ChatGPT is making waves ever since it was launched in 2022. The underlying technology's potential has sparked a race between Big Tech companies, while also causing existential crises. These developments have generated interesting, if important, discussions about the broader field artificial intelligence (AI). However, it is also important to step back and look at what scientific studies say about ChatGPT.
We set out to analyze the first studies analysing ChatGPT within the medical field. These articles were published between November 20,22 and early March 20,23. They cover topics ranging from medical education, to radiologic decision making, as well as the use of ChatGPT in this field. The table below summarizes these publications.
Title
Journal
Short Summary
ChatGPT: friend or foe?
The Lancet
The article discusses the benefits and ethical concerns of ChatGPT, and suggests the need for more oversight and investment in AI output detectors to address potential errors and biases in its output.
Evaluating the Feasibility of ChatGPT in Healthcare: An Analysis of Multiple Clinical and Research Scenarios
Springer Link
The article examines the possibility of utilizing ChatGPT within the healthcare industry and accentuates its potential uses and constraints in clinical settings, scientific output, improper use in medicine and research, and deliberation of public health issues. It stresses the significance of educating individuals about the correct application of AI-driven language models.
AI chatbots not yet ready for clinical use
Medrxiv
This article compares the performance of two generative AI models, ChatGPT and Foresight NLP, in forecasting relevant diagnoses based on clinical vignettes, while discussing important considerations and limitations of transformer-based chatbots for clinical use.
The potential impact of ChatGPT in clinical and translational medicine
PMC
ChatGPT has great potential in assisting basic research and accelerating the technological transformation of clinical and translational medicine, such as in drug discovery, disease prediction, diagnosis, and assessment of therapeutic targets, but it is important to use it as a tool to support, rather than replace, healthcare professionals in their decision-making process.
Does ChatGPT Provide Appropriate and Equitable Medical Advice?: A Vignette-Based, Clinical Evaluation Across Care Contexts
Medrxiv
The study evaluated ChatGPT's ability to provide appropriate and equitable medical advice by presenting it with 96 advice-seeking vignettes and found that while it consistently provided background information, it did not reliably offer appropriate and personalized medical advice.
Can artificial intelligence help for scientific writing?
BMC
The article discusses the potential use of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot in scientific writing, such as assisting researchers in organizing material, generating initial drafts, and proofreading, but cautions that it should not replace human judgment and that ethical concerns, such as plagiarism and accessibility, need to be addressed through regulation.
Comparing human and artificial intelligence in writing for health journals: an exploratory study
Medrxiv
The study aims to evaluate the quality of scientific writing produced by ChatGPT compared to human authors and highlights the need for solutions to manage potential misuse and hazards of the technology.
Assessing the Utility of ChatGPT Throughout the Entire Clinical Workflow
Medrxiv
The study presents the potential use of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT in the clinical workflow and shows that it achieves an average performance of 71.8% across all vignettes and question types, although it has limitations inherent to the artificial intelligence model itself that need to be considered.
Assessing the Value of ChatGPT for Clinical Decision Support Optimization
Medrxiv
The AI-generated suggestions were considered to be original and had a high level of clarity and relevance, with moderate usefulness, low acceptance, bias, inversion, and redundancy.
The future of medical education and research: Is ChatGPT a blessing or blight in disguise?
TandFOnline
ChatGPT in scientific research raises ethical concerns due to accountability issues, lack of critical thinking, and inaccuracy of content, and experts suggest it should only be used as an add-on to constructive writing and reviewing material at the moment.
An Explorative Assessment of ChatGPT as an Aid in Medical Education: Use it with Caution
Medrxiv
ChatGPT can be used as a tool to assist educators, but it is not currently a dependable source of information for medical students and educators.
ChatGPT- versus human-generated answers to frequently asked questions about diabetes: a Turing test-inspired survey among employees of a Danish diabetes center
Medrxiv
The study found that participants were able to distinguish between ChatGPT-generated answers and human-written answers somewhat better than flipping a coin, but participants who had used ChatGPT before could reveal 10% more answers correctly than those who had not, suggesting that the structure of the text provided an important clue.
How Does ChatGPT Perform on the United States Medical Licensing Examination? The Implications of Large Language Models for Medical Education and Knowledge Assessment
Jmir Publications
The paper demonstrates the ability of ChatGPT to accurately answer medical questions and provide logical explanations, making it a potentially useful tool for medical education and small group discussion.
Assessing the performance of ChatGPT in answering questions regarding cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma
Medrxiv
The study analyzed ChatGPT's responses on the management of cirrhosis and HCC and found limitations but also potential as an informational tool for patients and physicians to improve outcomes.
Evaluating ChatGPT as an Adjunct for Radiologic Decision-Making
Medrxiv
This study demonstrates that ChatGPT, a large language model, can assist in radiologic decision-making at the point of care, achieving moderate to high accuracy in determining appropriate imaging steps for breast cancer screening and breast pain evaluation, although limitations of the model, such as misalignment and “hallucinations”, must be considered when designing clinically-oriented prompts for use with large language models.
Analysis of large-language model versus human performance for genetics questions
Medrxiv
The use of language models like ChatGPT in clinical genetics has the potential to provide rapid and accurate responses to genetic-related questions, aid healthcare professionals in diagnosis and treatment, and make genetic information more widely available to a non-expert audience.
Putting ChatGPT’s Medical Advice to the (Turing) Test
Medrxiv
The article discusses a study that found AI-based chatbots to be weakly distinguishable from human providers in terms of responses and mildly positively trusted by respondents, with potential for use in healthcare administrative tasks and chronic disease management.
Evaluating the Performance of ChatGPT in Ophthalmology: An Analysis of its Successes and Shortcomings
Medrxiv
The article discusses the performance of the ChatGPT language model in responding to questions on the OKAP exam in ophthalmology, finding that it achieved an accuracy comparable to that of a first-year resident, although it struggled with highly specialized topics, and discussing the limitations and potential of the model for clinical use in ophthalmology.
Are ChatGPT’s knowledge and interpretation ability comparable to those of medical students in Korea for taking a parasitology examination?: a descriptive study
Jeehp
The study found that ChatGPT's performance in a parasitology examination was lower than that of medical students in Korea, and its correct answer rate was not related to the items' knowledge level.
How Does ChatGPT Perform on the Medical Licensing Exams? The Implications of Large Language Models for Medical Education and Knowledge Assessment
Medrxiv
The study shows that ChatGPT can be used as an educational tool as it has an amount of medical knowledge comparable to a third-year medical student and provides personalized and interpretable responses, creating an on-demand interactive learning environment for students to improve their information retention and learning experience.
Performance of ChatGPT on USMLE: Potential for AI-Assisted Medical Education Using Large Language Models
Medrxiv
The study shows that ChatGPT is able to perform complex medical tasks with rising accuracy and has the potential to generate novel insights that can assist human learners in medical education.
This article gives an overview of what these papers are about. We hope that this article will clarify the current scientific position on ChatGPT’s potential for healthcare.
ChatGPT: Three areas of focus in medicine
In our early March search, we found 21 studies that evaluated ChatGPT from a medical perspective. These studies revealed three major areas of focus, including clinical use, answering questions about medicine and helping in education, as well as scientific writing and researching. In the following sections, we will not go into detail about each study. Instead, we will highlight the main points of the studies.
1. ChatGPT: Clinical applications
Researchers have tested and proposed a number of possible clinical use cases. Researchers have tested and proposed a number of potential clinical use cases for ChatGPT. These include recruitment for clinical trials, clinical data management as well as clinical decision support.
Some of these possibilities have been evaluated in studies. Researchers at Harvard Medical School, for example, tested ChatGPT in radiologic decision making. The AI tool was able to predict, with moderate accuracy and a wide range of steps, the appropriate steps for breast cancer screening patients. Researchers found that the AI model displayed high accuracy when determining the clinical workflow for hypothetical cases.
Researchers have raised concerns about the clinical use of ChatGPT. These models are susceptible to biases that are embedded in the data used for training, which is usually obtained from online sources. They can also produce “hallucinations”, which is output that does not make sense to the given prompt.
2. ChatGPT is a medical education platform.
ChatGPT is a Q&A styled application that allows medical students to interact with each other. This makes it a perfect tool for training and informing patients. Researchers have tested ChatGPT's ability in these situations.
A study found that ChatGPT scored the same as a third year medical student when compared to its performance in the United States Medical Licensing Examination. Researchers suggest it could be used to facilitate group discussions and as an interactive tool for students. Some researchers found it useful for medical educators to draft their course content.
Researchers evaluated ChatGPT’s answers to frequently asked Questions regarding the care and management of patients with liver cancer and cirrhosis. The majority of the responses were accurate, but insufficient. This indicates that the tool is a good supplement to standard care and patient education.
Researchers also advise caution and expert oversight due to the possibility of misinterpretation or incorrect information.
3. ChatGPT: Scientific research using ChatGPT
Academics have considered the contribution of ChatGPT to scientific writing, given its text-generation prowess. The assistance it can provide ranges from summarizing data to writing an entire draft of a scientific paper.
A second group of researchers compared ChatGPT and human-authored short articles in scientific journals. They found that, while ChatGPT is more efficient in terms of time, human authors perform better on completeness and scientific content.
Academic journals updated their policies in response to the software’s use in academic writing. They stated that this use should be declared, and manual checks must be done on AI-generated output.
Scientists suggest that ChatGPT is better used as a tool for rephrasing and reviewing text. This is because of its inaccuracies, lack of critical thought, and issues with accountability.
Remember that these studies were conducted using the current version ChatGPT which is based upon the GPT-3.5 Large Language Model. OpenAI launched the GPT-4 model with limited access. The model is said to perform 40% better than GPT 3.5 in producing factual answers, and future iterations are expected to improve further. Some of the limitations listed above may be overcome, while new cautions might emerge as technology improves.
Written By Dr. Bertalan Mesko and Dr. Pranavsingh dhunnoo
The Medical Futurist published the article ChatGPT in Healthcare: What Science Says first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who uses holistic medicine
Holistic medicine is health care that treats the whole person as opposed to treating specific symptoms. It considers both the mental, and physical aspects.
Holistic medicine includes acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic treatment, nutritional counseling, yoga, and other complementary therapies.
A holistic approach to medicine includes those with heart problems, cancer, diabetes, arthritis or depression.
What is the opposite of holistic medicine?
Holistic medicine is a way to approach health care that takes into account all aspects of the body, as well as its spiritual, emotional, and social dimensions. It is based on the concept that any illness must have multiple causes and requires a combination of treatments for maximum effectiveness.
Holistic medicine practitioners believe prevention is better that cure. To help patients achieve optimal health, they work closely with them.
They identify the root causes of disease and help prevent it from happening again. Holistic physicians treat the entire body, not just its organs. They sometimes refer to “the whole body” as the entirety of their being.
They treat the whole body, not just the skin. The doctor might recommend lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise. He may also recommend yoga and meditation, herbal supplements or massage, acupuncture treatment, or alternative medicine.
What is the difference in alternative medicine and complementary medicine?
Alternative medicine is any treatment that isn't considered standard by mainstream medical practitioners but which has been shown to have benefits for some conditions. Homeopathy, acupuncture and aromatherapy are all examples. Complementary medicines refer to those therapies which complement conventional treatment; they may be used alongside conventional medicine. These include dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, enzymes, probiotics, and other natural substances.
Both forms of medicine can be used but are not recommended by many doctors due to lack of evidence or safety concerns.
There is no consensus among health care providers regarding the best approach to integrating CAM into patient care.
Many CAM techniques are based in theories that have been around since thousands of years. However, clinical trials over the past 20 years suggest that some of these therapies might work.
Many studies show that acupuncture may help relieve pain. Similarly, preliminary data show that it may reduce nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. A number of studies also suggest that acupuncture might improve symptoms like irritable and fibromyalgia as well as chronic fatigue syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, migraines tension headaches, anxiety, and anxiety.
Other CAM methods may have therapeutic effects on conditions like HIV/AIDS and diabetes, heart disease or hypertension, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and rheumatoidarthritis.
Experts agree that CAM can help with many ailments, even though we still have a lot to learn about its effectiveness.
As a result, CAM practitioners are becoming more popular as a way to treat common illnesses.
Despite this growing popularity, many people remain confused about what exactly constitutes “alternative” or “complementary” medicine.
What is a holistic doctor?
A holistic medicine doctor is someone who treats patients holistically. They may use traditional methods such as herbs and acupuncture but integrate these into western medicine.
They treat the illness, not just the symptoms. After treatment, the patient should feel better.
The doctor should not be limited to treating the disease. He or she must also work with patients to prevent future complications.
“Holistic” is a term that refers all aspects of a person’s life.
What are alternative medicine examples?
Alternative medicine refers only to alternative treatments that are not considered to be effective in treating diseases. These include traditional Chinese medicine and homeopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture and herbal medicines, nutritional therapy, energy healing techniques, such as Reiki, and acupuncture.
Alternative medicine may also refer to practices not based on scientific evidence but used successfully in clinical practice. Examples include meditation, hypnosis, yoga, aromatherapy, reflexology, flower essences, and many others.
Statistics
- According to a 2005 book by a US [116]Institute of Medicine panel, the number of RCTs focused on CAM has risen dramatically. (en.wikipedia.org)
- In 83% of the cases, the readers agreed. (en.wikipedia.org)
- In the 17% in which they disagreed, a third reader agreed with one of the initial readers to set a rating. (en.wikipedia.org)
- According to the World Health Organization, 80% of people use herbal medicine worldwide. (webmd.com)
- These studies found that 38.4% concluded positive or possibly positive effects for CAM (12.4%), 4.8% concluded no effect, 0.7% concluded harmful effects, and 56.6% concluded insufficient evidence. (en.wikipedia.org)
External Links
nccih.nih.gov
cam.cancer.gov
doi.org
webmd.com
How To
What are the Shortcomings and Advances in Holistic Medicine?
Holistic medicine emphasizes mind, body, spirit, environment and social factors in healing. It was created by Dr. Edward Bach (1886-1936), whose first book, The Doctor's Book of Mind Cure (1924), describes the process. Simple techniques like meditation, visualization, hypnosis, and visualization were used by him. This treatment was beneficial for people who suffer from anxiety, depressions, stress, pain, insomnia, or other illnesses. This therapy is also helpful for patients who want to improve their lives and cope with their issues.
While holistic therapies remain popular today, little evidence supports their effectiveness. However, some studies show that these treatments can help reduce symptoms associated with chronic conditions such as asthma, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, migraine, obesity, osteoporosis, and others.
These are the highlights and pitfalls of holistic medicine:
- Lack of scientific evidence. Only a few well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluate the benefits of holistic therapies. Most researches are observational studies that show positive results.
- Alternative medicine is less expensive than conventional medicine. Some alternative medicines are cheaper than traditional ones, especially when the patient follows a natural diet.
- Patients do NOT feel pressured or compelled to follow prescribed protocols.
- Many doctors recommend complementary treatment, but they don't prescribe them.
- Holistic treatments often combine with conventional medicine. For example, acupuncture may be combined with medication or surgery.
- People believe that alternative treatments work better than conventional medicine.
- Alternative drugs are considered more natural and less harmful than traditional drugs.
- Many patients also use complementary treatments to support their lifestyle changes. They want to feel healthy and enjoy life.
- Holistic treatment patients are often healthier.
- Older adults are increasingly turning to holistic treatments.
- Additional research is needed on complementary treatments.
- Studies show that most people prefer alternative treatments to going to the doctor.
- It is important for doctors to realize that not all patients will benefit equally from alternate treatments.
- Holistic treatments should be part of our culture and education system.
- Holistic treatments may not be safe for all.
- We must learn how to teach patients about different therapies so that they can make informed decisions.
- Holistic treatment is not for hippies only.
- Certain diseases are not cured by holistic therapies.
- Holistic treatments can sometimes be dangerous.
- Holistic treatments are helpful for specific conditions.
- Holistic treatments are effective.
- Holistic treatments are based in ancient knowledge.
- Holistic therapies are simple to learn.
- Holistic treatments can be hard to understand.
- Holistic treatments can be difficult to master.
- Holistic treatments are too expensive.
- Holistic treatments can be quite expensive.
- Holistic treatments are less expensive than conventional medicine.
- Holistic treatments can be more expensive than conventional medicines.
****
Holistic Medicine – A Short History
Holistic medicine is a system of healing that focuses on treating the whole person instead of just their symptoms. It encompasses all aspects of the person, such as their mental, physical, spiritual, occupational, cultural, and social influences. It is a way to prevent illness through diet, exercise or stress management.
Bastyr University established the first holistic school of medicine in Seattle in 1972. After Dr. Andrew Weil's 1996 book, “Spontaneous Healing”, holistic medicine started to flourish. In 1997, the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA) was founded by Dr. David Williams and Dr. Michael Murray. Today, there are hundreds of holistic medicine schools worldwide, including Bastyr University, Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, Maharishi Ayurveda Institute, Pacific School of Oriental Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and many others.
Holistic medicine was named by the World Health Organization as one of the five most important trends in healthcare. This trend focuses on integrating traditional care with complementary therapies like acupuncture, homeopathy and herbalism, massage therapy (reiki), yoga, meditation, and even tai-chi. This integration aims to provide safe, effective, patient-centered care while minimizing side effects and costs.
Holistic medicine is based on the interconnectedness and harmony of the body, mind, spirit. Instability can result in illness if any of these parts is not in balance. For example:
You become tense and out of balance when your mind is stressed or anxious. Cortisol, which is a hormone that promotes inflammation throughout the body, is what your body produces. The result is fatigue, weakness, and sickness.
If your emotions run high, you may experience negative feelings and thoughts like fear, anger, grief, or sadness. These feelings cause stress in your brain. If left untreated, this stress causes your body to produce adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline boosts heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate. Cortisol has a negative impact on your immune system and digestive tract. Both hormones can lead to fatigue, muscle tension headaches and dizziness, anxiety, depression, and other health issues.
You can lose your faith and hope in life if you feel depressed. Also, you may lack self-esteem. This can lead to poor eating habits, unhealthy relationships, and low energy. When your spirit is healthy, you feel happy, joyous, peaceful, and optimistic.
There are differences between alternative and traditional medicine.
Allopathic medicine is based upon the scientific method. To diagnose patients, doctors use x-rays and MRIs as well as CAT scans and other technologies. They prescribe medications for treatment and surgery when needed. Allopathic doctors believe that they have a complete understanding of the human body and can treat any illnesses. Alternative medicine can be used for vitamins, minerals, diet and exercise. Alternative medicine is not defined in a standard way. People call it natural or integrative medicine. Others refer to it as traditional medicine, naturopathic medicine, and CAM.
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If you or another person is suffering from a medical issue and you are concerned, consult your doctor or seek out other medical professional treatment as soon as possible. Do not disregard medical advice from a professional or delay seeking it due to information you seen on the blog or website or in any of the linked materials. If you're experiencing an emergency medical situation, dial 911 or seek emergency medical assistance on the closest phone immediately.
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By: Pranavsingh Dhunnoo
Title: ChatGPT In Healthcare: What Science Says
Sourced From: medicalfuturist.com/chatgpt-in-healthcare-what-the-science-says
Published Date: Thu, 25 May 2023 08:00:00 +0000
Frequently Asked Questions
Who uses holistic medicine
Holistic medicine is health care that treats the whole person as opposed to treating specific symptoms. It considers both the mental, and physical aspects.
Holistic medicine includes acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic treatment, nutritional counseling, yoga, and other complementary therapies.
A holistic approach to medicine includes those with heart problems, cancer, diabetes, arthritis or depression.
What is the opposite of holistic medicine?
Holistic medicine is a way to approach health care that takes into account all aspects of the body, as well as its spiritual, emotional, and social dimensions. It is based on the concept that any illness must have multiple causes and requires a combination of treatments for maximum effectiveness.
Holistic medicine practitioners believe prevention is better that cure. To help patients achieve optimal health, they work closely with them.
They identify the root causes of disease and help prevent it from happening again. Holistic physicians treat the entire body, not just its organs. They sometimes refer to “the whole body” as the entirety of their being.
They treat the whole body, not just the skin. The doctor might recommend lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise. He may also recommend yoga and meditation, herbal supplements or massage, acupuncture treatment, or alternative medicine.
What is the difference in alternative medicine and complementary medicine?
Alternative medicine is any treatment that isn't considered standard by mainstream medical practitioners but which has been shown to have benefits for some conditions. Homeopathy, acupuncture and aromatherapy are all examples. Complementary medicines refer to those therapies which complement conventional treatment; they may be used alongside conventional medicine. These include dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, enzymes, probiotics, and other natural substances.
Both forms of medicine can be used but are not recommended by many doctors due to lack of evidence or safety concerns.
There is no consensus among health care providers regarding the best approach to integrating CAM into patient care.
Many CAM techniques are based in theories that have been around since thousands of years. However, clinical trials over the past 20 years suggest that some of these therapies might work.
Many studies show that acupuncture may help relieve pain. Similarly, preliminary data show that it may reduce nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. A number of studies also suggest that acupuncture might improve symptoms like irritable and fibromyalgia as well as chronic fatigue syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, migraines tension headaches, anxiety, and anxiety.
Other CAM methods may have therapeutic effects on conditions like HIV/AIDS and diabetes, heart disease or hypertension, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and rheumatoidarthritis.
Experts agree that CAM can help with many ailments, even though we still have a lot to learn about its effectiveness.
As a result, CAM practitioners are becoming more popular as a way to treat common illnesses.
Despite this growing popularity, many people remain confused about what exactly constitutes “alternative” or “complementary” medicine.
What is a holistic doctor?
A holistic medicine doctor is someone who treats patients holistically. They may use traditional methods such as herbs and acupuncture but integrate these into western medicine.
They treat the illness, not just the symptoms. After treatment, the patient should feel better.
The doctor should not be limited to treating the disease. He or she must also work with patients to prevent future complications.
“Holistic” is a term that refers all aspects of a person’s life.
What are alternative medicine examples?
Alternative medicine refers only to alternative treatments that are not considered to be effective in treating diseases. These include traditional Chinese medicine and homeopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture and herbal medicines, nutritional therapy, energy healing techniques, such as Reiki, and acupuncture.
Alternative medicine may also refer to practices not based on scientific evidence but used successfully in clinical practice. Examples include meditation, hypnosis, yoga, aromatherapy, reflexology, flower essences, and many others.
Statistics
- According to a 2005 book by a US [116]Institute of Medicine panel, the number of RCTs focused on CAM has risen dramatically. (en.wikipedia.org)
- In 83% of the cases, the readers agreed. (en.wikipedia.org)
- In the 17% in which they disagreed, a third reader agreed with one of the initial readers to set a rating. (en.wikipedia.org)
- According to the World Health Organization, 80% of people use herbal medicine worldwide. (webmd.com)
- These studies found that 38.4% concluded positive or possibly positive effects for CAM (12.4%), 4.8% concluded no effect, 0.7% concluded harmful effects, and 56.6% concluded insufficient evidence. (en.wikipedia.org)
External Links
nccih.nih.gov
cam.cancer.gov
doi.org
webmd.com
How To
What are the Shortcomings and Advances in Holistic Medicine?
Holistic medicine emphasizes mind, body, spirit, environment and social factors in healing. It was created by Dr. Edward Bach (1886-1936), whose first book, The Doctor's Book of Mind Cure (1924), describes the process. Simple techniques like meditation, visualization, hypnosis, and visualization were used by him. This treatment was beneficial for people who suffer from anxiety, depressions, stress, pain, insomnia, or other illnesses. This therapy is also helpful for patients who want to improve their lives and cope with their issues.
While holistic therapies remain popular today, little evidence supports their effectiveness. However, some studies show that these treatments can help reduce symptoms associated with chronic conditions such as asthma, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, migraine, obesity, osteoporosis, and others.
These are the highlights and pitfalls of holistic medicine:
- Lack of scientific evidence. Only a few well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluate the benefits of holistic therapies. Most researches are observational studies that show positive results.
- Alternative medicine is less expensive than conventional medicine. Some alternative medicines are cheaper than traditional ones, especially when the patient follows a natural diet.
- Patients do NOT feel pressured or compelled to follow prescribed protocols.
- Many doctors recommend complementary treatment, but they don't prescribe them.
- Holistic treatments often combine with conventional medicine. For example, acupuncture may be combined with medication or surgery.
- People believe that alternative treatments work better than conventional medicine.
- Alternative drugs are considered more natural and less harmful than traditional drugs.
- Many patients also use complementary treatments to support their lifestyle changes. They want to feel healthy and enjoy life.
- Holistic treatment patients are often healthier.
- Older adults are increasingly turning to holistic treatments.
- Additional research is needed on complementary treatments.
- Studies show that most people prefer alternative treatments to going to the doctor.
- It is important for doctors to realize that not all patients will benefit equally from alternate treatments.
- Holistic treatments should be part of our culture and education system.
- Holistic treatments may not be safe for all.
- We must learn how to teach patients about different therapies so that they can make informed decisions.
- Holistic treatment is not for hippies only.
- Certain diseases are not cured by holistic therapies.
- Holistic treatments can sometimes be dangerous.
- Holistic treatments are helpful for specific conditions.
- Holistic treatments are effective.
- Holistic treatments are based in ancient knowledge.
- Holistic therapies are simple to learn.
- Holistic treatments can be hard to understand.
- Holistic treatments can be difficult to master.
- Holistic treatments are too expensive.
- Holistic treatments can be quite expensive.
- Holistic treatments are less expensive than conventional medicine.
- Holistic treatments can be more expensive than conventional medicines.
****
Holistic Medicine – A Short History
Holistic medicine is a system of healing that focuses on treating the whole person instead of just their symptoms. It encompasses all aspects of the person, such as their mental, physical, spiritual, occupational, cultural, and social influences. It is a way to prevent illness through diet, exercise or stress management.
Bastyr University established the first holistic school of medicine in Seattle in 1972. After Dr. Andrew Weil's 1996 book, “Spontaneous Healing”, holistic medicine started to flourish. In 1997, the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA) was founded by Dr. David Williams and Dr. Michael Murray. Today, there are hundreds of holistic medicine schools worldwide, including Bastyr University, Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, Maharishi Ayurveda Institute, Pacific School of Oriental Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and many others.
Holistic medicine was named by the World Health Organization as one of the five most important trends in healthcare. This trend focuses on integrating traditional care with complementary therapies like acupuncture, homeopathy and herbalism, massage therapy (reiki), yoga, meditation, and even tai-chi. This integration aims to provide safe, effective, patient-centered care while minimizing side effects and costs.
Holistic medicine is based on the interconnectedness and harmony of the body, mind, spirit. Instability can result in illness if any of these parts is not in balance. For example:
You become tense and out of balance when your mind is stressed or anxious. Cortisol, which is a hormone that promotes inflammation throughout the body, is what your body produces. The result is fatigue, weakness, and sickness.
If your emotions run high, you may experience negative feelings and thoughts like fear, anger, grief, or sadness. These feelings cause stress in your brain. If left untreated, this stress causes your body to produce adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline boosts heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate. Cortisol has a negative impact on your immune system and digestive tract. Both hormones can lead to fatigue, muscle tension headaches and dizziness, anxiety, depression, and other health issues.
You can lose your faith and hope in life if you feel depressed. Also, you may lack self-esteem. This can lead to poor eating habits, unhealthy relationships, and low energy. When your spirit is healthy, you feel happy, joyous, peaceful, and optimistic.
There are differences between alternative and traditional medicine.
Allopathic medicine is based upon the scientific method. To diagnose patients, doctors use x-rays and MRIs as well as CAT scans and other technologies. They prescribe medications for treatment and surgery when needed. Allopathic doctors believe that they have a complete understanding of the human body and can treat any illnesses. Alternative medicine can be used for vitamins, minerals, diet and exercise. Alternative medicine is not defined in a standard way. People call it natural or integrative medicine. Others refer to it as traditional medicine, naturopathic medicine, and CAM.
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