Hippocratic theory about disease and medicine
"It is thus with regard divine nor more sacred than other diseases
, but has a natural cause from the originates like other affections. Men regard its nature and cause as divine from ignorance and wonder..."
On the Sacred Disease
Hippocrates is credited with being the first physician to reject superstitions, legends and beliefs that credited supernatural or divine forces with causing illness. Hippocrates was credited by the disciples of pythogorasof allying philosophy and medicine.He separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the GODSbut rather the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits. Indeed there is single mention of a mystical illness in the entirety of the Hippocratic Corpus. However, Hippocrates not a did work with many convictions that were based on what is now known to be incorrect anatomyand physiology, such as humorism. This was Buqrat only who said that disease had nothing to do gods andgoddessof that time.This thinking of Buqrat change the entire thinking of people and Greece become the centre of learning and knowledge.
Ancient Greek schools of medicine were split (into the Knidian and Koan) on how to deal with disease. The Knidianschool of medicine focused on diagnosis. Medicine at the time of Hippocrates knew almost nothing of human anatomy and physiology because of the Greek tabooforbidding the dissection of humans. The Knidian school consequently failed to distinguish when one disease caused many possible series of symptoms.The Hippocratic school or koanschool achieved greater success by applying general diagnosisand passive treatments. Its focus was on patient care and prognosis, not diagnosis. It could effectively treat diseases and allowed for a great development in clinical practice.
Hippocratic medicine and its philosophy are far removed from that of modern medicine. Now, the physician focuses on specific diagnosis and specialized treatment, both of which were espoused by the Knidian school. This shift in medical thought since Hippocrates' day has caused serious criticism over the past two millennia, with the passivity of Hippocratic treatment being the subject of particularly strong denunciations; for example, the Frenchdoctor M. S. Houdart called the Hippocratic treatment a "meditation upon death".
Humorism and crisis
The Hippocratic school held that all illness was the result of an imbalance in the body of thefour humoursfluids which in health were naturally equal in proportion (pepsis).When the four humours, Dam ( Blood), Sauda ( Black bile), Safra ( Yellow bile)and Balgham ( Phlegm), were not in balance (dyscrasia, meaning "bad mixture"), a person would become sick and remain that way until the balance was somehow restored. Hippocratic therapy was directed towards restoring this balance. For instance, using citruswas thought to be beneficial when phlegm was overabundant.
Another important concept in Hippocratic medicine was that of a crisis, a point in the progression of disease at which either the illness would begin to triumph and the patient would succumb to death, or the opposite would occur and natural processes would make the patient recover. After a crisis, a relapse might follow, and then another deciding crisis. According to this doctrine, crises tend to occur on critical days, which were supposed to be a fixed time after the contraction of a disease. If a crisis occurred on a day far from a critical day, a relapse might be expected. Galen believed that this idea originated with Hippocrates, though it is possible that it predated him.
Hippocratic medicine was humble and passive. The therapeutic approach was based on "the healing power of nature" ("vis medicatrix naturaein Latin). According to this doctrine, the body contains within itself the power to re-balance the four humours and heal itself (physis).Hippocratic therapy focused on simply easing this natural process. To this end, Hippocrates believed "rest and immobilization [were] of capital importance".In general, the Hippocratic medicine was very kind to the patient; treatment was gentle, and emphasized keeping the patient clean and sterile. For example, only clean water or wine were ever used on wounds, though "dry" treatment was preferable. Soothing balmswere sometimes employed.
Hippocrates was reluctant to administer drugs and engage in specialized treatment that might prove to be wrongly chosen; generalized therapy followed a generalized diagnosis. However, potent drugs were used on certain occasions. This passive approach was very successful in treating relatively simple ailments such as broken bones which required tractionto stretch the skeletal system and relieve pressure on the injured area. The Hippocratic benchand other devices were used to this end.
One of the strengths of Hippocratic medicine was its emphasis on prognosis. At Hippocrates' time, medicinal therapy was quite immature, and often the best thing that physicians could do was to evaluate an illness and induce its likely progression based upon data collected in detailed case histories.
Hippocratic theory about disease and medicine
By: Dr Izharul Hasan
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