PHILOSOPHIES OF MEDICINE

By Areeha Khalid Katrina Schmitt

Many people think “medicine” is one big field with a series of subspecialties. In fact, there are many different philosophies on how one should approach healing! From traditional alternative medicine techniques, like acupuncture, to interventions based on the mind, like meditation, practitioners all over the world treat physical and mental illnesses very differently. In this piece, we’re going to focus on allopathy, osteopathy, and homeopathy specifically.

AllopAthy

Although humans have practiced forms of rudimentary healing since the beginning of time, the first known records of medical treatments for diseases were kept by an Egyptian physician named Imhotep and date back to 2600 BC. Over two thousand years later, Hippocrates, widely credited as the father of modern medicine, began the scientific study of medicine in Greece. Early practices of medicine used treatments that were not very effective, or even downright harmful. However, as science and human knowledge developed, medicine, too, evolved into the research-based field we see today.

Allopathy (or the “M.D.”) is typically what people imagine when they think of a “doctor” or “going to medical school,” and the standardized form of medicine used in the U.S. and many countries around the world. Interestingly, the term allopath, which originates from Greek (where allos means “against'' and pathos means “suffering”), was first used as a critique by homeopaths in the early nineteenth century towards allopathic medicine for their approach of treating the symptoms of a disease, as opposed to the root cause or disease prevention. However, over time allopathic medicine has become the conventional form of medicine, using scientific discoveries (such as vaccines, administration of exogenous, and new medications and surgeries) to not only treat the symptoms of diseases but eliminate or prevent many illnesses altogether.

Allopathic doctors attend medical school for four years, followed by a three- to seven-year period of residencies or fellowships that allow them to specialize in a subfield of their choice, from dermatology to neurology. In the U.S., there are over one hundred and fifty medical schools that offer M.D. programs for students to pursue allopathic medicine.

osteopAthy

Osteopathy (or the “D.O.”) is an offshoot of allopathic medicine based on the philosophy that all body systems are interrelated, and thus illnesses should be treated in the context of the whole body. Osteopathy began in 1874 by Dr.

Andrew T. Still, a Union Army surgeon during the American Civil War. Dr. Still’s experiences during the war, coupled with the death of three of his children from spinal meningitis, led him to conclude orthodox medicine was frequently ineffective or dangerous.

Osteopathic medicine approaches the treatment of illnesses by trying to correct the body structure itself, thus prompting the body to function more effectively and heal itself. This is done through manual techniques, or osteopathic manual medicine (OMM).

Brian F. Degenhardt, D.O., gives an example of this approach through a patient he treated who had suffered severe stomach pains for several months and had been prescribed medication for irritable bowel syndrome by an M.D. but wasn’t experiencing any symptom relief. Dr. Degenhardt began his examination by asking about the patient’s history and helping her examine her lifestyle and routine critically. This was followed by a structural examination using palpation, a method in which the doctor feels areas of the patient’s body in order to determine what isn’t functioning properly.

Using these methods, Dr. Degenhardt identified muscles and joints that were too tight in the patient’s body that were ultimately affecting her digestion, and also concluded this tightness was being further aggravated by several stressful situations in her life. He then used manipulation to relieve the muscle tightness and joint restriction over the course of a couple weeks, helping to resolve the symptoms without need for further medication.

Thus, osteopathy is built on the foundation of disease prevention, with a desire to treat the whole patient, not just the symptoms of an illness, in a way that is specific to each patient.

Today, there are just under fifty schools of osteopathic medicine in the U.S., and the D.O. degree is recognized in over sixty-five countries. Osteopathic medical students do the same amount of schooling as allopathic medical students but take additional classes on the musculoskeletal system and other areas relevant to their approach.

Similar to allopathic doctors, after completing their education osteopathic doctors can begin working in a wide range of specialties. Due to their philosophy, many osteopathic doctors choose to pursue careers in family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics. Many osteopathic doctors also choose to begin practices in rural and underserved areas.

homeopAthy

Homeopathy is just one example of unorthodox medicine that has existed for centuries. Despite their continued popularity around the world, these unorthodox approaches to healing have been labeled with a variety of derogatory terms, from “quackery” to “contemporary and alternative medicine,” as modern medicine becomes increasingly standardized and research-driven.

Homeopathy began in Europe by Samuel Hahnemann in the

nineteenth century. Hahnemann believed that in order to cure a patient’s illness, he needed to administer a medication that would produce the patient’s symptoms to a lesser degree if given to a healthy person. For example, if Hahnemann were to encounter a patient with severe nausea, he would want to give them a medication that provoked mild nausea in a healthy person.

This principle, known widely as “like cures like,” is based on the foundation that giving the patient such a medication in very small doses would trigger the body’s natural defenses, and promote the body to resolve the symptom on its own.

Clearly, this approach was extremely different from that of the orthodox medicine of the time. Indeed, allopaths and homeopaths have a long-standing animosity. Homeopaths were prevented from joining the American Medical Association until 1903, and homeopathic medications were only allowed to be sold openly in American markets after 1939.

Despite these controversies, homeopathic medicine has risen in popularity in the past decade, especially in the U.S., where patients consist of largely white, affluent people younger than the patients generally seen by conventional physicians. The sheer amount of people drawn to homeopathy may be because of its straightforward approach, consisting of long consultations therapeutic in nature. Patients of homeopathic practitioners tend to swear by the effectiveness of their treatments, although the limited research that has been done on homeopathy has found that it has limited or no effects on illness.

one field, mAny philosophies

Just as with any field, there are many theories as to what medicine is and how it should be approached. Allopathy, osteopathy, and homeopathy consist of just three schools of thought to modern medicine in the West, although there are countless other philosophies from the East that have been in practice for thousands of years. Becoming aware of these differences is helpful for a patient to find an expert best-suited to their own ideals and needs, as well as for a pre-medical student looking to see what career path they’re interested in pursuing!

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