Running head: English Composition 1

Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine

July 25, 2010

Introduction
It is important to understand the cause of the current crisis on the matter, factors that lead to diseases and good health, in addition to the steps that need to be taken by an individual so as to maintain good health.
Traditional medicine, also known as conventional medicine, relies on scientific principles, contemporary technologies as well as scientifically proved methodologies for purposes of preventing, diagnosing, and treating adverse medical conditions (Treweek &Heller, 2006). Health care professionals within conventional medicine believe that diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses …show more content…

Alters and Schiff (2010), asserts that, before any treatment procedure is put into use in conventional medicine, health care professionals in this field must verify that it does not subject human beings to adverse medical side-effects. Numerous studies are conducted using animal and human subjects to determine the effectiveness of a certain treatments.
Conventional medicine is recommended when a patient is suffering from a life threatening condition. It focuses on the symptoms which a patient is presenting with. Generally, conventional medicine focuses on dysfunction. Those who prefer conventional medicine to alternative medicine, seek treatment only after they have fallen ill. This is due to the fact that conventional treatment puts very little emphasis on the prevention as compared to treatment (Treweek and Heller, 2006).
The major difference between conventional and alternative medicine is that conventional medicine concerns itself with the management of symptoms through scientific modalities and modern technology rather than dealing with the whole person as well as the root cause of an illness. Alternative medicine emphasizes on the prevention of illnesses and aims at treating the whole person in order to strengthen his/her immune system as well as producing a sustainable healing. Conventional medicine uses drugs to treat various illnesses thereby suppressing the