common with prolonged use of drugs.

For all these reasons, many researchers believe that the medicine of the future will be increasingly integrative, bringing together high technology, natural therapies, mind-body approaches and the best of ancient wisdom.

This prospect is extremely encouraging in an era of alarming increases in the so-called diseases of modern civilization. Preventive measures and greater self-care will be crucial to reversing the situation.

Fortunately, as we have seen, there is increasing interest from universities, governments and health organizations in studying and applying this model. In the US, for example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) now funds a lot of research into ICPs through the NCCIH.

In Brazil, too, there are already public policies encouraging Integrative Practices in the SUS, as well as a growing awareness on the part of professionals of the limits of the current biomedical model.

Therefore, we can conclude that integrative medicine is not just another New Age fad, but a solid movement based on both scientific evidence and the search for a more humanized approach to health care.

In the following sections we will explore in more detail some of the main integrative therapies available, their proven mechanisms of action and how we can enjoy their benefits.

For now, I hope you've been able to understand the conceptual, historical and philosophical basis behind this hybrid yet ancient perspective on medicine.

In a nutshell, the essence of integrative medicine is to use the best of seemingly disparate worlds: uniting high technology and ancient wisdom; uniting acute intervention and prevention; uniting body and mind.

This holistic approach, which considers all dimensions of the human experience, has enormous potential for dealing with today's global health challenges. It is no