Compare and contrast holistic medicine and alternative medicine with mainstream medicine

What will be an ideal response?


When examining the subject of medicine, it is easy to think only in terms of conventional (or mainstream) medical treatment. By contrast, holistic medicine is an approach to health care that focuses on prevention of illness and disease and is aimed at treating the whole person—body and mind—rather than just the part of or parts in which symptoms occur. Under this approach, it is important that people not look solely to medicine and doctors for their health but also that people engage in health-promoting behavior.

Likewise, medical professionals must not only treat illness and disease but also work with the patient to promote a healthy lifestyle and self-image.

Many practitioners of alternative medicine (healing practices inconsistent with dominant medical practice), take a holistic approach, and today many people are turning to alternative medicine either in addition to or in lieu of traditional medicine. In understanding the medical establishment's reaction to alternative medicine, it is important to keep in mind the philosophy of scientific medicine—that medicine is a science, not an art. Thus, to the extent to which alternative medicine is "nonscientific," it must be quackery and therefore something that is undoubtedly worthless and possibly harmful. Undoubtedly, self-interest is also involved in mainstream medicine's reaction to alternative medicine: If the public can be persuaded that scientific medicine is the only legitimate healing practice, fewer health care dollars will be spent on a form of medical treatment that is (at least to some extent) in competition with the medical establishment. But if all forms of alternative medicine (including chiropractic, massage, and spiritual) are taken into account, people spend more money on unconventional therapies than they do for all hospitalizations.

Sociology

You might also like to view...

Which of the following categories has the highest median duration of second marriages in the United States?

A. white women B. white men C. black and Hispanic men D. black women

Sociology

The term "political identities" refers to ______.

A. differential racial voting blocks B. voter participation C. political identities based on social positions and associations D. populations barred from voting, like convicted felons, barred in most states

Sociology

A ________ includes householders that live alone or with unrelated individuals

A) postmodern family B) nonfamily household C) blended family D) dual-worker family

Sociology

Students who are placed in low-ability groups are able to easily be promoted to high-ability groups in the future.

Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)

Sociology