Bhs 414 Tui

Cross Cultural Health Perspectives

BHS414

Module 5 Case Based Study

Dr. Angela Hegamin

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Our current system of medicine has been built upon the foundation of science. We have able to show cause and effect between disease causing organisms and disease. We have learned, in detail, about the complex mechanisms of our bodies.

There was a time when religion, or the belief in a “Higher Power”, was a powerful force in the lives of everyone. There was a belief that the world was a mysterious place and only through a persons belief in the “Higher Power”, that any sense could be made of life and death. Then along came science with new ways of explaining everything. Western civilization began to favor and cultivate this new intelligence. It was out of this environment that our modern medical system evolved.

Today, it is impossible to watch television or listen to the radio without seeing commercials advertising various medications promising to relieve symptoms like acid indigestion, headaches, yeast infections, sinus infections, allergies, esophageal reflux disease and menstrual cramps – the list goes on and on. The problem with such mass conditioning of a society is that it reinforces the myth that symptom suppression equals health.

Differences between old world traditional medicine and today’s paradigm continue to raise debate. Eastern traditional medicine always had many different schools of thought, but always within their basic paradigms. With the influx of Western science, methodology and medicine, and the global dissemination of Eastern traditional medicine, new developments have arisen.

The traditional approach attempts to retain the richness and original integrity of the Eastern traditional medicine resorting to the classic texts, concepts and practice. Only the traditional language of Eastern traditional medicine is permitted. An example of this approach is the "channel treatment" school, the "Traditional Acupuncture" school....