the many faces of medicine.
doctor, i'm coughing and sneezing. I have itchy eyes, a drippy nose, and i ache all over. What's wrong with me? What should i do?
take two aspirin and go to bed, one doctor advises.
no, no. drink this herbal tea, say another.
don't listen to them, argues the acupuncturist. come here and let me put some needles in your back.
who has the best remedy? all of them, some people would say,because they believe that there is more than one approach to healing and many ways to practice medicines.
in general, modern medicine treats the body as if it were a machine made up of many separate parts that can break down independently. treatment usually consists of trying to repair the broken part with drugs or surgery.
holistic doctors take another approach. they believe that the parts of the body are interconnected and must be treated as a whole. for example, to treat a headache, these doctors might recommend massage to relax the body, get the blood flowing, and relive the tension that is causing the headache.