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Essay about Forms of Healing in Ancient Times

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Forms of Healing in Ancient Times

It is evident through ancient writings that forms of healing were present as far back as is recorded. Medicine, healers and forms of payment seem to have played an important role in the past, like they do now. However, over the centuries changes have taken place. From the time of Galen in ancient Rome to the 14th and 15th centuries in England the relationships between doctors and patients have evolved, along with the way medicine is defined and practiced. Specifically I would like to focus on forms of payment and their effect on the doctor-patient relationship and how payment and the practice of medicine have changed over time. These changes led to a healer-patient relationship that was not as …show more content…

The writings of Galen describe how he was treated Eudemus, a neighbor of his, and how he came to visit him every night (Galen, 77-79). Galen was with this man through every step of his illness. One interesting thing is the way the man sits and waits for Galen every night. After Galen takes his pulse, Eudemus hangs on Galen's every word and feels better after he has talked to him. This shows again the close relationship between healer and patient and how Galen's presence and prognosis gave him peace of mind, which promotes healing. Other writings, such as "Epidemics, Book 1" in which there are day-by-day accounts of each patient's condition also give us a sense of the doctor's intimate knowledge of the person they are treating (Epidemics, 44-45). These doctors recorded every detail of sickness and any and all symptoms that the patient reported to them. These doctors wanted to try their hardest to heal their patients or if nothing else try to tell them when they would die. It appears that healers took better care of each individual and focused more of their time on each sick person.
I have mentioned that the relationship between healers and patients in ancient times was different and therefore payment in ancient times was also different. Many times, healers in ancient Rome were not paid at all, or if they were paid, payment was usually not in the form of money. Vivian Nutton says in his article that, "A doctor was a person, male or female,

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