A New Lens on a Failing Paradigm: What Western Medicine’s Narrowed Perspective on Healing Has Done to Our Society, and How We Change that for Future Generations

Brief Synopsis: This article delves deep into the world of what we have known to be medicine, exploring the societal dependency on pharmaceuticals and the neglect of root causes. It questions the impact of Western medicine's narrowed perspective and proposes ways to take control of your health through mindful practices and informed choices.

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“I am not against medicines; I am against the sickness of human beings which makes medicines necessary” – Osho.

When you hear the word, medicine, what is the first thing you think of?

 Is it a flashback to the extensive aisles of over-the-counter medications at a CVS or Walgreens?

 Or does it conjure up the image of a sterile, brightly lit room of a doctor’s office, where someone in a white coat instructs you to take some arbitrary millidosage of a medication that’s hard to pronounce?

 Whatever your reference may be, it most likely has always revolved around the image of little tablets and capsules tied to a promise that they would alleviate our discomfort and/or treat our ailments.

This is a problem.

A problem that has led to what we call “The Opioid Crisis,” or society’s codependency on pharmaceutical medications for a “quick fix.”

 An even greater problem is that this promise is what has heavily skewed our relationship with our bodies and the symptoms it experiences by automatically labeling any pain or uncomfortable symptoms as “bad.”

 Surely, pain and uncomfortable symptoms are never the most pleasant experiences, and this does not discredit the many times pharmaceuticals does play an essential role in pain management for post-operative and severe pain conditions;

 But all other times outside of this, more than we realize, the reason why our bodies experience pain and discomfort is because this is the way our bodies try to communicate with us when something is not right, or something needs to change.

 Therefore, when our only approach to addressing these symptoms is using a prescription medication, we immediately cut out any opportunity of diving into the root cause, simply concealing the true underlying issue.

 And if we continuously take these prescription medications, we can only imagine that whatever root issue came up to begin with, will go unnoticed and become an even bigger issue. 

 The less we listen to the symptoms, or signals, of the body, the less inclined we are to give our bodies what it truly needs.

 And this is the overarching problem of how western society depicts medicine.

 Western society's prevailing paradigm has ingrained in us a limited perspective on medicine, emphasizing the treatment of symptoms and diseases through pharmaceuticals while neglecting the exploration of their genuine root causes.

Yet, how can we expect most, if not nearly all, medical doctors to get down to the root cause of what is causing your symptoms, if a doctor’s session, on average, is not more than 17 and a half minutes? (Tai-Seale et al, 2017).

The problem is not the doctor in isolation, but the system itself.

A system that places its healthcare providers in a position where they are incentivized by the quantity of sick patients served and prescribed either some type of medication or surgery.

Call that a sickness-billing industrial complex.

What happens in this kind of system is a whole society of people getting sicker and sicker because their root problems are never getting addressed – all because they have been taught to simply take a pill to override all the messages that their body has been trying to communicate to them through symptoms of pain and discomfort. 

The Effect of Western Medicine’s Narrowed Perspective on Healing

Now I ask, if you have and/or are currently experiencing some chronic condition, have you ever wondered whether your symptoms may be stemming from an underlying imbalance in your body?

 If you answered no, then this is not your fault.

 Unfortunately, this narrowed perspective is not even remotely discussed within the realms of traditional, allopathic medicine.  Within the past decade alone has traditional medicine even started to take mental health into consideration.

 This tunneled perspective is what has led to the negligence of not only our own health, but also that of our loved ones, as well of the communities around us.

 You now may be wondering, “How and when did western medicine become more dependent on our sickness, rather than our health?”

Now, listen to this.

Several statistics referenced to date note that the United States spends the most on healthcare per person worldwide, yet our overall life expectancy, maternal and child health, and unmanaged diabetes outcomes are by far the worst (Peterson, P., 2017).

Yet, what is even more alarming is that despite higher healthcare spending, America has consistently ranked last in healthcare outcomes among all 11 high-income countries in several comparative reports made by the Commonwealth Fund (Marconi, M., 2023).

This just goes to show that western medicine has turned the doctor’s profession into a business focused on illness.

Today, doctors become dependent on our sickness.

 Think about it. The times we find ourselves going to the doctor is only when we are unwell and have no answers, information, or strategies on how to best take care of ourselves.

Without sick people, there is virtually no need for doctor’s visits anymore.

 To add onto that, despite the trillions of dollars poured into pharmaceuticals, medical institutions, and insurance conglomerates (what I’ll refer to as the “big three”), there are still millions of individuals who lack any remote, fundamental information on what it means to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle, without heavily relying on these entities to tell them how to take care of themselves.

 This is because what the Big Three wants is to continue controlling the masses, keeping people sick, misinformed, and codependent on staying within this system.

 A long-standing, infrastructural issue heavily engrained in our society that is meant to keep us stuck simply for the gain of conglomerate corporations, at the expense of our generational health and overarching well-being.     

How To Fight Against the System

 Surely, our immediate inclination is to revert to ideas of how do we stimulate policy change, topple down these crazy conglomerate corporations, and boycott anything and everything that is ever correlated with what these corporations have a hand in; 

But I realized how disempowering, discouraging, and truly daunting that is.

 For years, I have honestly pondered this same very question, growing frustrated more and more each year wondering if it were even possible.

 How do we fight against something that is heavily ingrained in the infrastructure of the society we live in?

 Well, as opposed to expecting any kind of top-down change to happen, we can start from a bottom-roots approach.

 A more empowering and motivating perspective is to realize that this change all starts with us.

It starts with taking the time to gain more insight and perspective on the world around us.

 Most especially, it starts with us taking small steps towards doing the things we know we need to do to live the best, healthiest lives we can.

 Because the less healthy we are, the more vulnerable and subjected we are to depending solely on pharmaceuticals and traditional approaches to medicine to make us “feel better.”

 As an integrative health coach, I share three simple strategies that you can start implementing today to help you start taking better control of your life:  

1.     A small amount of movement a day keeps the doctor away.

Whether this starts by adding a short 15-20 minute walk after eating your lunch, or waking up a half hour early before starting your day to make time for a quick 30-minute workout – adding at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise per day significantly decreases your risk for any chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and other preventable chronic conditions. It may not seem like much right now, but that means less need for doctor’s visits in the long run.

2.     Practice mindful eating.

Do you find yourself eating quickly, or mindlessly watching a tv show or death scrolling through your phone simultaneously? If the answer is yes, then I gently challenge you to slow down while you eat, pay attention to your food, and try to tune into each of your five senses while eating the food that is in front of you. The reason for doing this is because you naturally become more attuned to your body’s hunger and fullness cues, as opposed to not noticing when you are eating way past satiety. Most importantly, eating in a much more relaxed and unhurried state better stimulates our parasympathetic nervous system, which is heavily involved in proper digestion and weight management. 

3.     Square breathing.

Inhale for a count of 4. Hold your breath for a count of 4. Exhale for a count of 4. Hold your breath for a count of 4. Repeat until your system calms down.

This practice of square breathing is a quick nervous system regulation technique I have kept in my back pocket for years and is now something I prescribe to all my patients and even family members during times of intense distress. By incorporating a grounding practice as simple as square breathing to your tool belt, this can become a healthy way of downregulating any feelings of anxiousness and/or stressful situations.

These are just a few of the many ways you can start taking the reins back over your life, as opposed to allowing mass media heavily funded by the Big Three to make you feel like living a life on your terms, without the dependence on a pill and quick fixes, is only a folktale.

Living a life not held captive by the matrices that these conglomerate corporations have curated is not one that you have to make a reality. Do not allow anything in your external reality to take your agency of living independent away from you or your loved ones.

Start one step at a time,

One habit a time,

And I promise you it becomes much easier than you think when you start putting not only your own health and well-being as a priority, but also that of the most important people around you.

References

1.         Tai-Seale M, McGuire TG, Zhang W. Time Allocation in Primary Care Office Visits: Time Allocation in Primary Care. Health Services Research. 2007;42(5):1871-1894. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00689.x

2.         Peterson PG. HOW DOES THE US HEALTHCARE SYSTEM COMPARE TO OTHER COUNTRIES? Peter G Peterson Foundation. Published online July 12, 2023.

3.         Marconi M. Mirror, Mirror 21: Reflecting Poorly. Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Other High-Income Countries. The Commonwealth Fund. Published online August 4, 2021.