What medicine do you take on a daily basis? One in 4 Australians is suffering from stress, anxiety, depression or PTSD. This means that over 5 million Australians are probably taking ‘anti-depressants every day! This is a scary thought!
What this tells me is that the traditional ways of treating stress, trauma, anxiety or PTSD are not working. The drugs and psychotherapy are not stemming the tsunami of mental problems. If this is so, what can we do about it? Is it time for mainstream medicine to start looking at alternative therapies to find solutions that overcome these challenges?
Time for A New Approach
Is it that mainstream medicine has become a little arrogant? Chinese medicine is thousands of years old but Western Doctors discounted the benefits for centuries. I believe the Medical hierarchy has been closed to investigating other alternatives, however, this is changing.
Scientific Proof
One of the hurdles, alternative or complementary therapies face is that of having scientific ‘proof’. Hypnotherapists in the 16th Century had to ‘prove’ the results they achieved. Hypnosis and mesmerism were outlawed as the ‘work of the devil.’ Science says that “a process that has not been researched or proven cannot work.” Medical research is conducted by pharmaceutical companies. Governments no longer fund the majority of research, as they don’t have the funds. Research is driven by pharmaceutical companies. These companies have the money but are invested in the results. The research may be biased to ensure ‘their’ products are approved and recommended by Doctors.
Research is Not the Only Proof
There are many things in this life that work and have not been researched or proven but still work. Many of these lie in the realm of alternative medicine. People want complementary medicine as an alternative treatment. Medicine that compliments what is already available.
Mainstream medicine needs to be more open to other treatments. The old tried and trusted methods do have their place. But it obvious it is not the only solution. To stem this tsunami of stress, anxiety, depression, or PTSD we must look at alternatives. Imagine, if we could have fewer Australians relying on drugs to get through their day.
After all the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.