Lesson #5A-The Tenets of the Natural Health Philosophy

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Tutorial: Lesson #5A-The Tenets of the Natural Health Philosophy The Natural Health position on
personal health
----------

The philosophical basis of all Natural Health paradigms and Alternative Medicine (i.e., the practice
of traditional methods of health care) is based on four concepts: Vitalism, Holism,
Individualization, and Prevention.

Principal of Vitalism (as opposed to mechanism and interventionism)
----------
The most fundamental tenet of Natural Health Philosophy is that the body has the capability of
healing itself. In *all* Natural Health paradigms all healing is essentially self-healing, a basic
property of all living beings. Vitalism is an ancient concept that can be traced back to the body's
own innate vitality, vital energy, vital force, or the 'vis medicatrix naturae' (i.e., the inherent
wisdom of the body) of Hippocrates (c.460-377BC), the Father of Medicine, who wrote that "the
natural healing force within us is the greatest force in getting well."

A physician can kill an infection with antibiotics, perform surgery, put a broken limb in a cast, or
suture a wound, but all healing is performed by the patient. If the patent does not respond to the
treatment, all the efforts of the physician have been useless.

In *all* Natural Health paradigms Self-Healing is Paramount. The in-built natural healing process is
respected and recruited during treatment, although it is not necessarily understood.

Mononucleosis (Mono or the Kissing Disease), for example can't be cured by conventional medicine and
needs to run its course naturally over about 2 to 4 weeks. There are 1,000's of health conditions
that can be cured by Mother Nature alone. That is called Vitalism.

Principal of Holism (as opposed to the reductionism and medical specialization)
----------
In *all* Natural Health paradigms healing is a concerted effort of the entire organism and cannot be
achieved by any part in isolation from the whole. Holism is an ancient concept that can be traced
back to Paracelsus (1439-1541), the father of modern medicine, who insisted on treating the whole
being rather than merely the part displaying disease.

Respecting and understanding the defensive abilities of the body and differentiating between disease
symptoms and defensive or recovery symptoms has always been an absolutely fundamental part of the
various forms of holistic or alternative medicine

Principal of Individualization (as opposed to treating the diagnosis not the patient)
----------
Human beings are exceedingly complex and highly variable. Alternative Medicine is about patent
centered treatment which addresses a patient's individual needs as opposed to the managed care
protocol of modern medicine which treats each patient as just a statistic.

Everybody is different. Individual variation includes not only differences among people in terms of
such issues as absorption, responses & side effects of treatments, and metabolism, but also
variations among the disorders themselves. Therefore, treatment should not be exactly the same for
each person. When self-treating you need to ask yourself: "What does your body tell you?"

The allopathic physician treats the diagnosis not the patient.

An advantage of alternative medicine is the fact that patients are treated as individuals. Everybody
is different - our physical make up, our daily lives, our emotional states - no one human being is
exactly the same as another. Alternative medicine practitioners take this into account when they
treat patients - they find out about each individual person, rather than just the illness.

Prevention is better than a cure (as opposed to crisis-oriented allopathic medicine)
----------
The emphasis is on building health rather than on fighting disease. Since most of the factors that
affect our health are lifestyle choices, prevention is everyone's responsibility. By correcting
unhealthy lifestyles illness can be prevented. Life and Health are one. Preventing illness and
healing are primarily self care.
--
John Gohde, Achieving good Health is an Art, NOT a Science! http://naturalhealthperspective.com/ The
ONLY Frauds in Health are those who couldn't care less about prevention.

"N-H-P" <johngohde@naturalhealthperspective.com> wrote in message
news:16a9b594.0306040136.205d42f8@posting.google.com...
> Tutorial: Lesson #5A-The Tenets of the Natural Health Philosophy The Natural Health position on
> personal health
> ----------
>
> The philosophical basis of all Natural Health paradigms and Alternative Medicine (i.e., the
> practice of traditional methods of health care) is based on four concepts: Vitalism, Holism,
> Individualization, and Prevention.
>
>
> Principal of Vitalism (as opposed to mechanism and interventionism)
> ----------
> The most fundamental tenet of Natural Health Philosophy is that the body has the capability of
> healing itself. In *all* Natural Health paradigms all healing is essentially self-healing, a basic
> property of all living beings. Vitalism is an ancient concept that can be traced back to the
> body's own innate vitality, vital energy, vital force, or the 'vis medicatrix naturae' (i.e., the
> inherent wisdom of the body) of Hippocrates (c.460-377BC), the Father of Medicine, who wrote that
> "the natural healing force within us is the greatest force in getting well."
>
> A physician can kill an infection with antibiotics, perform surgery, put a broken limb in a cast,
> or suture a wound, but all healing is performed by the patient. If the patent does not respond to
> the treatment, all the efforts of the physician have been useless.

I've never heard a doctor claim otherwise. Of course the patient would have to respond to the
treatment for a favorable outcome.

> In *all* Natural Health paradigms Self-Healing is Paramount. The in-built natural healing process
> is respected and recruited during treatment, although it is not necessarily understood.

Anyone who's been involved in any type of health care can see that.

> Mononucleosis (Mono or the Kissing Disease), for example can't be cured by conventional medicine
> and needs to run its course naturally over about 2 to 4 weeks. There are 1,000's of health
> conditions that can be cured by Mother Nature alone.

As most doctors will tell you also. Unfortunately, when some patients hear a doc tell them that
something will run its course, they view it as the doc doing nothing & feel ripped off -- instead of
seeing that the doc did exactly the right thing, which *is* sometimes nothing except diagnosing the
situation.

>That is called Vitalism.
>
>
> Principal of Holism (as opposed to the reductionism and medical specialization)
> ----------
> In *all* Natural Health paradigms healing is a concerted effort of the entire organism and cannot
> be achieved by any part in isolation from the whole. Holism is an ancient concept that can be
> traced back to Paracelsus (1439-1541), the father of modern medicine, who insisted on treating the
> whole being rather than merely the part displaying disease.

Exactly why there are studies & trials of meds, surgeries, etc. -- to see what the effect of the
treatment is overall. An HIV med that causes
psychosis in the majority of patients who take it wouldn't be a good idea, even if it were effective
otherwise, for example.

> Respecting and understanding the defensive abilities of the body and differentiating between
> disease symptoms and defensive or recovery symptoms has always been an absolutely fundamental part
> of the various forms of holistic or alternative medicine
>
>
> Principal of Individualization (as opposed to treating the diagnosis not the patient)
> ----------
> Human beings are exceedingly complex and highly variable. Alternative Medicine is about patent
> centered treatment which addresses a patient's individual needs as opposed to the managed care
> protocol of modern medicine which treats each patient as just a statistic.

Aaaah, here we go with that "you're just a number, not a real person in conventional medicine"
stuff. Stirs the emotions, but not true. Most health care providers go into their profession to help
people. Those working in hospitals, clinics, & other health care settings usually care about their
patients & want to see the best possible outcome for their problems. There are jobs that pay better
with less stress, but the satisfaction of ending one's day knowing that you made a positive
contribution to patients' lives is what most of us feel makes it worthwhile. The people I see every
day are far more than numbers -- they are individuals about whom we get to know a lot. We ask them
questions & listen to them to tailor their care to what they want & need. And if we can't provide
the appropriate treatment, we don't hesitate to refer them to professionals who can.
>
> Everybody is different. Individual variation includes not only differences among people in terms
> of such issues as absorption, responses & side effects of treatments, and metabolism, but also
> variations among the disorders themselves. Therefore, treatment should not be exactly the same for
> each person. When self-treating you need to ask yourself: "What does your body tell you?"

Providers regularly modify treatments to acommodate individual responses.

> The allopathic physician treats the diagnosis not the patient.
>
> An advantage of alternative medicine is the fact that patients are treated as individuals.
> Everybody is different - our physical make up, our daily lives, our emotional states - no one
> human being is exactly the same as another. Alternative medicine practitioners take this into
> account when they treat patients - they find out about each individual person, rather than just
> the illness.

So do the majority of conventional health care providers. The ones I've worked with certainly do.

> Prevention is better than a cure (as opposed to crisis-oriented allopathic medicine)

No, many people just don't listen to allopathic docs when they advise them to take care of
themselves. They want to smoke, drink too much, eat too much, exercise too little -- & then expect
miracles from the MD whose advice they ignored for years. Conventional health care often preaches
prevention to a deaf audience. Pity, but not the provider's fault.

Michele

fred & michele <healthyu@concentric.net> wrote in message =
news:bbl3r3$7ri@dispatch.concentric.net...
>=20
> "N-H-P" <johngohde@naturalhealthperspective.com> wrote in message
> news:16a9b594.0306040136.205d42f8@posting.google.com...
> > Tutorial: Lesson #5A-The Tenets of the Natural Health Philosophy The Natural Health position on
> > personal health
> > ----------
> >
> > The philosophical basis of all Natural Health paradigms and Alternative Medicine (i.e., the
> > practice of traditional methods of health care) is based on four concepts: Vitalism, Holism,
> > Individualization, and Prevention.
> >
> >
----------------------------
Interesting discussion snipped ----------------------------=20
> > Prevention is better than a cure (as opposed to crisis-oriented allopathic medicine)
>=20
> No, many people just don't listen to allopathic docs when they advise =
them
> to take care of themselves. They want to smoke, drink too much, eat =
too
> much, exercise too little -- & then expect miracles from the MD whose =
advice
> they ignored for years. Conventional health care often preaches =
prevention
> to a deaf audience. Pity, but not the provider's fault.
>=20
> Michele
>=20
Take a look at any television channel and you will see seductively = packaged, convincing, exciting
(etc.) sales pitches which quickly cancel the very best intended health care advice no matter what
the source. How can anyone compete with that?

Al

"fred & michele" <healthyu@concentric.net> wrote

> "N-H-P" <johngohde@naturalhealthperspective.com> wrote

> > Tutorial: Lesson #5A-The Tenets of the Natural Health Philosophy The Natural Health position on
> > personal health
> > ----------
> >
> > The philosophical basis of all Natural Health paradigms and Alternative Medicine (i.e., the
> > practice of traditional methods of health care) is based on four concepts: Vitalism, Holism,
> > Individualization, and Prevention.
> >
> >
> > Principal of Vitalism (as opposed to mechanism and interventionism)
> > ----------
> > The most fundamental tenet of Natural Health Philosophy is that the body has the capability of
> > healing itself. In *all* Natural Health paradigms all healing is essentially self-healing, a
> > basic property of all living beings. Vitalism is an ancient concept that can be traced back to
> > the body's own innate vitality, vital energy, vital force, or the 'vis medicatrix naturae'
> > (i.e., the inherent wisdom of the body) of Hippocrates (c.460-377BC), the Father of Medicine,
> > who wrote that "the natural healing force within us is the greatest force in getting well."
> >
> > A physician can kill an infection with antibiotics, perform surgery, put a broken limb in a
> > cast, or suture a wound, but all healing is performed by the patient. If the patent does not
> > respond to the treatment, all the efforts of the physician have been useless.

> I've never heard a doctor claim otherwise. Of course the patient would have to respond to the
> treatment for a favorable outcome.

Looks like another case of a Doctor treating the diagnosis rather than the patent before
her to me. :)

Not only that Michele, but your diagnosis is WRONG!

I did *not* bash conventional medicine in this post.

The purpose of this post is clearly stated in the first paragraph. "The philosophical basis of
all Natural Health paradigms and Alternative Medicine ... is based on four concepts: Vitalism,
Holism, Individualization, and Prevention." Further, I clearly explained the meaning of each of
these concepts.

There was no Medicine Bashing in my post, Michele. Have you always been this delusional? Do you want
me to refer you to a good Alternative Doc?
--
John Gohde, Achieving good Health is an Art, NOT a Science! http://naturalhealthperspective.com/ The
ONLY Frauds in Health are those who couldn't care less about prevention.

>Subject: Re: Lesson #5A-The Tenets of the Natural Health Philosophy From: "Al Hephy"
>ahephy@freewweb.invalid Date: 6/4/03 8:37 PM

>Take a look at any television channel and you will see seductively packaged, convincing, exciting
>(etc.) sales pitches which quickly cancel the very best intended health care advice no matter what
>the source.

They are called infomercials.

Only a fool would actually think that somewhere on the radio or television there is an infomercial
that exists to benefit them. All infomercials exit to rob you blind. An infomercial stands for 100%
advertisement. They are neither informative or entertaining.

>How can anyone compete with that?

Having a life?
--
John Gohde, Achieving good Health is an Art, NOT a Science! http://naturalhealthperspective.com/
The ONLY Frauds in Health are those who couldn't care less about prevention. Beware of anybody who
brags about eating a lousy diet, eating crispbread, non-dairy coffee creamer, being overweight, or
about smoking!

"Al Hephy" <ahephy@freewweb.invalid> wrote in message news:1054759036.309336@savina...

fred & michele <healthyu@concentric.net> wrote in message news:bbl3r3$7ri@dispatch.concentric.net...
>
> "N-H-P" <johngohde@naturalhealthperspective.com> wrote in message
> news:16a9b594.0306040136.205d42f8@posting.google.com...
> > Tutorial: Lesson #5A-The Tenets of the Natural Health Philosophy The Natural Health position on
> > personal health
> > ----------
> >
> > The philosophical basis of all Natural Health paradigms and Alternative Medicine (i.e., the
> > practice of traditional methods of health care) is based on four concepts: Vitalism, Holism,
> > Individualization, and Prevention.
> >
> >
----------------------------
Interesting discussion snipped
----------------------------
> > Prevention is better than a cure (as opposed to crisis-oriented allopathic medicine)
>
> No, many people just don't listen to allopathic docs when they advise them to take care of
> themselves. They want to smoke, drink too much, eat too much, exercise too little -- & then expect
> miracles from the MD whose
advice
> they ignored for years. Conventional health care often preaches
prevention
> to a deaf audience. Pity, but not the provider's fault.
>
> Michele
>
Take a look at any television channel and you will see seductively packaged, convincing, exciting
(etc.) sales pitches which quickly cancel the very best intended health care advice no matter what
the source. How can anyone compete with that?

Al

Those pitches come from both conventional & alternative sources, following up once reasonable advice
has been cast aside to give the folks who ignored their docs the "miracle" they're looking for. Too
many seem to believe that avoiding responsibility for one' own health can be remedied later. Sadly,
it often can't, even with some pretty impressive tries

Michele