Hidden Rituals in Medicine

 FRIAS Lunch Lecture Series 2018 "Ignorance - what we don't know"
"Hidden Rituals in Medicine"

  
Medical science conceptualizes the human body mostly as a biochemical machine governed by linear causal relationships. Medical interventions are designed according to the same model of cause and effect. Research in psychotherapy, placebo and psychosomatics proves this model to be incomplete since it demonstrates the impact of the mind on bodily functions. But in the last 60 years certain research methods have been established as gold standard that avoid to see these consciousness related effects since they cannot be conceptualized in the standard biochemical paradigm. As a consequence, many effects of mental, consciousness and even social conditions are falsely attributed to causal interventions such as drugs and surgery. Seen from this perspective, modern medicine is full of hidden rituals, which are reinforced by research results and which cannot be seen by the current paradigm and research methodology.