Integrative medicine: pipe-dream or future reality?

  There is no question that Modern medicine has an indispensable role to play in many situations; major trauma, congenital disorders, severe infectious diseases and more. In many of these there are complementary modalities of therapy that could be of great help if used wisely. However, to my mind, in the ever-increasing number of lifestyle related diseases that are rampant in modern society, Holistic Integrative Medicine should take over that central role and Modern Medicine should serve a secondary function and be used only when necessary. Better still, someday in the not so distant future, I am hopeful that the distinction between the two will blur sufficiently and there will be a seamless integration of all modalities of treatment into one medical system. This will no doubt require major changes in medical education, research, health care legislation, insurance and so forth but such change is inevitable. The current system is simply not sustainable as is painfully evident to many patients, health care providers and governments. Change will come but the polarization of so-called scientific medicine and the various traditional systems of medicine has been so extreme that such change could likely be tumultuous. Meanwhile insidious change is already under way. Many well-known institutions such as the Mayo Clinic have established departments of Integrative Medicine as have some prestigious universities and medical schools. Many conventional physicians are beginning to overcome their inbred bias and are seeking to explore and understand other systems of medicine. This can be troubling and disquieting at first since these systems are often so contrary to each other philosophically. As medical students we are trained to think “scientifically”, to seek “evidence”.

    But what constitutes evidence? Modern Medical science uses statistical methods such as randomized controlled studies to evaluate evidence. However such methods don’t lend themselves easily to the study of many of the traditional systems of medicine. New research methods are needed. Often the argument “there is no proof”, or that “these methods have no scientific basis” is used to dismiss entire systems of medicine some of which have been in place and served peoples and cultures for thousands of years. The fact is there has been little interest until recently in investigating them for their true worth. There has been a lack of inquiry and of genuine research that has been equated to a lack of evidence.

Until next week…