Cure vs. Palliation

From the Latin word cura, cure means concern or attention. Literally, cure means to restore a patient to health, to fully eliminate or solve the signs and symptoms of disease.
In the current conventional model of health, relief from disease might be brought about by surgery, medications, and supplements. Generally such pursuits serve to palliate, attempting to ease the symptoms without addressing the underlying cause of the disease.
By no means is there anything wrong with palliation. Symptom relief is essential. It allows us freedom to carry on with our daily lives. However, if we stop there without giving honest attention to the underlying cause of the symptom or disease, the case can become much more complicated.
Symptoms serve as clues to a deeper disharmony in the body. They are a “knock at the door,” awakening the patient to the fact that balance once again needs to be restored on a physical, mental, or emotional scale.
Over time by masking the symptom (palliation) and not seeking beyond the superficial, we potentially move the disharmony deeper, where the next “knock at the door” may not be so polite. This is where we enter the world of suppression, a clinical aspect that can be potentially dangerous.
At the golgi clinic, we invite our patients to imagine optimum wellness in their lives. In the procession of treatment, a defining moment arrives (usually 6-12 months into treatment) when we no longer focus solely on symptoms or disease. Now palliation makes way for true cure and patients are afforded the opportunity to explore the more expansive, profound elements of their lives. Now they begin to understand their own path toward wellness and put together that wellness isn’t about so much what they take, but rather what is done, believed, and cherished in life. These are the aspects of wellness that are truly forever lasting.

Friday, May 1, 2009

the golgi clinic
you’re gonna feel better