Alternative and Traditional Medicine Term Paper

Alternative and Traditional Medicine - Term Paper Example A sick person often seeks treatment from a practitioner who admire the most and belief. Traditional is regarded as the conservative kind of approach to treatment. Traditional medicine also referred to as western medicine specializes more on drugs and surgeries. It is often preferred in cases that are very serious and likely to cost someone life. Each style however has its own advantages and disadvantages and there is certainly no practitioner that has all answers regarding treatment. They are both good and complementary to each other. Traditional medicine includes modern health science such as surgery and associated practices. It is also referred to as contemporary or Western medicine (Gordon, 1993). On the other hand, Alternative medicine refers to the collection of skills, practices and knowledge based on old theories or experiences and comprising a wide range of procedures native to diverse cultures across the world. Alternative science refers to a combination of unconventional practices to diagnose, prevent or treat any form of illness (Gordon, 1993). It has been proven that traditional medicine, in most cases focuses on the factors causing the disease, prevention and remedies but the environment and circumstances under which the disease occurred is not considered as the system is limited to the study of an anomaly and ways to remove it (Gordon, 1993). Since it has evolved over the ages, the alternative approach varies according to person and place. An example of a practice under this category is the Chinese medicine. The underlying principle of this system is to consider the ailment as a dynamic entity of the system and seek a means to uproot its foundation. It considers the illness as an upset of balance between the body and its surroundings. Thus, it focuses on cleansing the whole system rather than eliminating the immediate cause of the disease. Traditional medicine practices focuses on a single