Avoid Dualism

Dualism- the cleaving into two from that which is truly one- colors our beliefs regarding health and illness. Consequently, we in the Western world attempt to understand the body as if it were in total isolation of the mind… we want to describe human beings – healthy or otherwise- as though they are functioning in isolation from the environment in which they have developed, are living, working, playing, loving and dying. These are the built-in and hidden biases of our Western medical orthodoxy, an orthodoxy which most of us heathcare providers absorbed during our training, and then carried with us into practice.

Gabor Maté, MD

The above is a quote which strikes at the very heart of Bob Barkley’s work…that the ‘dualism’ inadvertently learned in dental school, is ineffective if the goal is to create a practice full of successful, healthy and happy patients.