Pitfalls of Modern Medical Science (2) - Dualism

If your hands or feet are pain, the doctor would probably never ask whether or not your emotions or stress have recently occurred. If you suffer from anxiety disorders, the doctor would probably not consider your body conditions and may simply prescribe medicines such as anti-depressants to alter your brain chemistry. Modern medical science assumes, explicitly or implicitly, that mental problems are not related to the body's conditions, and the body's illnesses are not related to mental states.

The mainstream medial theories assume that the mind and the body are two separate entities. This is termed 'dualism', which can be traced to the philosophy of the French philosopher Rene Descartes in the 17th century. Such an isolation of mind and body leads to a complete separation of medical professions, such as the sharp division between the neurological, internal medicine, and surgical departments.

What we can easily find is that the problem with medical dualism lies in their internal contradiction of scientific assumptions. For example, unlike religion, modern science does not believe in spirituality, and it emphasizes that everything in relation to medical examination and testing must be physically materialised and observable. However, on the other side, quite strangely, when medical professionals examine mental illnesses and diseases, they ignore the physical states. Psychoanalytical theory, for instance, regards anxiety disorders as a purely mental problem rooted in our unconsciousness. Cognitive-behavioral theory refers to anxiety disorders as a mental issue related to misperceived information, or a simple problem of unreasonable thought. These mainstream theories regard mental problems as purely a cognitive or thought problem. They do not consider how mental issues are related to the body conditions.

Thus, the deep issue within modern medical theories are the problems of isolation, disconnection, and fixation in conceiving the nature of our body and illness. Medical science ignores the fact that the human body is a living process, a systematic whole, which cannot separate the mind from the body. Our mind is completely based and reliant on the body, and is supported by the body, while the body is controlled by the mind. The mind and the body are interconnected and interdependent. They are inseparable in that they are like a two-sided coin - the two sides are the two aspects of the same coin. It is very possible that a pain in the body is caused by mental issues such as stress and anxiety, and stress and anxiety disorders may be caused by poor body conditions. The mind-body interactions should never be ignored in illness diagnosis and treatment. Evidence shows that, in any double blind medicinal testing, the placebo accounts for 30-65% of the positive treatment effects. This indicates that our mental factors have significant impacts on the body and disease treatments. Therefore, it is a mistake that the mind and the body are isolated for medical examination, diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. William Sun is Director of The Process Centre, an international research network in cross-disciplinary fields based on process thought philosophy. He is Visiting Professor of Harbin Engineering University, member of the Scientific and Medical Network, and British Association of Holistic Medicine. He has recently published a book The Triple Process Remedy: A New Philosophy on Illnesses of Stress, Anxiety and Depression. More info can be found on the website: http://www.processremedy.com