In Western culture, some religions, such as Jewish claims that "physical cleansing" is linked with "spiritual cleansing" and therefore avoid the ingestion of certain foods, such as pork [10]. In fact, in the Medieval Ages, some physical diseases were seen as a sin committed by the sinner who needed to be “cleaned or forgiven” by the priest. In this regard, it should be noted that many clerics were also physicians, such as Petrus Hispanus who is attributed the authorship of the emblematic book «Thesaurus Pauperum» for the use of low-income patients. Furthermore, some religious institutions, such as monasteries were used as medieval hospitals to cure the soul and body of the poor, the elderly, the disabled and pilgrims. At that time, medical knowledge was transmitted essentially through encyclopedias, such as the «Etymologiae of Isidore» which addressed theology along with themes on philosophy and medicine.

Islamic culture also contributed to the exchange between theology, philosophy and medicine, as it was the example of the work designated by «Mishneh» of Maimonides. At the beginning of the Renaissance period [11], namely with the appearance of the press, there was an easy diffusion of texts on medicine and philosophy, in Latin instead of those written in Arabic. Some examples on these works are «Medicina ad Henricum II», «De abditis rerum causis» by Jean Fernel and «On Anatomical Procedure» by Johann Guinther von Andernach (who was one of Vesalius's scholars), as well as, Jacobus Sylvius who sought to stimulate innovation in the study of medicine. So, the study of Anatomy and the knowledge of new drugs from American and Indian plants became an integral part of medical education.

However, in the XVII century, the philosopher Descartes attracted by Harvey's theories, proposed the separation of mind and soul (the exclusive area of ​​philosophy and religion) and the body (the exclusive area of ​​medicine and science), where the body is treated as a "machine". Since then, religion and science became separate areas in the study of the human being [12]. Thus, it was defended that mental disorders should reside only in the body and not the mind. This is the “Paradigm of conventional medicine”, although some experiments in the brain area have challenged this Cartesian perspective. In the XVIII century and beginning of the XIX century [13], three perspectives on medical philosophy emerged, namely that of Friedrich Hoffmann who defended “mechanism” (use exclusively the physical-mechanical principles to preserve the patient's well-being), Georg Stahl who defended “animism” (human body should take into consideration the agent of conscience - the soul (Anima)) and Boissier de Sauvages who had an intermediate position between these two perspectives. Meanwhile, it was in these centuries that an effective medical means of preventing diseases was discovered: vaccination. In fact, in 1796, the physician Edward Jenner established the scientific basis for vaccinology, for bovine smallpox. In the XIX century, Pasteur discovered the vaccine for rabies. Since then, several vaccines against infectious diseases have been developed, such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus and yellow fever, among others. Currently, there are more than fifty vaccines.

Finally, in the XIX century and beginning of the XX century some witchcraft practices condemned in previous centuries by the Catholic Church were seen by psychiatric medicine practitioners as mental disorders that needed medical treatment [14]. So, the book entitled «Traité physician-philosophique sur l´aliénation mentale» by the psychiatrist Pinel is an example of this change in perspective, as it seeks to interconnect mental disorders with the patient´s physical illness. In the XX century, these investigations were complemented by the works of Freud (on hypnosis) and Jung (on the connection between symbolism and psyche).