by Natalie Louise Fox

Created on: March 12, 2008

A new revolution is churning up all our old beliefs and attitudes regarding our health. The time has come to address the situation and make some choices. Do we join in, or do we run away?

Many medical advances and discoveries have occurred from the mid 1800's up until the present day. Back then the new trend for drugs and pharmaceuticals led the way forward and the impressive results seem to have molded our opinions and medical culture today.

Previously, illness was diagnosed in a physical, emotional and sometimes spiritual way, in other words, holistically. Ancient cultures such as the Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks along with physicians such as Hippocrates and Galen all practiced natural, holistic medicine. This would have been far removed from the methods that we know today. Back then this genre of medicine would have been recognized as being 'conventional' or 'orthodox' (meaning the trend that is practiced by the culture at the current time), but now it is sometimes considered quackery.

Modern medicine began when chemists identified the active ingredients of seemingly medicinal' plants. These chemicals were then isolated and synthetic copies were made.

Surely natural medicine has more of an affinity with us humans?

Globally, herbal and natural treatments are the most commonly practiced forms of medicine. Many cultures have remained untouched by our western ways. It is hard to envision the similarities between orthodox and holistic or natural medicine as they have two very different approaches to health care.

'Health care' put simply, means to care for health. The demands of our current health care system mean limited time to investigate certain ailments. Often the patient just wants a simple diagnosis and something to kill the pain. A practitioner of holistic medicine will try to find the root cause of the illness and employ a method of removing it. This natural approach to health care only works with the patient's co-operation, and requires the patient to be pro-active and responsible for maintaining their own level of health.

Ultimately it comes down to supply and demand. The pharmaceutical industry is a booming, billion pound business. As long as people are happy to pay out for prescriptions and not ask any questions, then our health care industry will remain the same.

And as for the holistic health care revolution? It's not so much a revolution, but more a way of closing the gap.

There will always be a gap between natural, holistic medicine and orthodox medicine; however, if people start to educate themselves about their health and push for the health care system they want, then the gap may well start to close.

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