Answer your challengers
That system may work beautifully when the goal is to decipher some particularly obscure biochemical detail, but it completely falls apart when we try to consider the essence of health, the greater picture. This scenario does not allow for the comprehension of the effect on the interlinking web of life. The most important questions are never asked. Why? Because according to this mentality, they are irrelevant.
In medical science it often suffices that only the particular requirement of the moment be addressed. All efforts are directed to be focused on such a pinpoint level that the experts within their own fields become so overspecialized and bogged down in their own minutiae, that they become blind to developments right next door which could lead to a breakthrough if only they had the chance to learn about it.
Yet, one thing I must give science credit for and that is its own people wound up challenging its basic premise, especially in quantum physics and chaos theory. In "chaos theory" it is stated that chaos isn't really randomness, but a realization that everything effects everything else. Thus, every move we make effects the entire planet, and perhaps the entire universe. As I often muse, even our breath, taking in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide is an intimate dance with plant life in creating a well balanced atmosphere that is a win-win for both us and the plants.
As such, a frugal physician by the name of Dr Bob says in his book, People Medicine: A Frugal Physician Prescribes Common Sense and Enthusiasm, that the dimensions of life are not just physical, but also in the vortex of forces that spiral through us to connect us to the rest of the world. As he states on p176:
The home environment is tremendously important to health
Diet and nutrition, eating habits and meals or lack thereof have an impact on health and potential to cause disease. Physician know miniscule amounts about this general area of life. They also miss much other useful information because they don't see patients in real life situations
Religion, sex and politics, things we area all supposed not to discuss, should be a part of a physician's survey.
"Critique of Modern Medicine" further states:
There are many in the medical community who are so set in their ways that they cannot possibly acknowledge that there is anything at all in medicine beyond their view of the human body as strictly a mechanical cause-and-effect automaton. Everything in their world has to be immediately and fully quantifiable, or it doesn't exist.
The empiricist (behavioral / cognitive) oriented field of psychology and counseling is right on track with this trend. There are some short-term therapies, that even though they are standardized, are in home, which never happens in the medical profession. Yet, again, these are short-term get in, "fix" what's broken, and get out methods. While they look at their approach as being systematic and reflecting upon the system in a child's life, they don't get that the primary system, Western Civilization, is the ultimate culprit. The children, the families, the school systems, the government and pretty much all of Civilization is suffering from a mental illness or behavioral issue. Realizing this, Chellis Glenndening wrote a book called, My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization. Drug and alcohol abuse are definitely under the jurisdiction of many psychological approaches. Yet, the dominate culture that tries to "fix" these kinds of issues mirror the illness that they are trying to "fix." Our delinquent and drug abusing kids are a mirror of their Mommies and Daddies, i.e., the System of which they are a part. The problem is the cultural system. Not the people being treated.
This would even be predicted in holographic physics where the part mirrors and contains the whole. Thus, our body contains atoms floating about the space in our bodies in the same proportion as stars, planets and moons relate to intergalactic space. And, our drug abusing, neurotic and delinquent kids mirror the general society. The difference is the delinquent kids we work with in the field often go on to either go to jail or succumb to the dominate culture. Meanwhile, the dominate culture continues to be addicted as reflected in Chellis' book.
Indeed, the capitalists epitomize the problem. The motto is to produce a bottom line of infinite growth. "No end in sight" says the man with the huge phallic cigar hanging from his mouth. What goes up must come down; however. The fire eventually burns out. Those currently profiting from a hyper-inflated stock market while millions still go under- or unemployed, and millions more underpaid and without benefits, should take note. Nothing on this earth goes up forever; the gravity of the situation will inevitably bring it down. Unlimited growth is a devious lie the corporations tell themselves.
Thus, Dr. Bob states that "medical investigation almost totally negates the scene of the crime." (p. 173) In psychological therapy, there are some practices that at least approach this important idea. One is MST, or Multi Systemic Therapy. This approach is cognitive behavioral and is able to see the system as interacting with the child. Unfortunately, being academic based, while the services are often delivered by juvenile justice and mental health systems, means that they too are caught up in the same sick systems that their trying to "help."
Towards the end of the book, Dr. Bob states that positive change is going to happen when "individuals take more responsibility for themselves and neighbors, and when communities become temples of healing again." Yes, Dr. Bob. When my wife and I went on an anti-inflamatory diet, including a juiced rawfood fast for a week, my digestive and joint symptoms magically receded. It remains to be seen whether they will go away entirely or whether my short-term memory will improve, but the health I have gained in a couple of weeks sure beats the upper and lower GI with a several thousand dollar bill attached that the medical establishment was prescribing for me next.
Dr. Bob is proposing and I am endorsing a true communities-oriented approach. If we are to produce healthy adolescents we need to develop healthy communities and families. Our systems of today, from the pyramids of the corporations to the pyramids of the government are filled with people engaging in "anti-social" behaviors. The criminality of our corporate/government structure mirrors holographically the criminality of our delinquent teens. There is no difference between Obama, Bush, Romney, or Clinton from a juvenile engaging in drug use, bullying, rape or other anti-social acts. Indeed, the rape of the Earth and the problem with the rape of women and children are driven by the same top-down control and domination ethos.
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