THE MEDICAL PARADIGM SHIFT

While flipping through one of several throw-away journals that I receive, I came across two items that reminded me of just how much the current conventional medical paradigm is out of touch with the true needs of people and society. The first was an advertisement showing a distressed-looking woman clutching a steno pad, and a graphic illustrating the vicious circle, actually a square, of Fear leading to Worry, leading to Tension, leading to Irritability, back to Fear, etc. The proposed solution was, of course, one of the popular antidepressant drugs. The second item was an editorial in the same journal entitled "Rekindling the Fire of Family Medicine." The basic point of this piece was a lament on the loss of lasting personal relationships between physicians and patients, or the loss of quality in those relationships. This was attributed to the "healthcare environment" factors of time pressure, financial constraints, and lack of independence.

I believe that both of these pieces, and much of conventional medicine today, entirely miss the point. First, the Ad: The second and third pages of the glossy advertisement shows the same woman making salad, surrounded by family and friends, stating: "Help your patients break free with ____". I do not doubt that there are many people who receive tremendous benefit from the antidepressant drugs. I have seen many patients make dramatic recoveries from paralyzing depression and anxiety with their help. What concerns me here is the strong message that the complete solution or cure for fear, worry, tension, irritability, and social isolation is one simple chemical. This point of view pervades our medical community and society. What about the habits of fear and worry, stemming from the inability of most people to connect with and value the present moment, which is the only true reality? Fear and worry relate to the future, which doesn't exist yet, irritability and anger with the past, that doesn't exist anymore, and the tension is our body-mind's feedback signal that change is needed. The drugs often turn down the volume on these factors, but they do not change the program. Usually, what is really necessary for healing, as opposed to temporary cover-up, is to recognize the multiple sources of distress, and make appropriate changes in one's metabolic, psychological, nutritional, environmental, social, and spiritual situations. In this way, we learn the lessons we were born to learn, and pursue our personal paths of wellness and personal integration. Instead, we have the "pit-stop", quick fix, "magic bullet" approach promoted by the current medical paradigm, and supported by much of popular culture.

I give credit to the editor for recognizing the importance of a healthy working relationship between patient and physician, and the dissatisfaction that results when this relationship is disrupted. But, I believe that the problem goes far beyond the "environmental" factors that he enumerates. What is missing is the focus on each patient's unique characteristics and pattern of body, emotions, mind, and spirit, and the focus on healing, as distinct from repair or manipulation. The reductionist mechanistic paradigm of Medicine itself is the problem.

A recognition of these issues is what ultimately propelled me out of conventional bio-medicine into the Integrative Medicine practice that I now have. With Integrative Medicine, we use the best that bio-medicine has to offer in its proper relationship to the much broader web of a wellness/healing focus on the whole person and environment. We recognize and honor the power of relationship in catalyzing change and healing. We re-frame disease from being an enemy to fight into yet another opportunity for change healing. When physicians and all those in the healing professions are able to recognize and apply this process, we will regain those satisfying relationships, and so much more.