Challenges to modern medicine

1
Challenges to modern medicine

• Malaise states
• Uncertain aetiology
• Chronic diseases

2
The assumptions of western medicine

• The body functions like a mechanical system
• Pathology is due to a specific error in this
  system
• Treatment requires requires correction of that
  specific error

3
The mechanical analogy

• Clocks, steam engines, computers
• The body as a machine
• The idea of a specific fault

4
The assumptions of CAM

• The body is a system in balance
• Imbalance in the whole system causes disease
• Treatment involves correcting the imbalance

5
Why reject assumptions of CAM?

• Inconsistent with Science
• But .... The problem of life
• A new science that can explain life?

6
Complexity theory

• Self-organisation or learning
• Pattern recognition
• Tolerance of local error
• The idea of distributed information

7
Control systems the conventional perspective

• Physiological control
• Behavioural control
• Assumption of independence

8
Is there a higher order control system?
9
Complexity theory

• Different kinds of complex system
• Networks
• Networks function differently from other
  sequential systems, and are consistent with
  assumptions of CAM

10
Complexity theory

• Flocks of birds
• versus
• Clocks

11
The concept of the extended network

• The brain is a self-regulating self-organising
  system
• Physiological and behavioural regulation systems
  are integrated
• The whole body-brain system is a single
  self-regulating, self-organising system

12
Specific versus network error

• Error in the higher order system
• creates
• Error in the control systems that is recognised
  as disease

13
Extended Network Error

• Self-organisational change brought about by
  learning rules that normally contribute to more
  effective self-regulation, but which,under
  specific circumstances, create dysregulation

14
The compensation rule

• A B
• C

15
Examples of compensation rule

• Immune challenge plus immune suppressant
• Physiological challenge plus lifestyle challenge

16
Subtle therapy versus robust therapy

• Robust therapy
• Subtle therapy
• Both needed

17
Therapeutic inputs to the network

• Push therapies
• Pull therapies

18
How is the network influenced?

• Physical
• Psychological
• Generalised entanglement

19
The data

• The believers
• The non-believers
• Third way

20
Conclusions

• Practitioners of CAM are likely to be effective
  for reasons other than those they believe in
• There is a psychological effect
• There may also be an effect caused by entanglement