Different mental models, but similar systems
REFLECTION OF MENTAL MODELS
Puja Laginya Raghuraman
Did the different mental models have a common ancestor?
A closer look at the different kinds of mental models of the traditional medicines reveals that there are many commonalities that one would expect. Almost as if, they were once, one. The way in which one language begets new dialects and accents as people spread through the land. This led me to question if the allopathic model too owes its allegiance to some form of traditional medicine that resembles the medicinal models that are currently considered as “Traditional”. This essay tries to follow allopathic medicine to its roots and tries to trace its ancestry and briefly looks at different models of medicine that exist.
Roots of Allopathy
The Allopathic mental model of the body is so ingrained in our minds, that one needs to unlearn it in order to see and understand the different mental models of the body that has existed since time immemorial. (1) Early Allopaths tread on Descartes’s footsteps and believed that body was mechanical and viewed organs as different parts. They look for physical causes of the diseases and seek to cure the symptoms.
Early Greek medicine was based on humours, i.e chemicals ( liquids) that regulated human behaviour. The four personality types, sanguine, melancholic, Choleric and phlegmatic, which are based on the four temperaments are derived from the theory of Humourism. Upon more research, it was clear to me that even Humourism has its roots in the works of Alcamaeon of Croton. Alcamaeon has been referred to as “a thinker of considerable originality and one of the greatest philosophers, naturalists, and neuroscientists of all time. Alcmaeon also was the first to dwell on the internal causes of illnesses. He was the first to suggest that health was a state of equilibrium between opposing humours and that illnesses were because of problems in environment, nutrition and lifestyle. Later, (2) Empledocles developed on this idea and theorized that the two opposing forces, that he called Love and Strife, were the creators of life, with the help of the four elements, Fire, Air, Water and Earth, which make up the universe. Love and Strife are attractive and repulsive forces, respectively, which are plainly observable in human behavior, but also pervade the universe. The two forces wax and wane in their dominance, but neither force ever wholly escapes the imposition of the other.
Links to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
This concept is very similar to the basic theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) which includes Yin and Yang and the Five elements. According to TCM, the body is made up for the five elements, Fire, Air, Water, Wood and Metal and their balance which is kept in check by the Yin and Yang , much like Love and Stife.
Ayurvedic traces
Similarly, Ayurveda talks about the make-up of the body with the balance of the three Doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, which are in turn made up of the five elements, Fire, Air, Water, Wind and Space.
Conclusion
In all the three above mentioned Mental Models of the body, the cure is based on not only intake of medicines but also on other factors like lifestyle, exercise and meditation. The body’s interaction with its environment is taken into consideration. Furthermore, the illness is cured by identifying and cure of the root cause of the disease, (which is seen as an imbalance in the elements of the body) and not just in the cure of the symptoms, as in the case of Allopathy. (Allopathy was initially based on a system of opposites. For example, if a person had too much water retention, medicine to increase urination was prescribed!)
Thus, in the entire medicine system, the concept of “opposing forces that keeps the balance in check” runs deep. They may manifest in different ways but ultimately the equilibrium of the body must be maintained for health and fitness.
Which tells me that although different mental models might be at play in different systems, upon research, one might be able to find similarities between models. Secondly, intervention through design may be applied at two levels. One, is to design an intervention in the system such that the symptoms of a problem are solved, which in turn may return the system into equilibrium. Or else, try and identify the root cause of the problem and try to design appropriate intervention to eliminate it. As a designer, one must also beware of the consequences of his/her intervention. Studying systems design reinforces this and helps us see the butterfly effect at play.
Sources
1)http://www.thenewmedicine.org/timeline/allopathy.html
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empedocles#Love_and_Strife
(3) https://nccih.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/chinesemed.htm
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empedocles#cite_note-EB1911-26
