Doctor, in the minds of those of us whose childhood years are thirty-five forty years behind, after examining the little girl who was burning with fever in her hospital bed, pulling her out of the darkness of death to the edge of life with a medicine she took out of her bag or an injection, and then calming the family. He was identified with a paternal figure who Even the doctor’s hand touching the little girl’s head seemed to be enough to heal on its own. There were neither E-mar reports nor advanced laboratory analysis. Just a caring doctor, a listening tool, comforting words, and that miraculous needle and tablets. It was almost a magical situation…
I am one of those who follow that magic. From a very young age, I dreamed of being one of those doctors who brought back to life little children who were burning with fever, sick mothers whose sons were crying by their bedside. Fate, effort and time gave me this opportunity, how happy I am!
A lot has changed since those years. I, too, observed that this change affected all institutions and people, regardless of culture, while the general practitioner was educated and worked in almost every field of medicine, such as years of compulsory service, pediatric surgery assistant, scientific research, and moreover, almost all over the world.
First, many new diagnostic methods emerged. These methods, which provide very fast and very detailed information, have gradually started to create the opinion that taking a careful patient history, a careful examination, and establishing relationships with patients and their relatives based on trust and compassion are a very old-fashioned, serious waste of time and unnecessary. Moreover, patients were also getting their share of this change. Physicians, who did not want the examinations performed with the most fashionable devices of the period, were perceived by their patients as unaware of innovations and inadequate.
Hospitals were now promoting with their new devices. The pharmaceutical industry was developing gradually, while the elegantly packaged drugs were lining up on the pharmacy shelves, the pharmacist’s scales, mortars and large bottles were starting to decorate the antique shops. Everything was so technical, so glamorous and so foreign. In imaging centers that looked like spacecraft control rooms, you could most hope not to get cold, let alone the comfort of a compassionate hand. How long could the listening device bridge between physician and patient resist these computerized metal specters!
Of course, being able to detect heart murmurs, lung cancer findings, brain tumors that the listening device could not detect were magnificent advances for humanity and medicine. Of course, antibiotics to wipe out formerly deadly infections, chemotherapy drugs and surgical techniques to resuscitate cancer patients were inventions to celebrate with fireworks.
But both the patients and some of the physicians sensed that something was missing despite all this, even that this lack was something that existed in the past and disappeared over time. Was it the bridge or the one that broke, between the patient and the doctor? And over time, people began to seek new ones; in order to re-build that bridge…
Here’s the name of “Holistic Medicine”, that bridge. It is the name of that bridge between the patient and the doctor, the soul and the body, technology and nature, technician medicine and healing. It is the way of mind and heart that introduces and brings together the dreamed profession of forty years ago with today’s scientific developments. Medicine is the combination of science and art. Now, with questions and answers, let’s take a closer look at what holistic medicine is:
What is Holistic Medicine?
“Holistic” is a word that means all-encompassing, holistic. When used with the word medicine, it defines a model in which all physical, emotional, social and spiritual dimensions are taken into account for a desirable level of wellness.
Our thoughts and emotions directly affect our body through the neurological and circulatory system. In the same way, bodily health shapes our mood and mood with the signals it sends to the brain. Billions and billions of chemical molecules such as neurotransmitters, peptides, hormones connect the brain to the body, and the body to the brain. In other words, the brain and body are not organs and systems that work independently of each other. For this reason, Holistic Medicine deals with the whole system together with the methods it uses.
Hippocrates, who took the oath of physicians and started his profession, says, “The natural healing power within us is the most important source for healing.” The task of the holistic physician is to activate this healing power before giving an external therapeutic substance.
It also includes traditional natural treatment models with scientific basis and no side effects in treatment. The most basic principle is not to harm the patient. Educating the patient and taking responsibility in the treatment process are among the main principles of holistic medicine
