Paradigms Of Health Care Essay Research Paper

Paradigms Of Health Care Essay, Research Paper

Openings:

In this paper I will be discussing the two most prevalent models of health. These two models of health are not, of course, total opposites. Similar to terms such as gay and straight they are two definitive labels placed upon a broad spectrum that is hardly definitive. There exists in this case as well a large clouded middle between the two limiting labels. These are collections of thoughts about how to go about continuing life. These two paradigms in modern healthcare I hope will one-day come to know one another. For now let us say that in generally speaking there are two different approaches or models of medicine and they are allopathic and holistic. Allopathic is another term for our modern western medicine, which in the United States is the dominant one and the one most familiar to the masses. The other, the holistic model, also known as alternative, is commonly associated with older ideas that originated in the East.

Allopathic and Holistic:

This first paradigm of thinking when it comes to medicine is the modern-day allopathic approach. This model of care has behind it an idea that there is a separation between the body and mind. The mind is seen as secondary to the body. Illnesses that are seen as psychosomatic are to be fixed in the mind and perhaps the patient would even be referred to a psychiatrist. The training of a medical doctor in this approach rests primarily on looking to quantitative information like research and charts. It does not matter who the observer is the same results should be achieved. This approach views the other as being outdated and sometimes even uncivilized.

The second paradigm of thinking, the holistic model believes that there is a connection not only between the body and mind but also the soul something not often considered in the allopathic ideal. The mind is either primary or at least as equal to the body in respect to importance. The idea of bodymind as it is called is something to be considered by all health care professionals. Information is based on qualitative information from the patient and from the professional’s own intuition, quantitative data is an adjunct. This approach to medicine sees the allopathic approach as one that is too limiting.

In the allopathic model, when it comes to examining the patient the physician, the allopath, looks mainly for symptoms. The allopath is taught to look for specifics; something that could be labeled and classified. If a patent were to go a doctor who is a General Practitioner of Medicine (GP), he or she, would most likely make a routine check of the individual’s vital signs to start to see if there were any evidence of what could be deemed illness. If there were not any to be found then the doctor would most likely investigate further. The holistic practitioner also would examine the vital signs of the individual but would also try to see patterns in the individuals general health and to note them.

Many of the differences in ideas are caused simply by the difference in the cultures from which they sprang. Our society is founded on capitalism and is incessant for more. For this reason it is no wonder that an allopath is trained with an emphasis on efficiency. In the cultures of the East, many of which trail us in modern technology and differ in values, a holistic practitioner is taught to have an emphasis on human values. Our culture while it knows that addictions such as smoking or drinking causes the body to be less resistant to illness but our society that is more intrigued with the pleasure principle will not stop. The theologies of the east particularly Buddhism and Hinduism teaches towards finding freedoms from addictions and also wants. Buddha taught that as long as life is the striving towards obtaining gratification then life would always be suffering since one would always desire to have more.

The yogis and monks of the East influenced holistic medicine greatly. Many of these men gave up certain foods and studied the body’s reactions. Vegetarian diets were often employed in the East and this was probably either for religious reasons or economic ones. There are Fruitarians who only eat fruit. Others who only drink water and even those who only breathe (breatharians). The breath is one of the primary things in holistic health to consider since an individual can live weeks without food, days without water but only minutes without air.

How a health professional is to act is also different. In the traditional model the individual is a professional who is a representative of the medical industry and what it stands for. A MD is taught to be emotionally neutral as so too not interfere with the diagnosis. Personal involvement with the patient is shunned upon. In the holistic model one must be emotionally involved. Involvement is seen as a necessary component of healing. The holistic practitioner takes into account their feelings and reactions to utilize these in their treatment.

The emotional reactions of the clients are also taken into account in these two models but also in different ways. Pain and disease are seen as negative in the allopathic model. These things and any kind of disability are seen as an entity. This entity is to be destroyed in the allopathic view. The traditional model seeks to cure a patient of his or her ills. To cure is for the body t