Week 5 - Miguel Flores

          In Western medicine, I think, it is often overlooked the importance and impact of religion and spirituality for an individual’s well-being and recovery. The You Are Here article peeks into the potential of using Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) as a supportive method in assessing not only the physical but also the mental well-being of a patient. The article outlines the use of TCAM as a path to check the pain and suffering of an individual. A step by step process of psychoanalyzing a patients’ pains and health complaints in which a clinician may provide relief to an ill patient. Validating and affirming a patient’s mental inabilities or anxieties can be diagnosed by using the method of mindfulness that will eventually resolve worries and mind-boggling thoughts that a patient would be experiencing. Reflecting, meditating, and praying are thought to be, psychologically, helpful mechanisms that improve the mental outlook of patients who may be experiencing physical pains. These psychological processes of assessing your mental outlook do prove there is something about spiritual belief and TCAM that the Western medicine fails to do and that is having a coping and reflecting mechanism that transcends and relieves a patient’s anxieties and worries while experiencing physical pains.

Lisa Miller coped with depression by consulting various healers, guides, and groups to finally find peace through her spiritual child. 

          In my experience, prayers do help a lot in giving me comfort and relief in whatever physical pains that I am experiencing. I remember when I was rushed to the Emergency Room because I had a high fever and later on my family found out I have Dengue (a viral disease from Zebra Mosquitoes). I was confined at the hospital for several days, and I remember my mom would always stay over and would always pray the rosary before I go to bed. In those moments, I felt my mom’s devotion and commitment to her religion, and for that short time, I felt at ease and temporarily carefree of the physical condition that I am in. I came from a devout Catholic family and whenever someone is sick or going through a hardship my family, especially my mom and grandma, does partake in a prayer vigil and for whatever reason, like a miracle, any problems and or circumstances does get resolve. It is indeed interesting to see that there are studies and research that validates the powerful process of prayer and meditation in consolidating someone’s illnesses and or anxieties. I do believe there is a potential for this integration of medical science and TCAM.