Eine interdisziplinäre Betrachtung von „Ganzheitlichkeit“ in Komplementär- und Alternativmedizin

Abstract

Treatments in complementary and alternative medicine are regularly articulated and adopted via the concept of “holism”, involving body, mind, and soul. This concept, which is at the heart of this contribution, is not only brought up in distinction to conventional medicine, but often connected to spiritual ideas. One reason for this can be seen in the fact that many treatments in complementary and alternative medicine such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine descend from South Asian and East Asian contexts and are – in part – derived from religious or philosophical traditions. The author, who is both, a specialist in internal medicine as well as a scholar of culture, brings together historical and culture-the-oretical aspects of “holism” with insights from cognitive
science and neuroscience. The author’s research findings from the context of Ayurveda are discussed paradigmatically. To integrate this interdisciplinary analysis, this paper makes use of so-called theories of embodiment, which allow to analyze the sensorial experience of social actors in the given field of research. From this perspective, the notion of “holism” can be regarded as compatible with spiritual aspects of treatments from complementary and alternative medicine. At the heart of this contribution lies the inquiry as to how and why patients can sensually experience “holism”. The question pertaining to the efficacy of such medical treatments is not touched upon. The positionality of the author is explicitly interdisciplinary and multi-perspectival which intends to reveal the blind spots of various medical treatments. The methodical triangulation presented here can lead to ambiguities which should be seen as a stimulation for further discussion between culture-theoretical and (natural)science-oriented perspectives. In sum, several suggestions are offered to counteract the exclusionary discourse of various healing systems. The goal is to further promote integrative medicine.