The Case for Symptomatology, Impairments and a Healing Ecology

Abstract

This article presents the case for thinking about medicine from a very different perspective. An alternative is presented in relationship to the standard western medicine fragmented, reductionist, drug-based treatment. Instead of the standard approach to medical problems, the case is presented for working with symptomatology, impairments, and a healing ecology. We need to understand symptomatology in a wider context, understanding how any injury, illness, disease is pervasive within the individual’s mind/brain/mind. These are never isolated, fragmented events. Secondly, rather than only spending time on diagnosis (which is important), clinicians must more importantly also focus on the impairments our patients are struggling with. Finally, we need to create
a healing ecology for each of our patients. That is, a holding environment, a matrix, within which our patients can concentrate on healing. This includes the importance of the doctor-patient relationship, and the environmental context within which our patients are living their lives. We need to spend more time with our patients functioning as an organizing agent as they work through the struggle to get healthy again. Throughout the article, a case study is presented that illustrates the clinical use of this perspective.