From Biomedicine to Biopsychosocial Medicine

[Guest guest]

Dear Listmembers,

 

Instead of saying that " Western medicine is 'catching up to science " I

would instead say that biomedicine using the words of Bill Hughes

who

is the head of Division of Sociology at Glasgow Caledonia University

is " repositioning itself as biopsychosocial practice " [ Hughes B.

(2002) Medicalized Bodies in The Body,Culture, and Society An

Introduction, Buckingham, Open University Press pp12-28].

 

Resonating with a broad critique from " epidemiologists, social

scientists, feminists, gay and disabled people, theologicians and

most tellingly lay-persons " , as well as to the exponiential growth of

complementary and altrnative medicine which includes traditional

Chinese medicine in Western societies , biomedicine, is now in a

" crisis of legitimation as alternative, more wholistic concepts of

medicine and embodiment are challenging its hegemony " . In place of

the mechanical metaphor of biomedicine which " reduces human lfe to

biological life and so priviledges biological explanations at the

expense of social,cultural and biographical ones " , biopsychosocial

medicine puts the premium on health maintenance in place of disease

elimination and sees the patient as an " active agent of self-care " .In

the education of health care practitioners, advocates of

biopsychosocial medicine draws from the disciplines of psychology and

sociology and an " expanded epistemology " to overcome the reductionist

and mechanistic limitations of biomedicine " .

 

 

Regards,

 

Rey Tiquia

Phd Candidate

Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science

University of Melbourne

 

 

 

 

, " " <@i...> wrote:

> , " " <@i...> wrote:

> says that they're catching up

> > > > and I think I know what you mean, Todd.

> > > > But I just wonder...are they? And when

> > > > you come down to it, catching up with

> > > > what?

> >

> > medicine is catching up with science. I didn't mean science is

catching up

> > with TCM. :-)

> >

>

>

> I had a moment, so I thought I would give an example. when I first

started my

> formal nutrition studies in 1987, my cancer surgeon/stepgrandfather

informed

> me that diet had nothing to do with cancer. Even though, at that

time, there

> was already ample evidence in the peer reviewed literature to prove

the

> opposite. Now, just 15 years later, no medical doctor would argue

with this

> obvious connection. Not only are connections between specific

diseases and

> diet well established (such as colon cancer and hifat, lofiber),

but

also it is

> generally accepted that diets high in antioxidants protect against

most

> common cancers. there is debate whether antioxidant supplements

confer

> this benefit or not, but there is no doubt that populations eating

certain diets

> have lower cancer rates overall. this is currently part of

orthodox

medical

> thinking. But the science was always there on the side of diet. I

call this

> medicine " cartc

[Guest guest]

, " rey tiquia " <rey@a...> wrote:

biomedicine using the words of Bill Hughes

> who

> is the head of Division of Sociology at Glasgow Caledonia University

> is " repositioning itself as biopsychosocial practice "

This is indeed happenning, but a happy coincidence is that medicine is now

more in tune with it's own science. I think one of the social pressures on

medicine is the widespread recognition of the disparity between science and

medicine. Much of this disparity has only come to the attention of the public

in

recent years and largely via the internet.

 

[Guest guest]

Interesting thread,

 

Been missing most of the discussion, however back to having some internet access.

 

Either way although not sure what the discussion is encompassing in its totality, making some assumptions:

 

A shift of ideology is taking place within the current western paradigm of "what is medicine" and possibly therefore medical (as a generic term) practice as well.

 

However the "makeup" and thus far general and/or specific logistics is otherwise geared towards the bio in biopsychosocial practice; as well as these aspect are more then often dealt as different sectors (faculties) of human phenomena.

 

Hence in my opinion from observing the stagnant debate in Guatemala about western medicine is that "something is amissed" but is currently lacking the terminology to integrate a doctrinal-theoretical world recognition of biopsychosocial medicine.

 

In a fairly recent meeting I for one was trying to promote socialpsychosomatical needs of patients and hence the medical paradigms and health cares systems reactive and responsive "obligations".

 

I think the aspect of health promotion which seams to be establishing it self as an recognisable discipline is one attempt to remedy the "isolationist" approach to human health, hence many are now speaking of:

 

health promotion - (disease) prevention - (disease) treatment - rehabilitation as a more complete public health systems.

 

More likely then not the lingustical usage will develop-adapt-evolve to make a pragmatical practice a more of a reality.

 

From this both Chinese medicine and Western medicine can learn and hence the changing factors if say western medicine is really changing, has probably little to do with science (Western cosmovision thereof) per say but more to do with how people "view" science and medicine (east west) health and so forth.

 

Now as always if I am way out of line making absurd observations and incorrect ones like discovery of ... making virtually a falsified history with social political and practical implications I apologise:-)

 

By the way I have some documents of the current position of Ministry of health and Maya medicine and traditional medicine in Guatemala its all in Spanish but if you are interested please say so and I will send the documents via e-mail.. There are some samples of western pharmacological studies on naturalised and some native plant medicines.

 

Marco Bergh

 

 

 

-

 

Wednesday, November 06, 2002 12:11 AM

Re: From Biomedicine to Biopsychosocial Medicine

, "rey tiquia" <rey@a...> wrote:biomedicine using the words of Bill Hughes> who > is the head of Division of Sociology at Glasgow Caledonia University > is "repositioning itself as biopsychosocial practice" This is indeed happenning, but a happy coincidence is that medicine is now more in tune with it's own science. I think one of the social pressures on medicine is the widespread recognition of the disparity between science and medicine. Much of this disparity has only come to the attention of the public in recent years and largely via the internet.ToddChinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education.

[Guest guest]

This is indeed happenning, but a happy coincidence is that medicine is now more in tune with it's own science. I think one of the social pressures on medicine is the widespread recognition of the disparity between science and medicine. Much of this disparity has only come to the attention of the public in recent years and largely via the internet.>>>>Todd it will be a long time before this translates to clinical applications. Also, in terms of multiplicity and complex multidimetional studies i think there have been a lot more than many realize already

alon

[Guest guest]

, " Marco " <bergh@i...> wrote:

 

>

> From this both Chinese medicine and Western medicine can learn and

hence the changing factors if say western medicine is really changing, has

probably little to do with science (Western cosmovision thereof) per say but

more to do with how people " view " science and medicine (east west) health

and so forth.

 

I completely agree and never meant to suggest otherwise. My original point

was merely that western science is holistic, even if western medicine has not

been. I definitely do not believe it is science that has changed western

medicine, but definitely culture as a whole (which includes an increasing

knowledge of health sciences amongst the educated decisionmakers). If it

was merely science, the change would have happened decades ago. But the

shift in the culture has given science the weight it deserves in the

decisonmaking process and thus nutrition and exercise have catapulted to

the top of the concerns of many medical decisionmakers.