By Patrick Dougherty, D.C.
As a preview to my book you are being given the opportunity to read some of it, at no cost. If you like what you read, then the book is available on Amazon.com as both a paperback and as an e-book. The book is available at Amazon.com here: Purchase Do you wanna get better? the future of health care. It is also available in my office for $8 a copy.
Introduction
The terms energy medicine, holistic healing, holistic health care, complementary alternative medicine, and spiritual healing are often lumped together. That list is not exhaustive and you can probably think of other terms that fit into the category. This category includes everything that is not allopathic medicine. The categorization of “not allopathic” is too simplistic, and confuses many people.
For the remainder of this book I will use the term holistic health care to encompass all of the terms listed above: Energy medicine, holistic healing, holistic health care, complementary alternative medicine, and spiritual healing. In addition I will use the term practitioner to define anyone who utilizes any intervention to attempt to help another person change the state of their health, or rid them self of a symptom.
The purpose of this book is to let a series of experts, within the holistic health care field, give their opinions on what factors separate allopathic medicine from holistic health care. Hopefully the result will help other practitioners, and the public, to understand the differences.
Questions
Where are from originally and what was your childhood like?
What is your area of holistic health care, and what inspired you to get involved in that/those areas?
What are the differences between allopathic medicine and holistic health care?
How have you seen the field of holistic health care change since you first became involved?
How does what you do relate to human potential, performance and quality of life?
What do you feel has happened to prevent holistic health care from being seen by the world as it really is?
What is the purpose of your work, and how does it impact a person’s life?
Who are some of your mentors, and what impact have they had on your life?
What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally?
Where do you see holistic health care 10 years from now?
Are there any other comments you’d like to share about the wonders of holistic health care?
The result is fascinating insights from people who are currently on the holistic fringe of health care. It is a fringe created by a programmed allegiance to allopathic healthcare. It is also a fringe that they are actively working to eliminate. When eliminated, holistic health care will be where we turn for guidance in the area of wellness.
Each participant is a person who is willing to ask questions about the healing process. They have been on lifelong journeys that have molded their perspectives. They are learners, and they are teachers. They have taught me and expanded my understanding of the movement to return healing to the roots of centuries of knowledge, and simultaneously bring it into the 21st century with all of the technology available. I am grateful to each of them and hope that you may learn as much reading this book as I did writing it.
“I sometimes find that in interviews you learn more about yourself than the person learned about you.”
William Shatner
“We’re caught in a trap. We can’t get out.”
Elvis Presley
Chapter One
Holistic Health Care
Technology and science have seduced us. The 20th century inundated us with advances that allowed many to elevate their standard of living, and increased the life expectancy throughout much of the world. Those advances led to a blind allegiance to science and technology. With blind allegiance to science and technology came blind allegiance to allopathic medicine. Allopathic medicine is the pharmaceutical medication and surgery model of care designed to eliminate or cover up symptoms. Luckily, there is a way out of that model. This book is about the way out.
The terms energy medicine, holistic healing, holistic health care, complementary alternative medicine, and spiritual healing are often lumped together. You can probably think of other terms that fit into this category. This category includes everything that is not allopathic medicine. This categorization of not allopathic is too simplistic, and confuses many people.
For the remainder of this book I will use the term holistic health care to encompass all of the above listed terms: Energy medicine, holistic healing, holistic health care, complementary alternative medicine, and spiritual healing. In addition, I will use the term practitioner to define anyone who utilizes any intervention to attempt to help another person change the state of their health, or rid them self of a symptom.
Many of the New Age and ancient healing interventions can be either allopathic, or holistic. In other words, it is in the intervention itself, but a series of factors that should determine its classification as allopathic, or as holistic health care. This is true whether the intervention is prescription medications, or Reiki. The purpose of this book is to let a series of experts, within the holistic health care field, give their opinions on what factors separate allopathic medicine from holistic health care. In this chapter I will give my own views of what separates allopathic care from holistic health care, and much more.
There is energy in everything, and anything can be energy medicine. Touch, color, sound, thoughts, words, placebo, herbs, acupuncture, chiropractic, drugs, surgery – they all are energy medicine. However, some energy is better for you than others. The quality of the energy is one thing that determines how a health care modality is labeled. Consequently, this book is in great part about energy.