The importance of a holistic approach to medicine and health

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By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |

One of the main reasons why people are drawn to fake Godmen is the prospect of all kinds of miracle cures for any range of physical, psychological, financial and family problems. At best these men, through a listening ear, can provide counselling and perhaps even raise your spirits, and at worst, they may fleece you for whatever financial security you have and perhaps even subject you to all kinds of sexual abuse (see my article in Asia Samachar for more detailed expositions on such individuals, ‘Time to declare Jihad on criminal Godmen’, June 23, 2022, and ‘Miracles and Godmen’, July 31, 2020 ).

I know that in what some term the post-enlightenment period, it has become fashionable to denigrate science and promote new age fads, I would like to warn against ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’. Like any other field, science and medicine progress through getting things wrong, learning from those mistakes, and gradually improving their knowledge. This can be a slow process but it is the best way we have for moving forward as a species. But that does not mean that science can or should seek to answer all questions. For example, whilst a scientist may answer how our body works, or if you like, how we exist, they will not see their role to answer why we exist. Such questions, rightly so, should be left to poets, philosophers, theologians and you and I!

Scientific methodology is based on a materialist or mechanistic view of the world. That is to say, scientists are not interested in metaphysical explanations for the way ‘things’, ranging from single cells in the body to black holes across the cosmos, operate. For sure the field of quantum physics has opened up all kinds of new challenges and possibilities that will require us to revise our conception of ‘the physical’, but it is the case that most scientists, especially in the medical field, do not operate at the quantum level; their main concern is how to treat sickness and how to improve physical and mental wellbeing.

Whilst there is still a big problem with the overprescription of drugs, over the past few years we have seen a shift in medicine towards what is termed ‘social prescribing’. Social prescribing is an approach that involves linking patients with non-medical resources and support, often within their local community. Rather than relying solely on medication or traditional medical treatments, social prescribing encourages healthcare providers to work with patients to identify and address the underlying social, economic, or environmental factors that may be contributing to their health concerns. This can include connecting patients with community-based organizations, support groups, exercise programs, mental health services, or other resources that may improve their quality of life and reduce their reliance on medical interventions. The goal of social prescribing is to promote a more holistic and personalized approach to healthcare that addresses the multiple factors that influence a person’s health and well-being.

Another field within medicine that is making significant inroads into improving physical and mental health is to see the connection between the two. Quite literally the way we feel about our health can have real physical impacts. For centuries, we have known about the placebo effect, a phenomenon in which a person experiences a positive response to a treatment that has no therapeutic effect on its own. The placebo effect is not a trick or a fraud, but rather a genuine and complex psychological and physiological response that is still not fully understood. It is thought to be influenced by a range of factors, including the person’s expectations and beliefs about the treatment, the context in which the treatment is administered, and how it is administered, including, such things as the colour of pills and the dress and demeanour of the practitioner, as well as the condition being treated. Indeed, a key influencing factor is the confidence and authority of the healthcare provider, and the level of attention and care given to the patient. One might speculate that where remedies involving ritualism are provided by Godmen, fake or genuine, any positive outcomes are less likely to be due to some divine intervention and more so a combination of the placebo effect combined with the body’s own internal mechanism for repair and recovery. It is a fact that, because of the amazing self-healing properties of the human body, most ailments, do cure themselves over time.

One of the great concerns about poor health, especially in the developed West where, due to car ownership and online communications, people are increasingly engaging in sedentary activities, rather than being active or exercising. Well before modern medical discoveries, the ancients had accrued all kinds of knowledge and wisdom about herbal remedies, the self-healing power of the human body and the importance of physical movement and exercise. However, given the emphasis on manual work, and the need to hunt and gather food, there was no separate concept of exercise; it was just something that was done as a matter of routine and survival.

One of the most interesting new findings about health research is to discover exactly how and why exercise makes us feel good. Research shows at a cellular level when muscles contract, they secrete chemicals into the bloodstream called myokines, which have been referred to as “hope molecules”. These travel to the brain and act as an antidepressant. They do this by improving our mood, and ability to learn and protect the brain from the negative effects of ageing.

The challenge for us all with these discoveries is not to reject science or faith, but to see the physical and mental as part of a whole. When Guru Nanak talked about the divine existing within the human mind and body, perhaps this is precisely what he was getting at!

Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk

* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.

RELATED STORY:

Miracles and Godmen (Asia Samachar, 31 July 2020)



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