Western Medicine and Holistic Approaches

 Dr. Gunnar Hansen, MD, RAc is interviewed by Mei-Chi Chan, therapies coordinator and psychotherapist at the Water Garden. This is a candid interview on the pros and cons of conventional medicine and holistic approaches to health by someone with deep experience in both.

Mei-Chi:  Gunnar, you’re a medical doctor and licensed acupuncturist originally from Germany. I know that over the last 20 years you have shifted the focus of your work from conventional Western medicine towards holistic alternative approaches. So my first question would be “why?”

Gunnar:  Among the many reasons I could talk about is the ineffectiveness of modern medicine in dealing with chronic disease or the side effects that come with its typical medications and interventions.  On a more fundamental level it doesn’t address questions like  “Why are we getting sick?  What is the root of it?” When I first started my career as a GP, I thought that the Western approach was fair and non-judgmental.  It attempted to help everybody with the same drug or procedure and put all the blame on bugs or genes. Today I feel differently. I believe that this approach has robbed us of our responsibility and our power to make changes.

Mei-Chi:  So how are the holistic approaches different?

Gunnar:  First of all I want to stress that Western medicine has had great achievements in many areas – such as sanitation, surgery and even antibiotics.  I wouldn’t want a diabetic seen deprived of his insulin or an accident victim withheld a blood transfusion - but what about all the drugs and interventions that are designed to relieve us from any kind of discomfort, pain, sadness or from feeling the consequences of overeating, lack of exercise or other kinds of imbalanced living? They simply numb the signals from our bodies that real change is needed.  These drugs and interventions are a billion dollar business and are part of the reason that our society gets sicker and sicker. So now I prefer to work with clients that have realized that they have to change in order for their health to change.

For these people, traditional and holistic medical care can provide a plentitude of supportive therapies; dietary and lifestyle changes can be tailored to individual needs and they also offer patients some relief through massage, acupuncture and other means.  What is really the key is that clients are supported to engage in their own process of healing. 

Mei-Chi:  You mentioned the need to get to the root of a problem.  Can you describe how that actually happens?

 Gunnar:  For example, we all know that every disease has a psycho-emotional component and that it needs to be addressed in order to fully heal. We might get it moved from suppression to expression. What caused a whole lot of pain and frustration in the beginning might turn out to have been a blessing in the end. If we could just trust the natural wisdom of our bodies and psyches! Often it is not the pain (or the painful emotion) itself that makes us sick but our resistance to fully feel, accept and process it. In many ancient healing traditions negative emotions are equated with toxins – their lingering in the body causes serious disease. Acupuncture not only stimulates better cleansing of external toxins by supporting our organ function but it also helps to clear out internal toxins by removing emotional blockages and supporting emotional balance.

 Ideally, a healing intervention would not just “heal” us by somewhat magically relieving us from pain but make us see what we have done to our bodies and ourselves and how that was not a very smart thing to do. Even though this might involve a painful process of realization it eventually enables an opening to real growth that opens new ability. We outgrow the disease, shed a skin, so to speak, and move on with our lives.

 Mei-Chi:  I’m also curious about what your allopathic western medicine background brings to your work as a holistic healer in The Water Garden.

 Gunnar:  Being trained and experienced both in allopathic and naturopathic medicine means I help my patients to find out for themselves how to get the best of both worlds. When is a medical intervention or conventional medication advisable and when is it worth to go through some “growth pains”? These are questions I regularly discuss with my patients whom I either challenge to take it further, or in other cases, take it a notch down. In my over 15 years of practice in integrated medicine I have gained an intuitive understanding of what works for one individual and what doesn’t. I share my medical knowledge with my patients in an explorative discourse while at the same time very carefully listening to their needs, respecting their belief systems and cherishing their uniqueness and individuality.

 To book an appointment with Dr. Gunnar Hansen, call:  780 651 7365

First consultation 90 minutes $120, 60 minutes follow-up $80.

 To contact Mei-Chi about Water Garden therapies or working at the Water Garden as a therapist, call direct on: 780 660 8810