Conventional medicine: Better not to uncle doctor?

While a large part of the population has health problems clarified by a doctor, the rest take a different route: A study by the Medical University of Vienna found that just under 79 percent of Austrians visit a general practitioner at least once a year, 67,4 percent a specialist. A debacle for conventional medicine.
"What we observe and also reported from hospitals is that some people only wait for complaints whether they lay down by themselves," says Susanne Lang-Vorhofer, spokeswoman for the medical association. Many patients also do not go to a private doctor because the opening hours can not be reconciled with their professional life, but look for a hospital outpatient clinic. "When I'm sick, I'm not only dragging myself for confirmation to the doctor," says the PR consultant Florian Müller. "Then I can go to work immediately." More and more people have no time to be ill, suspects also the clinical and health psychologist Martina Schwaiger. "We live in a performance society that forces people to permanently cross their borders. At some point these people will not feel anymore. "

According to the medical association, there are also more and more patients who would rather go to an ambulance than the family doctor. They think they can check in from head to toe. "Every year around 17 millions of ambulance frequencies are recorded; statistically speaking, every Austrian visits an outpatient clinic more than twice a year," says Lang-Vorhofer. According to a Vorarlberg study from the year 2010, half of these patients in the established area would be in better hands.

Different expectations

Bad experiences with doctors also lead people to no longer seek medical treatment from conventional medicine. This is also the case with Florian Müller, who received two different diagnoses for the same disease symptom from two doctors. “I can also guess myself,” said Müller's devastating diagnosis. “I rarely go to the doctor because I don't like taking medication,” says Andrea Hübl. The 31-year-old prefers to look for home remedies online or to ask about natural remedies in the pharmacy. “I don't go to preventive health care either, because I listen to my body and feel when something doesn't fit.” According to the Medical Association, young people up to the age of 24 rarely make use of the preventive medical check-up - in 2009 only 5,5 percent of those 18 to 24-year-old men and 7,6 percent of women of the same age for free medical check-ups. "With increasing age, health awareness should also grow", adds Lang-Vorhofer. 15,5 percent of men aged 60 to 64 and 15,8 percent of women of the same age went for a check-up.
If people never undergo medical examinations, psychologist Martina Schwaiger is under repression. "These people are afraid to learn something they do not want to hear. This is also called avoidance behavior. "

“These people are afraid of finding out something they don't want to hear. This is also called avoidance behavior. "

Others prefer alternative medicine, such as 45-year-old Martin Hirsch (name changed). "I have been swearing on homeopathy for 20 years and have even been advised by a trained homeopath." In the Western world, the use of alternative or complementary medical methods is steadily increasing. "It is obvious that factors such as environmental influences, diet, exercise or lifestyle in conventional medicine are insufficiently considered or even deliberately excluded," explains Daniel Doberer, a specialist in internal medicine. "With the mechanistic disease model, the disease came to the fore and the patient into the background." In the concepts and treatments of complementary medical methods, patients in their totality often felt better understood.

"The use of the Austrian health system is very high and uncoordinated compared to other EU countries. But that does not lead to a better state of health. "

Improvement system

"The use of the Austrian health care system is very high and uncoordinated compared to other EU countries," says Kathryn Hoffmann, co-author of the study at the Center for Public Health of the MedUni Vienna, about local conventional medicine. "But that does not lead to a better state of health." Thus, 65-year-old Norwegians have significantly more healthy years to live than the Austrians - "although they do not go to the doctor so often and their health care system is cheaper". In Norway, for example, there are only 17 percent of the population, in Ireland 24,8 percent, who regularly consult a specialist. "In these countries, however, the visit to the family doctor is a prerequisite for referral to a specialist, the family doctor has a very different position than in Austria," adds Hoffmann. Patients first have to go to the family doctor - often in so-called "community health centers", where several primary care physicians practice under one roof and exchange information intensively. "These have an overall view," says Hoffmann. In Austria, primary care physicians increasingly become mere referrers to the medical specialists.

Alternatives to conventional medicine

Homöopathie
A treatment method that works with herbs mainly from the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms. The remedies are prescribed according to the rule of similars: A remedy will cure those discomforts to the sick that are similar to those which it can cause in healthy people. The drugs used are potentiated, ie diluted. Homeopathy regards man as a unity of body, soul and spirit; in Austria it may only be practiced by physicians.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
Among the therapeutic methods of Chinese medicine are mainly the therapy with herbs, acupuncture, cupping and moxibustion (warming of acupuncture points). Also, massage techniques such as Tuina Anmo and Shiatsu, exercise exercises such as Qigong and the five-element diet are part of TCM. A TCM physician closely monitors the patient's behavior and behavior, physiognomy, tongue, pulse, and excretions.

Ayurveda
Ayurveda was developed in India and is one of the oldest known forms of therapy. The term means "knowledge of life" and is based on the concept of Tridosha. This includes the unity and harmony of the three doshas vata (body / movement), pita (mind / energy) and kapha (soul / cohesion). An important diagnostic method here is the pulse diagnosis, which helps to capture the interplay of the three basic principles. In addition to the knowledge of the healthy way of life Ayurvedic medicine has two treatment methods: Dravyaguna (herbal medicine) and Panchakarma (excretion and purification therapy).

Mind-body-based methods
Meditation, relaxation techniques, autogenic training, tai-chi, yoga, hypnosis, biofeedback

Body and movement-based methods
Massage, chiropractic, cranio-sacral therapy, osteopathy, pilates

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