Pros and Cons of ‘The Band-Aid Approach’ to Healing

You may have heard of this term thrown around here and there, but what does it actually mean?

The ‘Band-Aid Approach’ refers to any method used to fix a health issue, that does so without actually treating the root cause of the issue. There is much debate in the health community about the use of the Band-Aid Approach and whether or not it has a place in treating illness, so let's go over a few of the pros and cons of this method. 

Pros 

• Usually fast relief from symptoms (e.g., using pharmaceuticals like ibuprofen)
• Can often be cheaper 
• Helpful in emergencies 

Cons 

• Can become more expensive down the line, when more health issues arise
• By not addressing the root cause, it can worsen symptoms (and create more)
• Symptoms almost always return 
• Polypharmacy: when the side effects of one drug cause you to need another type of medication 
• Does not address the potential unhealthy behaviors causing the symptoms 
  

Let’s explore an example!

Say you have a headache … you’re looking for something (a band-aid) to get rid of the pain (your symptom) fast. In this situation you have two options, you can try and figure out the root cause of why you have a headache, or you can turn to something you know will fix it immediately, and worry about the ‘why’ later. So you take some ibuprofen, and in 20 mins the pain is gone. Problem solved, right?

Not necessarily. 

Although the pain of the symptom might now be gone, the reason you had the headache in the first place hasn’t been addressed yet, so what is to stop you from getting another headache the next day …

Illness and disease are much easier to prevent than they are to heal!

For that reason it is incredibly important to address your health in a holistic way and to not just treat symptoms with medication and supplements. So this means having a good understanding of: 

• Diet
• Stress management
• Gut health
• Hormonal balance

Hopefully that quick breakdown of the Band-Aid Approach was helpful for you, and maybe it even helped you identify some behaviours in yourself that you’re excited to change, or a different perspective that you hadn’t thought of before!

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