Holistic medicine

P = Presenter

W = Henry Wilson

G = Glenna Gillingham

J = John

P: Good morning, and welcome to our programme “Worldly Wise”. Today our attention turns to medicine and health care, and we examine a move which is becoming more and more popular, a move away from Western attitudes to medicine towards what is known as the holistic approach. But what is it? What does holistic mean? I spoke to Doctor Henry Wilson, of the National Homeopathic Centre.

W: Well, holistic means ’whole’, no more than that. But in terms of health care, what it means is looking at the whole body, the whole person when it comes to treating them.

P: And how does that differ from a modern Western approach?

W: Modern medicine treats patients as a series of parts that are all isolated. It looks at the part which isn’t working and tries to remove the symptoms until everything’s working well again – a bit like a mechanic repairing a car. The opposite of holistic is symptoms. Too often, modern medicine treats the symptoms and not the cause of an illness. Drugs and surgery can remove the symptoms.

P: But what’s wrong with that? Surely that’s what a person who’s ill wants, isn’t it – to feel better, to not have the pain any more?

W: Yes,but I said, the cause remains. If you have backache, pain killers will take away the pain, there’s still something wrong somewhere that caused the backache in the first place.

P: So what does the holistic approach think about illness?

W: Well, it takes into account not only the symptoms, but also the age, habits, emotions and life-style of the individual, and tries to build an overall picture. You see, being healthy means there is a balance, or a harmony, between your mind and your body. When you’re ill, it’s because there’s an imbalance somewhere, and this imbalance is shown by symptoms. The symptoms themselves aren’t very important. For example, two people suffering from headaches might be given very different treatment, because the cause of the headache is not the same.

P: You mentioned treatment. If holistic medicine doesn’t prescribe drugs, how does it treat illness?

W: It’s important to understand that what holistic medicine tries to do above all is prevent illness, and we all know that prevention is better than cure. A good diet, with lots of fresh food, not processed food with its preservatives and chemical, is essential; a healthy life-style, without too much pressure and worry, and lots of exercise and rest, not too much, not too little – these are the things that will prevent illness.

P: Well, that’s the theory, but what about the practice? Does it really work? I went along to the Park Clinic in Bath, run by Glenna Gillingham, who learned the arts of acupuncture in Hong Kong and China.

G: Of course it works. I could quote you hundreds of success stories, of people who had been suffering for years, taking drugs that didn’t work and having major operations that were not necessary, and then coming to us and feeling better within weeks, sometimes days. It happens all the time.

P: What sort of illnesses were these people suffering from?

G: All sorts – migraine. Bob, a mechanic, had had blinding headaches for ten years. He couldn’t work, he had to stay in bad with the curtains drawn, but after a few courses here he was better. Gill, a thirty year-old who had had arthritis for years and was going to have an operation to replace her hip – after six treatments, she recovered completely. Also insomnia, coughs, drug addiction, high blood pressure.

P: Right. Now with us here is John. John, could you tell us your story?

J: Well, for about a year I had a terrible back. It used to get me up at five in the morning, every morning, and I was in agony all the time. I couldn’t move.

P: And what happened when you saw your acupuncturist?

J: We had a long chat, talked about my medical history, and my parents’ medical history, my job, my life, my diet. She looked at my eyes, tongue and general colour, and took my pulse, and after an hour and a half told me to stop drinking coffee.

P: Really? Why?

J: Well, I had damaged kidneys, and the coffee was accumulating in my kidneys making them worse, and this came out as backache.

P: So there wasn’t in fact anything wrong with your back?

J: No, nothing. And from that day I’ve never had a backache.

P: Oh, … So Miss Gillingham, do you reject Western medicine totally?

G: Certainly not. It has a very important place, particularly in accidents and emergencies. What I would like to see in Western and holistic medicine working hand in hand. We both have things to offer. What I’m trying to start here is a system where in a medical practice there are four doctors and an acupuncturist, all working in their own specialist areas.

P: And what do the doctors think of this?

G: They’re slowly beginning to accept us.

P: Why do you think holistic medicine is becoming so popular?

G: Because people are becoming disillusioned with their own doctor. They come to us complaining that the doctors don’t listen, that the six minutes they’re allowed isn’t enough to explain all they have to say, and that the doctor is almost writing the prescription as they’re walking in the room, before they’ve even begun to speak!

P: I can hardly believe it!

G: And I think the other thing is that we’re becoming more health conscious generally, and aware that we are basically responsible for our own health.

P: And that was Doctor Henry Wilson and Glenna Gillingham, telling us how to get the best health treatment by marrying Easter and Western approaches. And I must admit, to me it sounds very sensible.