What is your constitution?
I was talking with a friend recently about constitution. I often hear people talk about this – “he has a weak constitution”, or “she has a strong constitution”. There’s a sense that there’s something fundamental in each of this that determines how we exist in the world.
Different people respond to the world in different ways. Constitution is a way to try and help us understand these differences. Several constitutional paradigms exist. As with any classification system, each has imprecision and imperfection, and if not used carefully may lead to bias and rigidity in thinking, or a sense that one doesn’t have control over their own life (“this is just how I am and I can’t change”). But it’s interesting that this constitutional approach has developed in many different cultures—and there tend to be overlaps.
What is your constitution?
The Story of Systems Medicine
Modern medicine has brought some amazing advancements. The development of antibiotics. Increasingly sophisticated and targeted cancer treatments. Medical imaging techniques, like PET scans and MRIs. Cardiac surgery, organ transplantation, and minimally invasive surgery. These advancements have led to increased life expectancy and have enhanced quality of life for many people.
The greatest strength of modern medicine, though, can also be its greatest weakness: the challenge of greater and greater specialization and precision. We seek to understand things by taking them apart, down to their most basic elements, studying individual genes, proteins, or molecules in isolation. In doing so, we run the risk of losing sight of the big picture.
This is where systems medicine comes in.