The perspective of health and illness in the human body held by a doctor using the vitalistic approach is that the effort of any healer, regardless of degree earned, must always be to restore health to the organism and not to treat disease.
Health is found when normal function and balance are restored. When a person has normal function and balance there is no need for their body to show symptoms of illness. They are not ill.
There are times when the signs of imminent death are present and the treatment must reflect the ultimate goal of preserving life.
I do not condemn surgery or pharmaceuticals. They have their place. For me that place is ONLY to save someone from imminent death. Like insulin for someone with Type 1 Diabetes or thyroid hormone for someone who has had their thyroid removed. Maybe it is for someone who has presented as septic and because there are no appropriately trained vitalists at hand, antibiotics are used. Or someone has shattered a bone – it needs to be put back together, with surgery. So they have their place. But that is my opinion.
For others in the world, pharmaceutical meds and surgery are what they choose. For some, it is easier while for others it appears to be the only option. For some, it is all their insurance will pay for. For many people, it is because they do not know they have the super power of learning and following natural laws, which includes knowing that their body can heal itself.
But, who am I to tell someone how they manage their experience on this planet? Our experience of life is nothing more than the choices we make. Life is what we decide it is. Each and everyone of us. And this is why we have different kinds of doctors. Supply and demand.
But in all except saving someone from imminent death, the work of the doctor or nurse – the healers, should be to restore normal function and balance to their patient. This means we do not give them poison in the hope they will become healthier. They will not, it violates the natural laws.
What follows the natural laws and therefore is always true is to
give their body what it needs to thrive like water, food, minerals, exercise, sleep, calm, hope and knowledge.
remove what is poisoning, damaging or otherwise harming their body
and
stimulate the natural healing ability of their body.