Transcript Complementary and Alternative Medicine

CAM and Mind/Body
Overview
Mind/Body Health
RRCC Holistic Health
January 19, 2011
What is CAM?












1. Chiropractic
2. Relaxation therapies
(breathing, meditation,
prayer, etc.)
3. Massage
Acupuncture
Homeopathy
Naturopathy
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Shamanic healing
Mind/body medicine
Energy healing
Yoga
Aromatherapy
Ayurvedic Medicine
 Osteopathy
 Aromatherapy
 Herbal medicine
 Chelation therapy
 Flower essences
Native American healing
 Curanderismo
 Hypnotherapy
 Organic food
 Rolfing
 As many as 1,800
therapies
worldwide



Mainstream








Two Paradigms
Western
Allopathic
Conventional
Orthodox
Biomedicine
Modern
Scientific
Technological

CAM








Alternative
Complementary
Integrative
Natural
Holistic
Traditional
Healing
Eastern
Western Medicine

“Founding Fathers” (17/18th c.)

Descartes- mind and body are
separate





“I think therefore I am”
Newton- universe like a
mechanical clock
Bacon- put nature on the rack
and torture her for her secrets



Good as “rescue medicine”emergencies, trauma, acute
bacterial infection
Weak- chronic diseases, aging,
cancer, viral infection,
allergies, autoimmune diseases

By separating people from traditional holistic
health care practices, and by dubious intervention
with drugs and surgery, modern medicine may
cause as much disease as it cures. …Western
medicine cannot be separated from the whole web
of technologies that are its parents and children.
-Jerry Mander




Mechanistic- body as machine,
physician as mechanic
Reductionistic- people broken
down into smaller and smaller
parts
Potent but invasive
Health is the absence of disease
Disease caused by germs and
genes
Better to do something than
wait for nature- defend and
counterattack, like war
Attack disease with drugs or
surgery- oppose and suppress
Mind and spirit secondary or
irrelevant- person as body
Scientific Enlightenment
•
Descartes (1596-1650)- extreme formulation of spirit/matter dualism
•
Matter as dead and separate from the scientists
•
•
•
•
Material world as huge machine
World can be described objectively without mentioning
observer
“An intellect which at a given instant knew all the forces acting in
nature, and the position of all things of which the world consistssupposing the said intellect were vast enough to subject these data to
analysis- would embrace in the same formula the motions of the greatest
bodies in the universe and those of the slightest atoms; nothing would
be uncertain for it, and the future, like the past, would be present to its
eyes.” -Laplace, French mathematician
Newton (1643-1727)
•
Gravity- force between solid material objects moving
through absolute space and time- connected with material
bodies and acting instantaneously over a distance
•
Particles created by God and therefore not subject to further
analysis- universe made of particles set in motion,
“Cogito ergo sum.”
governed by force of gravity, and running like a machine
since creation- giant cosmic machine, causal and
determinate
•
•
•
“Absolute space, in its own nature, without regard to anything external,
•
“Absolute, true, and mathematical time, of itself and by its own
remains always similar and immovable.”
nature, flows uniformly, without regard to anything external.”
This worked to explain: the motion of solid and falling bodies, the
motion of celestial bodies, the features of the solar system, the
motion of fluids, the vibrations of elastic bodies, and
thermodynamics.
Methods of Inquisition applied to natural world
•
Bacon- “Torture nature for her secrets”
“It seems probable to me that God in the
beginning formed matter in solid, massy,
hard, impenetrable, movable particles, of
such sizes and figures, and with such other
properties, and in such proportion to space, as
most conduced to the end for which he
formed them; and that these primitive
particles being solids, are incomparably harder
than any porous bodies compounded of them;
even so very hard, as never to wear or
break in pieces; no ordinary power being
able to divide what God himself made on in
the first creation.
•
Western
Spirit/Matter Duality
Mind
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Objective world- the domain of science- objective truth
Subjective experience- important to individual but not
scientific
Measurement makes knowledge scientific
Quality reduced to quantity (color to wavelength)
Observer does not affect experimentreplicability
Consciousness arises from the brain and
central nervous system
•
•
reductionism
Knowledge through senses, instruments,
genes
•
•
Mental activity can't affect physical reality
World/body as machine, doctor as mechanic
Dead, solid atoms animated by nonphysical spirit
To understand the universe, know the parts-
Scientific Objectivity
•
•
Mind separate from body
Cogito ergo sum
Absolute time flows from past to present to
future
Absolute space is three dimensional
CAM






Broad range of healing
philosophies, approaches, and
therapies that conventional
medicine does not commonly use,
accept, study, understand, or
make available -NCCAM
Whole systems paradigmbody, mind, emotion, spirit,
community, environment
Natural self-healing exists
within each person
People are responsible for their
own health care
Self-care and prevention
Nature, patience, and time are
the great healers
Five Flavors of CAM

Complete medical systems


Mind-body medicine


Herbal medicine, diets, vitamins
Touch and body-based methods


Yoga, Prayer, Meditation
Biologically-based therapies


Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Ayurveda,
Shamanic Healing, TCM
Massage, Chiropractic, Osteopathy
Energy therapies

Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, Healing
Touch, energy medicine
Four CAM Principles




Balance
Spirituality
Energy
Breath
Balance





Peaceful coexistence and
harmony with all aspects of life
Concept found in all known
cultures
Path rather than a steady state
Natural rhythm
Each component in harmony
and all in harmony with each
other






Physical- optimal functioning of
body systems
Emotional- feel and express the
entire range of human emotions
Mental- feelings of self-worth,
positive identity, sense of
accomplishment, ability to
appreciate and create
Spiritual- moral values, meaningful
purpose, feeling of connection to
others and to divine source
Social- harmonious interpersonal
and group relations
Environmental- individual and
cultural ability to appreciate and
honor natural ways and rhythms



Meaning,
purpose,
relationship with
the divine
Intuition,
creativity,
inspiration
Finding significant
meaning even in
illness,
catastrophe, and
death
Spirituality


Spirituality involves
questions about meaning,
purpose, and the nature
of reality
Religion has to do with
beliefs, attitudes, and
patterns of behavior
related to divinity and is
often institutionalized
Religion is not identical to spirituality; rather,
religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization.
-William Irwin Thompson
Energy







There is a universal source
Energy flow is the basis of
life
Matter = energy
The earth (and the
universe) is alive with
vibrant energy
Energy always associated
with some form of
consciousness
People are energy fields
Relationships are shaped
by energetic interactions
Prana- Hindu

Ki- Japanese

Chi or qi- Chinese

Lung- Tibetan

Mana- Polynesian

Oki, orenda, tonNative American

Pneuma- Greek

Ruach- Hebrew

Ra- Egyptian

Subtle energy or
bioenergy- American

E=mc2
Quantum physics is consistent with ancient mystical
wisdom about energy fields
Breath
Breath


At the center of spiritual and religious traditions
Spirit and breath- often same word for both
•Atthe
centerprana
of spiritual and religious traditions
Sanskrit•Spirit
and breath Hebrewruach often same word for both
•Sanskritprana
Greek- pneuma
•Hebrew- ruach
 Latin- spiritus
•Greek- pneuma
ChristianityHoly Spirit
•Latin- spiritus

is the “breath of life”
 •ChristianityEastern cultureswhen is
breath
is inhaled,
so is
Holy Spirit
the “breath
of life”
life energy
•Eastern
cultures- when breath is inhaled, so is life
 energy
Most healing traditions worldwide believe that
breath
is the traditions
most important
function
of life
and
•Most
healing
worldwide
believe
that
breath
is the mostinimportant
of life and
that restrictions
breathingfunction
lead to dysfunction
that
in breathing lead to dysfunction
andrestrictions
disease
and disease
 Deep breath as stress reliever- PNS activation
•Deep breath as stress reliever- PNS activation
 Central to meditation
•Central to meditation
