Support or Intervention. The medical schism. Implicit in all writings by alternative therapists is the assumption that the body is a self repairing entity. I have yet to see this spelled out loud and clear. My purpose in this brief piece , is to do that as best I can. Let us define our terms and try to avoid accusations of woolly thinking . If two people are so ill, in the same way , both physically and on a par with one another, that they needed to be put on life support systems, and then at some point both have the system switched off One dies , the other lives and recovers. Age , physical condition and treatment have been identical. What is lacking in the case that died, and present in the case that survived is life force , Vitality. It matters little what it is named so long as it is recognized. In this piece I shall call it vitality. To contrast the opposing stances let us consider two typical cases of uterine problems that include P.M.T , bleeding between menses and benign fibroids. One may go to a natural healer and be cured by the laying on of hands over a period of time. Here we have a supportive therapeutic treatment rather like using "jump leads " between two cars. A crass , but I hope , graphic analogy. The other goes through orthodox medical hands, with dilation , curettage diuretics Hormone therapy and finally a hysterectomy. The full 'gross intervention theory ' treatment. It is interesting and instructive to examine the philosophy of this stance. Actions , speaking louder than words tell us that (a) ' your body is not fit to produce substance 'X' , we will administer it , orally or intravenously. (b) your body does not excrete properly. We will administer substance 'Y' that will compel it to excrete urine. (c) your body is growing warts on the walls of the uterus. We will surgically remove them. (d) Your body insists on growing warts on the uterus s no matter how often we remove them. you must have the uterus removed. " At no point is; the question raised ' why is the body doing this ?.' The case described is repeated a thousand times each year. It is not unusual The thought that these events , external signs of a malfunctioning vitality is not considered. That cutting off tissue acting as a vent for internal distress, might weaken the vitality is not considered. The above example is intervention medicine at its worst. The dogmatic assumption that a recalcitrant individual body can be drugged or surgically cowed into the dictates of a "we know best " therapy , is best summed up in the old joke that " the operation was a success, but the patient died. " Naturopathy , is as I understand it, a therapy with a firm belief that its role is to support an inner vitality by correcting and regulating, both the lifestyle and the intake of food. In this way the toxic wastes of over refined and unwholesome food are eliminated from the physical tissues of the body and the psychological stress and strain is eliminated from the social environs. In this way man and nature are realigned to an interdependent symbiotic relationship. It is an interesting thought that interventionist medicine may only reflect an interventionist society which believes nature may be exploited without any ill effect One has only to look to the poisoning of river and sea , with toxic wastes , and the destruction of the rain forests to see a parallel. With Azo dyes in squash and ice Collies creating hyperactive children , meat containing hormones that no one prescribed for us, one must feel that Naturopathy and its supportive attitude to the body's vitality , has a great deal to recommend it. In the field of preventative medicine , diametrically opposed attitudes are seen when one contrasts the ' interventionist ' approach of vaccination which has been shown to have a poor record of protection. AS in one instance 55% of cases in an outbreak of diphtheria had been vaccinated . It has also given rise to at least 2,600 claims for brain damage (mainly whooping cough vaccine), and in America has coined a term S.I.D.S. (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome ) with over a 1,000 deaths a year. On the other hand , in Acupuncture, vegatesting and other "Electronic " therapies we have the idea that a vitality exists in the body with paths similar to the ley lines of the earth. Disturbances of the minute electrical fields indicate that illness, while not yet pathologically detectable , is developing . Steps can be taken to prevent the full blown disease from damaging the body. Acupuncture can cure many conditions , even when they have become pathologically confirmed. It is a measure of our "progress " and a chronological irony, that today draws a curious parallel with the 1700's, when Hahnemann , the founder of modern homeopathy , was working. Now , as then , the rich and privileged can buy the best treatment available , and suffer the consequences. Then it was leeches , today it is high technology and powerful drugs that can suppress and sometimes kill. there is no progress only change . Aromatherapy seems to me as an outsider, a combination of homeopathy in that minute announce of a substance are taken into the body through the skin , and the laying on of hands . All in support of an inner vitality. Reflexology and all the manipulative therapies seem to involve an element of the laying on of hands and to support an inner vitality . Even when it is not explicate stated as an integral part of the therapy . I apologize if I have not mentioned your particular therapy but all, including Iridology and Gem Therapy seem to imply that there, is an inner vitality that can be influenced healthwards. If any one feels that their therapy is against and does omit the possibility of a vital force , then I would be Pleased to hear from them. Basically I feel that this force of vitality is the common ground that unites all alternative therapies. My own field is homeopathy and in this therapy the vitality is firmly linked with the late writings of Hahnemann and his theory of chronic genetically inheritable tendencies to disease. This gives rise to the individual constitutions- we all have at birth and the deep constitutional remedies that can cure these tendencies . Also , spelled out by many homeopaths , down the years since I790 , are the ways that these tendencies are always relieved. By;- (I) skin conditions such as eczema , acne , brown patches and moles . (II) discharges , of a catarrhal type from any orifice, of brief bouts of diarrhea , of menses , of sweat . (III) by growths such as warts , lupus , fibroids and tumours . (a ) By inflammatory and feverish conditions such as sore throat , herpes , cystitis and N.S.U. It is a basic homeopathic theory that these conditions spring from a derangement of the vitality and act as vents for internal pressure. If they are suppressed and cut off by drugs or surgery then the internal pressure sill build up and a worse internal disease will follow. If the conditions are treated where they are rooted , internally , by homeopathy, the vitality still be aroused and go on to cure the pathological condition. Doing research for a recently issued booklet on cancer I was surprised at the sheer number of cases of Cancer cure that litter the pages of homeopathy from I890 to I940 when world war II and penicillin swamped homeopathic principles. I would be pleased to hear details of any cures of cancer from I940 onwards. Spontaneous remission is a phrase often used when a condition , or cancer vanishes without scientific treatment or, scientific explanation. Yet no one seems to consider that an improvement, starting at that center of vitality and moving outwards can eliminate even a cancer. Whilst I have tried to show the gap that separates the "support " and "intervention " types of medical care , and have pointed to the fact that alternative therapies seem to be entirely on the support side I do not wish to imply that all orthodox medicine is interventionist. There are many doctors whose attitude is supportive and some have laid aside pathology to practice effective alternatives.