Modern medicine has contributed enormously to the improved health of the modern world: lower infant mortality rates, better prenatal care and prevention of many infectious diseases.Despite these significant contributions that increase our quality of life, it seems that the wider public is neither fully satisfied nor grateful (malpractice litigation is escalating) and is actually looking for “something else” – an alternative to the principles underlying modern medicine’s approach to diagnosis and treatment.
This search expresses itself in the extreme popularity of the non-evidence based “Complementary and Alternative Medicine.” In recent years, more interactions were between patients and alternative medicine practitioners in the United States than between patients and “conventional” doctors. What is the public seeking that is missing in conventional medicine?
The spiritual aspect of medical care is what people are missing – the holistic approach. It is the recognition that mind and body interact
to produce the process by which each patient struggles to cope with a newly diagnosed illness. It is the recognition that this interaction is unique to every individual and that it affects the quality of life in sickness and health and that it is, indeed, a significant determinant of prognosis.
The days of Elul, the month of repentance, offer a special dimension to this complex picture – revitalizing the hopes and faith, which are man’s deep-rooted allies in his striving for wellbeing in times of health and disease.
Professor Jonathan Halevy is the Director-General of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, a gastroenterological and liver specialist. www.szmc.org.il
