Before you write your hateful comments, hear me out.
I want to first state that I love science, and I do value its how it is a great tool in today's society.
However...
It is the way people cling unto scientific studies like they're the holy gospel that is detrimental to the progress of scientific research. Especially when it comes to health.
These are the people who won't try something new unless it has undergoed a peer reviewed double blind study. I'm mainly talking about plant medicines and their potential to cure many illness which western medicine cannot.
To these narrow minded people, thousands upon thousands of testimonials across thousands of years isn't proof enough. They need a peer reviewed study to be funded by a big corporation to put their minds at ease.
Shamans (or medicine men or women) are just as capable at curing diseases as a western doctor. As westeners, we're taught that anything that's not done by a white guy in a lab coat isn't science, but that simply isn't true.
Western medicine is an incredible phenomenon. The lives western medicine has saved is monumental.
So many people in today's society have this plant phobia or something. It's like we forget that pharmaceutical drugs are derived from a plant.
We need to start treating western medicine as a tool, not the only tool. When it comes to addiction, trauma, end of life transition issues, PTSD, depression, and anxiety, western medicine fails horrendously most of the time. It just so happens that psychedelics are really really effective in these areas.
This would be because western medicine doesn't look at health holistically. Instead they get stuck in the specifics. Antidepressants is the perfect example.
People who have depression just so happen to have low serotonin levels in their brain. But we now know that depression is caused by more than just a "serotonin deficiency". Antidepressants such as SSRIs work by blocking the re-uptake of the serotonin neurotransmitter in the brain. The main problem with these pharmaceutical drugs is that it increases the number of serotonin receptors which requires more serotonin neurotransmitters. This is why people, more often than not, feel much worse after getting off the drugs.
Western medicine fails with mental illness such as depression and anxiety because it looks at the symptoms instead of going to the root cause of the problem. There is no one size fits all philosophy when it comes to peoples health, so what may be one person's medicine may be another one's poison.
Something as simple as changing to a raw whole food diet could cure many cases of depression. I mean after all, 90% of serotonin receptors are manufactured in the gut. But then again, telling people to change their diet isn't as profitable as giving them drugs.
Plant medicines such as Ayahuasca work because it goes to the root cause of the problem. It brings the unconscious to the conscious mind. It works because it dissolves the ego which has been constructed all these self-defense mechanism which has been suppressing all your unpleasant emotions. It cleans your system and may clear out any blockages that is the root cause of an illness.
Why do think Ayahuasca has such a massive success rate with depression after only ONE session?
I'm not saying that we should abandon western medicine, quite the opposite in fact. I'm saying that we should integrate western medicine with plant medicines, and start treating health holistically. I mean at the end of the day, everything in the universe is connected, which does not exclude our bodies.
We should treat eastern and western medicines as different tools used for different illneses. We have to find the balance instead of going to far on the spectrum on either side. I mean, If you happen to be in a car accident and break a few bones, it would be much wiser to go to a doctor, rather than going into the jungle to find some herbs.