It seemed a cure for everything was just around the corner. Thus, conventional medicine focused on treating disease, not people. New developments such as better drugs and more advanced technology existed within the biomedical model, not outside of it. But now, at the end of the 20th century, we are faced with the shortcomings of biomedicine. Despite decades of research, we still haven't found cures for some of our most deadly diseases.
Drugs can have devastating consequences.
Research from Harvard concluded that 180,000 people are killed annually by conventional medicine, most by prescription drugs. Lifestyle choices are once again recognized as having significant impact on our health. Lifestyle choices include nutrition, alcohol, exercise and smoking, but also self-esteem and negative attitudes. According to the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mind Body Disciplines , holistic health views wellness as a continuum from premature death to an optimum level of health. Leo Galland, M.D. defines integrated medicine as both a combination and extension of conventional and alternative therapies.