“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”  Voltaire

Biological medicine is the generic term used to describe a conceptual field in medicine that, unlike classical medicine, no longer follows the Newtonian "cause and effect" way of thinking. Unlike classical medicine, which seeks single causes of illness and fights them, biological medicine draws together and analyzes all the possible factors that could be causing a health problem and attempts to positively influence them. The aim of biological medicine is to awaken the body’s innate ability to heal.

In biological medicine, symptoms are seen as alarm signals that indicate an underlying problem that must be addressed if the patient is to be restored to full health. The underlying causes of illness may be toxins, imbalances, poor diet, or emotional problems. Part of the philosophy of biological medicine is that symptoms occur to help us learn more about the needs of the body, so we can supply those needs.

Biological medicine uses diagnostic tools that are outside conventional Western medicine, including dark field microscopy and thermography. Many biological medicine practitioners also acknowledge that dental problems often accompany (and may be the source of) seemingly unrelated maladies, so dental xrays are often used as biological medicine diagnostic tools.

Biological medicine includes several alternative medicine modalities, such as:

Phytotherapy — The study of and use of natural plant products as medicines or to promote and enhance health. Phytotherapy includes the use of phytonutrients, which are high-powered natural food products, as biological medicine to enhance health and wellbeing.

Homeopathy — The use of highly diluted natural substances as biological medicine to treat physical and psychological ailments. homeopathy relies on the natural tendency of the body to restore its own balance when obstacles are removed.

Traditional Chinese Medicine — An ancient system of medicine practiced in China that includes Chinese herbalism and acupuncture. Traditional Chinese Medicine is a biological medicine that incorporates the yin/yang (or male/female) aspects of the body and takes into consideration the ways in which the body mimics five elements of nature: Wood, Water, Metal, Earth, and Fire.

Physiotherapy — Also sometimes called “physical therapy,” a biological medicine practice of restoring the fullest possible function to each part of the human body through specific exercise and manipulation. Physiotherapy is used most often after a disabling accident or illness.

Homotoxicology -- A branch of biological medicine that focuses on cleansing the body at the cellular level to improve the functioning of every organ. Homotoxicology differs from homeopathy in that it uses blends of natural substances in formulas, rather than single natural materials, and theorizes that the body exposed to toxins—mostly toxins that the body itself creates—goes through six specific phases leading to disease.

Anthroposophical medicine — A holistic approach to biological medicine that focuses on the whole person in a healthy state, supplying whatever is needed to enhance the patient’s individuality and sense of purpose on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. Anthroposophical medicine is the branch of biological medicine most likely to support conventional medical treatments as well as alternative treatments.

Ayurveda — A form of traditional biological medicine native to India and used for thousands of years that encompasses herbalism and the division of human bodies into three specific types or doshas. Ayurveda considers health as a balance between the five major elements: Air, Water, Earth, Fire, and Ether. This form of biological medicine encompasses the use of massage, meditation, and yoga as well as herbal treatments.

While some associate biological medicine with traditional medical practices that have no impact on today's world, modern science is attempting to bridge that gap. A group of scientists is aiming to encourage the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine throughout the modern world by helping categorize and define connections between different treatments used in the ancient practice, according to a 2011 report published in the journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. The researchers began the process by reviewing current literature on the Herbalome, which is the name for the modern categorization in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Can botanical medicine compare to modern pharmaceutical drugs in treating disease? Some scientific evidence has proven that it can, and it can often be safer than pharmaceutical drugs.

In a 2011 clinical trial published in Clinical Rheumatology, scientists compared Ayurveda and Biological Medicine to the common Western medicine treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, which is the pharmaceutical drug hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQS).

HCQS is classified as a “disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug,” but it is only mildly effective and has some serious toxicity that can cause other health problems. The study found an Ayurveda treatment containing the plants Tinospora cordifolia and zingiber officinale to be at least as effective as HCQS for treating rheumatoid arthritis—but the Ayurvedic treatments had no side effects.