Medicine Cultures

[Novepap]

I think there's a place for both. Meds are good for when the symptoms are very bad. But spiritual, traditional healing has been amazing for me a bit further up thd tecovery cycle.
I don't know either If there is full and total recovery - maybe for some, given optimum conditions.
But I have definitely improved ten fold on where I was seven years ago.
For me, meditation and exercise really really help.
I don't like Big Pharma, don't trust meds as much as some do.
The change for me came when I saw a Qi gung practitioner who had total faith in me. Nobody had ever said, yes. You can do this, you can get better, before!
His faith in me made me believe in me too! And he was right - I got off the meds and I have gotten a lot better.
those old healing methods have been around much longer than western medicine - I have more trust in them.
I didn't like taking meds.
But they are def good in a crisis

 

[Sikes]

Many modern drugs such as cocaine, morphine and digitalis are derived directly from plants.

Willow leaves and bark make a decoction containing salicin, a constituent of aspirin.

SAS Survival Handbook

 

[Ikepe]

Link Removed

 

[Vakafe]

I don't believe there's a difference, really. It purely a matter of what words a person uses to describe how something works. I can describe the scientific mode of action, or I can describe the results from a spiritual point of view.

Understood, as the grand-daughter of medicine people as well as a biology/botany student. However, for my people it goes beyond the body of the plant. The spiritual component exists within as well as outside of the physical component, and there's work done on all levels, in a traditional healing. Herbs are medicine, yes, but lots of things are medicine that you don't put inside of your body.

That's not to say that you could not describe all of everything scientifically as well, but you would not find your work finished with biology or even quantum biology.

 

[Efun]

My question is do you accept PTSD as a physiological condition, not just a mental or spiritual one? Do you understand that PTSD sufferers' autonomic nervous systems are stuck in an incomplete response to a threat? And do your alternative methods address this?

For me personally, I am of the view that none of these things denote real difference, just difference in expression. Each trauma is one thing with many components. If the trauma was made up of acts exacted in the physical world, then it should only be expected to manifest physically... for me, that doesn't make it any less of a spiritual issue than the psychological symptoms that arise.

I can't speak for other cultures or even other families' spiritual traditions within my cultural group but this is what my mother has taught me of what she was taught: since we experience things on many levels, our illnesses manifest on all of those levels as well. The root tends to be intangible, a healer addresses every aspect with the patient to either neutralize the ill or change its nature so that it brings the patient strength instead.

 

[Ovut]

Yikes. I'm going to take that with a grain of salt and keep trying. Have you read Peter Levine's Waking the Tiger?[/...

Take a bio class perhaps?

I'm not talking about mental healing. I'm talking about healing the physical body.

My body is quite damaged and my nervous system is healing slowly.

 

[Uwek]

Is it practical to take a wholly spiritual approach to healing trauma? depression? anxiety?

I believe no. I don't think it's practical at all. I don't think that huffing and puffing whilst standing on my head nonsensically chanting at some invisible thing is going to magically fix anything.

Nor do I believe that some simple chemical taken everyday with water is going to fix it either.

What is it about spiritual things that makes a difference? No idea, there's lots of theories, little fact. But it certainly does something.

Western medicine, has proven value as well. Catch a fever, take a Paracetamol/Tylenol, watch the number on the thermometer go down. Did it fix the problem? No.

In the case of the ex-mental health worker, he would often become extremely upset and emotional when he felt my condition was dire-- there were times when he felt meds were necessary to my survival, while I saw them as a threat.

I can imagine. Two people taking a very hard stance on the opposite side of the same issue.

Who was right? (Here's the non pc part)
Neither of you, honestly.

I think it's ludicrous to assume that a pill is going to fix a mental crisis. Just as I feel it's equally ludicrous to reject it flippantly, in favour of oogie boogie.

If I am at the point where I am ready to die to make the suffering end, all the Valium and Prozac in the world, isn't going to stay my hand forever. If that's all I'm going to rely on to help myself to get better, then I'm in for a world of disappointment when I never get better.

Having a balance between the two is what is best in my opinion. I imagine it sounds like I have therapy and spirituality mixed up. Well, yes. I do.

Whatever you want to call it, it's about more than just the order of thoughts. It's emotion, thoughts and physical.

I don't see how someone can really get better by ignoring one of these or worse, choosing to make one worse by deliberate inaction.

At any rate, this is my honest opinion. It's not meant to be condescending. Your mind, body and soul are your own, to do with as you see fit.