One of my interviewers for medical school explained the Osteopathic Philosophy in this way. There is an equilateral triangle with points A, B, and C inside circle S. A is for awareness and it represents the mind. B is for body. C is for character and it represents feelings or emotions. S stands for spiritual and it stands for everything outside of one’s self. This could include religion, culture, and family. Given that this figure exemplifies the human being, the holistic philosophy was explained by demonstrating that when one’s mental state was altered, it offset the other points and skewed the circle. For example, when students stay up all night to study for an exam, they are sluggish and irritable the next day. This could cause them to bicker with close friends and family members, skip church for sleep, or miss out on other social events. Their mental angle (angle A) increased due to studying all night. However, this caused their body angle and character angle (angle B and angle C) to decrease in proportion to the increase in angle A. Furthermore, these changes to the triangle caused circle S to become distorted and ovoid resulting in undesired consequences.
I acknowledge that treating a posterior fibular head is not going to cure depression in anyone, however for 40% of patients a cure is not on the table at this point in time. For this group of treatment resistant patients, OMT may be one of the few things that can bring relief because it is targeting the problem from a physical standpoint. The art of osteopathy is that no disease is wholly unreachable, even depression. Using our hands, we enable the body to better battle depression. Embracing the tenets of osteopathic medicine, we empower our profession to be limitless.
1. The body is a unit; the person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit.
2. The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance.
3. Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
4. Rational treatment is based upon an understanding of the basic principles of body unity, self-regulation, and the interrelationship of structure and function.