You may have heard the term “holistic medicine” as another way to refer to alternative forms of medicine. What exactly does this mean? What makes alternative medicine more holistic than conventional medicine? Will a holistic form of healing provide better results for patients?

A Definition of Holistic Healing

The word \’holistic\’ is a way to describe the “wholeness” of something. With regards to medicine, holistic means that a method of healing is concerned with treating the whole person. A medical provider that prioritizes holistic healing will consider a person\’s emotional well-being, spiritual faith, and mental health in addition to their physical health.

Many holistic providers believe that the treatments they recommend have more than a strictly physical impact. Thus, they are careful when prescribing forms of therapy that would cause negative side effects on a person\’s mind or spirit. This isn\’t necessarily to say that a holistic remedy is connected with any specific faith tradition; rather, “spirit” in this case can refer to a patient\’s will power, resilience, and fortitude. A course of treatment that leaves a patient feeling unwilling to continue receiving treatment would not be a very holistic form of healing.

How Does Alternative Medicine Address Holistic Health?

Western conceptions of health and healing are primarily limited to the physical body and to the physical causes of illness and malady. In other words, a broken bone is considered in a discrete way, as just the bone itself. There may be investigation into whether that particular bone was weakened by some disease or disorder, but the treatment of the broken bone is accomplished through strictly physical means. The bone is set, protected with a plaster cast, and the patient is prescribed any medication they\’ll need to speed healing and relieve pain.

An experienced practitioner of alternative medicine would send you to an orthopedist to have a bone set, though they would also work with you to support the rest of your body during the healing process. If the injury occurred during a traumatic event, mental health counseling or spiritual services may be recommended. Physical therapy may be suggested in order to support the musculature while a portion of the body is held immobile by the plaster cast and massage therapy could be recommended to relieve tension.

Holistic Health in Medicine Today

Thinking about health as it concerns the whole body isn\’t anything new to alternative medicine. Conventional medical doctors have been increasingly integrating holistic thought into their practices; there have been hundreds, even thousands, of articles published in medical journals emphasizing the importance of thinking about health care from a multifaceted perspective. Today it\’s not unusual to encounter a conventional medical practitioner who strongly supports thinking about health from a holistic perspective.

Holistic forms of treatment have the potential to do more for you than just make you feel better. The body and mind share a close connection, one that is just beginning to be understood by science and Western medicine. In fact, as time goes on, many of the foundational principles of alternative medicine are receiving mainstream scientific acceptance. Medical doctors, mental health specialists, therapists, and other Western practitioners now make a point of integrating holistic medicine into their daily practice. Thinking about the health of the entire human body is no longer out of the question and has the potential to benefit countless patients.

Lawrence Reaves writes for Solstice Medicine Company, an online retailer that sells traditional chinese medicine. For more information on this type of medicine click here.

Lawrence Reaves writes for Solstice Medicine Company, an online retailer that sells traditional chinese medicine. For more information on this type of medicine visit http://www.solsticemed.com/

Author Bio: Lawrence Reaves writes for Solstice Medicine Company, an online retailer that sells traditional chinese medicine. For more information on this type of medicine click here.

Category: Medicines and Remedies
Keywords: alternative medicine, medicine, chinese medicine, traditional chinese medicine, herbal medicine