Holistic medicine is an approach to healing that considers the whole person—that is body, mind and soul as a complete, integrated system. It is an elegant system, which, when it is in balance, can heal itself. The term, holistic, comes from Holism—a theory that the universe and especially living nature is correctly seen in terms of interacting wholes (as if living organisms) that are more than the sum of the elementary particles.
In comparison, conventional medicine or western medicine is based on empirical science. It treats the symptoms of disease in isolation of the body system by compartmentalization and specialization. There are some conditions for which the conventional approach to healing is perfectly suited. Jason Elias, a Holistic medicine practitioner said this about the role of western medicine in healing the human body, “Western medicine is wonderful at attacking germs, fixing bones and treating cancer, but it’s battlefield medicine. It doesn’t treat the whole person. We need something to complement it.”
An article in The Epoch Times English edition, An Important Difference Between Chinese and Western Medicine, Jingwen Wang writes, “Western [allopathic] medicine focuses on removing the symptoms using direct methods, so-called “fix the head when the head hurts; fix the foot when the foot aches.” Yet Chinese medicine emphasizes a dialectical analysis of the human body as a whole, where it is viewed as a collection of interconnected and interrelated systems. Therefore, the holistic approach inherent in Chinese medicine shows great potential in treating more complex illnesses such as cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer’s.”
One of the crucial differences from the conventional medicine is that holistic medicine not only aims to cure conditions naturally, but also restore one’s physiological environment where the body starts healing by itself.
There are various situations where holistic medicine is more suitable and effective.
- When a patient suffers from conditions due to unknown causes and specialists cannot find any abnormality based on standard medical testing and observation. The patient may be discharged without any diagnosis, while the patient continues to suffer from symptoms without any solution.
- When a patient experiences multiple symptoms that fall into different categories. (For instance, headache, menstrual problem, insomnia, depression, constipation, etc.) The patient may be often overprescribed by multiple physicians and develop side effects or adverse reactions, which require more medications.
- When conventional medicine does not have any healing tool for the condition. For instance, there may not any medication for pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) other than regulating the menstrual cycle with birth control pills. Such conditions are likely to be curable with acupuncture, with herbal medicine, often combined with nutrition and other holistic approaches.
- When medications are not effective for a patient with chronic illness and conditions or causing severe side effects.
In these situations, the holistic medical approach often finds a solution by seeing the whole person, rather than trying to treat the illness or condition.
Our society has begun recognizing the benefits of holistic medicine and its demand is rapidly increasing. Such holistic modalities as acupuncture, herbal medicine, energy medicine (Reiki), meditation, yoga and Tai Chi, for instance, have gained more and more popularity in the Western society. These modalities are complement each other, constituting an integrative system. Holistic and conventional medicine can also complement each other by recognizing each role in the healing process so as to bring the whole body back into a state of equilibrium.
Sources:
1. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
2. fiveelementhealing.net/
3. The Epoch Times, An Important Difference Between Chinese and Wester Medicine, Jingwen, Wang May 9, 2011
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/health/an-important-difference-between-chinese-and-western-medicine-55986.html