Future of Holistic Medicine Holistic

¶ … Future of Holistic Medicine

Holistic medicine is a system of health care which promotes a cooperative relationship among all those involved, leading towards optimal attainment of the physical, mental emotional, social and spiritual aspects of health. It stresses the need to look at the whole person, including analysis of physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional, social, and spiritual lifestyle values. Holistic medicine focuses on education and responsibility for personal efforts to achieve balance and well being (What is Holistic Medicine, n.d.).

Holistic Health is an advance to life. Rather than focusing on illness or specific parts of the body, it focuses on an approach to health that considers the whole person and how he or she interacts with his or her environment. It highlights the connection of mind, body, and spirit. The goal is to achieve maximum well-being with everything functioning at its very best. With Holistic Health people accept responsibility for their own level of well-being, and everyday choices are used to take charge of one's own health (Walter, n.d.).

Each person is considered as a unique individual, rather than an example of a particular disease. Disease is seen to be the result of physical, emotional, spiritual, social and environmental imbalance. Healing is seen as taking place naturally when these aspects of life are brought into proper balance. The function of the practitioner is as guide, mentor and role model. The patient must do the work by changing their lifestyle, beliefs and old habits in order to facilitate healing (Frequently Asked Questions, 2009).

Ancient healing traditions in India and China, stressed living a healthy way of life in harmony with nature. Socrates warned against treating only one part of the body because he that a part can never be well unless the whole is well. Although the term holism was introduced by Jan Christian Smuts in 1926 as a way of viewing living things as entities greater than and different from the sum of their parts, it wasn't until the 1970s that holistic became a common adjective in our modern vocabulary (Walter, n.d.).

Scientific medical advances have created a dramatic shift in the concept of health. Germs have been identified as outside sources that cause disease. Gaining health has become a process of killing microscopic invaders with synthesized drugs. People have come to believe that that they can get away with unhealthy lifestyle choices, and modern medicine will fix them as problems develop. Yet for some conditions medical cures have proven more harmful than the disease. Many chronic conditions do not respond to modern medical treatments. In looking for other options, people are turning to the holistic approach to health and healing. The Holistic Health lifestyle is regaining popularity each year, as the holistic principles offer practical options to meet the growing desire for enjoying a high level of vitality and well-being (Walter, n.d.).

Holistic Health is based on the law of nature that a whole is made up of mutually supporting parts. A person is a whole made up of interdependent parts, which are the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. When one part is not working it impacts all of the other parts of that person. The whole person is constantly interacting with everything in the surrounding environment. When an individual is anxious about something his or her nervousness may result in a physical reaction such as a headache or a stomach ache. When people suppress anger over a long period of time, they often develop a serious illness such as migraine headaches, emphysema, or even arthritis (Walter, n.d.).

The main beliefs of Holistic Health state that health is more than just not being sick. A common way to view wellness is as a continuum along a line. The line represents all possible levels of health. The far left end of the line represents early death. On the far right end of the line is the highest possible level of wellness or maximum well-being. The center of the line represents a lack of disease. This means that all levels of illness are on the left half of the wellness continuum, while the right half shows that even when no illness seems to be present, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Holistic Health is seen as an ongoing process. It requires a personal commitment to be moving toward the right end of the wellness continuum. No matter what a person's current status of health, people can improve their level of well-being. Even when there are temporary setbacks, movement should always be headed toward wellness (Walter, n.d.).

The bulk of illnesses and premature death can be traced back to lifestyle choices. There are many well-known dangers that are connected with drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and unprotected sexual activity. Less familiar is the impact of excesses in things like sugar, caffeine, and negative attitudes. These things combined with deficiencies in exercise, nutritious foods, and self-esteem, these gradually accumulate harmful effects. Over time they diminish the quality of the environment within a human being, and can set the stage for illness to take hold (Walter, n.d.).

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that the key factors that influence an individual's state of health have not changed significantly over the past 20 years. Quality of medical care makes up 10%. Heredity accounts for 18% and environment is 19%. Everyday lifestyle choices make up 53%. The decisions that people make about their life and habits are, therefore, by far the largest factor in determining their state of wellness (Walter, n.d.).

The most obvious choices that people make each day surround what they consume both physically and mentally. The cells in a person's body are constantly being replaced with new ones. New cells are built from what is on hand. A lack of needed building blocks in the body can result in imperfect cells, unable to do what is required to keep that person healthy. On the non-physical level, a person's mental attitude is built from what they see and hear (Walter, n.d.).

While preventing illness is important, the main focus of Holistic Health is on reaching higher levels of wellness. The right half of the wellness continuum focuses on constantly exploring what everyday actions work for a person while discovering what is appropriate to move them toward maximum well-being. People are encouraged by how good it feels to have lots of energy and enthusiasm for life, knowing that what they are doing that day will allow them to continue to feel this great for years to come (Walter, n.d.).

When an illness or chronic condition does present itself, the holistic approach to healing goes beyond just eliminating the surface symptoms. When using holistic medicine, a symptom is considered a sign that something needs attention. The symptom is used as a guide to looking below the surface for the root cause of the problem. Then the real problem that needs attention can be addressed. Holistic Health strives to reach higher levels of wellness while preventing illness. People enjoy the vitality and well-being that results from their positive lifestyle changes, and are motivated to continue this process throughout their lives (Walter, n.d.).

A holistic practitioner:

1. Views the patient as being ultimately responsible for his/her own well-being.

2. Fosters and maintains a partnership with the patient, using therapies which both feel comfortable and are effective.

3. Evaluate and recommend treatment options that address the cause of an illness, along with the symptoms.

The holistic practitioner will choose or recommend from a variety of both conventional and alternative treatments and therapies. The practitioner and the patient often work together to develop an optimal course of treatment for the patient. This partnership is a powerful approach to healing and is the foundation of the holistic philosophy (Frequently Asked Questions, 2009).

Complementary and alternative therapies are those that are not considered mainstream and are not normally offered by conventional medical personnel. These include: nutrition, herbal medicine, spinal manipulation, body work medicine, energy medicine, spiritual attunement, relaxation training and stress management, biofeedback and acupuncture. This list is constantly changing as more research becomes available. As they demonstrate effectiveness and safety, these therapies become part of conventional medicine (Frequently Asked Questions, 2009).

Holistic medicine is primarily well-known by its concept of health. Physicians tend to assume that people who are not sick are by definition healthy. Sickness usually means that the patient is complaining of something, or that the physician has discovered some abnormality through examination or other testing. Even if the patient does have some complaint, if the doctor cannot find something abnormal after extensive testing, the patient is still presumed to be healthy by virtue of the fact that there is no verifiable evidence of abnormality. Health is considered to be merely the absence of illness (Rosch, n.d.).

The holistic definition of health is often seen as health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease. This is a positive definition, and one which provides the individual with something to strive toward in an active fashion. This is inherently different from the effort to promote health by simply avoiding sickness. In this context, one may view the lack of health at five levels:

Dissatisfaction

Discomfort

Disability

Overt disease

Death or dying (Rosch, n.d.).

While we would normally tend to view these as progressive and more severe stages of illness, they might be accorded equal weight on a holistic scale which measures total health. Another distinction that follows from the above is the difference between normal and average. Most of our recognition of disease is based upon an observation of an abnormal finding. There is little question that such a deviation suggests illness, but it is an error to assume automatically that a normal finding implies health. Normal values are generally determined from surveys of Americans presumed to be healthy. Many of them, however, are afflicted with hypertension, ulcers, arthritis, or obesity, or have habits that are anything but healthy. What is required is a concept of optimal health; that is, the best achievable state of total wellness for a given individual (Rosch, n.d.).

Even though our modern health care system is dominated by drug orientated orthodox medicine, there are an increasing number of people who are seeking safer and more holistic alternatives. There are many reasons for this increase in the popularity of the various forms of alternative or holistic medicine, but most if not all of these are rooted in the failings of orthodox medicine (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

As holistic medicine is enjoying an increase in popularity, there is still considerable resistance to this form of medicine in many sections of the medical community. It is necessary, in order to establish the need for change to the current orthodox medicine-based healing system, to examine the weaknesses or failings of orthodox medicine and explore the reasons why these failings have happened. It is important to realize that this fault finding process is made necessary for two reasons. First, those members of our current health care system that are resistant to change should be made more aware of the shortcomings of orthodox medicine and the advantages of holistic medicine. Second, there is a perception within the medical community that orthodox medical practitioners may utilize holistic therapies within the context of their current reductionist, interventionist, and symptomatic approach to the treatment of disease. Some doctors seek to utilize holistic therapies while rejecting the underlying holistic philosophy. It is vitally important that the reasons why this is not feasible are clearly established (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

In order to fully understand the reasons for the various strengths and weaknesses of those forms of healing which comprise our current health care system, both orthodox medicine and holistic medicine, it is necessary to consider the implications and limitations of the philosophies which form the basis of these two systems. Practitioners of holistic medicine, who base their practice on the philosophy of holism, strive to attain a condition of optimum health and believe that the cause of ill health begins with our environment and the fundamental nutritional building blocks of which we are comprised and upon which our every function depends. Practitioners of orthodox medicine, who base their practice on the philosophy of reductionism, aim not to attain a condition of optimum health, a concept in which they do not believe, but rather they aim merely to eliminate symptoms of specific diseases. This is done predominantly by the use of symptom suppressing drugs and by the surgical removal or replacement of diseased tissues or organs. Whereas holism is fundamentally supportive, cause based, and preventative, reductionism is primarily interventionist and symptomatic, and plays little or no role in prevention (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

It has been said that a paradigm shift is occurring in our health care system as alternative medicine begins to compete with orthodox medicine to become the dominant paradigm. Although it has been suggested that nutritional therapy and environmental medicine is now part of orthodox medicine and in spite of the increasing grass roots support for alternative medicine, there is an enormous gap to bridge before orthodox medicine would be in fear of losing its dominance. Since those that practice orthodox medicine do not appear to be any closer to abandoning their reductionist interventionist approach than they were 2 or 3 decades ago, it would appear that there is more likely to be integration or takeover rather than a paradigm shift. This newly emerging medicine has been called integrative medicine. Integrative medicine can only be regarded as a desirable and positive change insofar as it establishes and consolidates a genuine respect for the principles of holism and an appreciation of the whole truth (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

While this upsurge in the popularity of alternative medicine is consumer driven, largely as a result of the hazardous and ineffective nature of orthodox medicine there are those who claim that the alternative health movement is an ideological movement which is part of post modernism and globalization. Due to the fact that evidence-based medicine would normally be considered to be firmly based upon modern scientific concepts it seems there is little scientific basis for many practices which are utilized by orthodox medicine, while conversely, the practice of alternative medicine is not without some scientific support. If orthodox medicine is not based upon science, clearly, the move towards alternative medicine can hardly represent an abandonment of modern scientific methods (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

Holistic medicine, being a grass roots movement which has long struggled to survive against continuing condemnation from academics and orthodox medicine is exactly the opposite of post modernism which was born in the halls of academia. The determination with which mainstream medicine and science has sought to persecute and discredit alternative medicine is such that resort has been given to the use of fraudulent studies and violent gun toting type raids of the premises of a qualified medical doctor who utilized nutritional therapy. This type of hounding and deregistration of nutritionally oriented doctors is still continuing in the United States, Canada, and the UK. Although globalism and interdependence are fundamental aspects of post modernism, this is exactly the opposite of holistic medicine which is rooted in self-empowerment and self sufficiency (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

The importance of understanding the underlying philosophical concepts can be highlighted by the inability of modern medicine to explain the effectiveness of therapies such as acupuncture from a scientific viewpoint, a fact which is still a source of concern for orthodox medicine. When science does uncover proof of the existence of the mysterious meridians upon which acupuncture is based, publication of this research in medical journals is likely to be concealed. Orthodox medicine on the other hand remains determined not to accept the philosophy upon which acupuncture is based. The determination with which modern medicine seeks to preserve its current reductionist paradigm is undoubtedly the single greatest obstruction to positive change and any genuine integration with alternative medicine (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

Many medical authorities still refuse to openly admit the shortcomings of modern medicine perhaps even claiming that orthodox medicine has proved to be effective in that most Americans are healthier than ever before. Any suggestion however, that the effectiveness of modern medicine is such that fundamental change is unnecessary is simply inconsistent with the facts (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

Denial of the inadequacies of medicine is a very significant problem which permeates through all levels of our modern health care system. In one recent study it was determined that the refusal to publish negative results has caused up to 80,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. Since most research money comes from the chemical and drug companies, it is hardly surprising that medical literature is characterized by a scarcity of articles which report negative findings (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

Although we are plagued with diseases and all the major Western diseases are becoming more prevalent, many medical practitioners remain puzzled by the popularity of alternative medicine. In any other field of human endeavor this would be described as denial and certainly not the way to move forward. With so much evidence available regarding the shortcomings of medicine, the first step, should simply be a matter of collective medical conscience. This being a undoubtedly an in depth soul searching enquiry into the reasons for this failure of modern medicine. Instead of this we have a situation where medical journals refuse to publish reports which may shed light on the shortcomings of medicine and many in the profession still pretend that change is unnecessary. It should be known that the movement towards alternative medicine within the medical profession has been initiated, not by the medical hierarchy, but rather by general practitioners. General practitioners have responded to their patient's awareness of the advantages of alternative medicine and have therefore begun to incorporate such treatments into their practices on the basis of their safety and clinical effectiveness. Medical authorities have generally resisted these changes, claiming that treatments should only be used when they have been scientifically proven to be effective, and not merely because they are clinically effective (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

This situation generates a considerable dilemma for orthodox medicine. The continuing failure of orthodox medicine necessitates that eventually there must be a general acknowledgement of this failure and a search for more effective treatments which could be incorporated into the practice of medicine. Given the distressed plight of medicine, and, on the other hand, the safety and effectiveness of alternative therapies, there is undoubtedly increasing pressure for medicine to adopt such therapies, even in spite of objections from medical reductionists (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

The corporatization of medicine throughout the world is also inconsistent with any meaningful integration with holistic medicine. Since mainstream medicine, the instigators of corporatized medicine, have long sought to persecute or outlaw alternative medicine, it is hardly surprising that corporatized medicine refuses to acknowledge or accept the validity of alternative therapies. Moves to corporatize medicine therefore, particularly when it comes to preventative medicine, the traditional strength of alternative medicine, could be seen as another attempt to abandon alternative therapies. There is absolutely no doubt that research into preventative holistic techniques are inconsistent with the requirements of profit oriented corporatized medicine, a fact which will see such research undoubtedly give way to the emergence of one stop medical supermarkets which specialize in symptom suppressing interventionist techniques. Unfortunately, when medical research becomes corporatized and hence dictated by profit, it becomes increasingly unscientific and unreliable (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

As far as the medical community is concerned, the evidence supporting the mainstreaming of alternative medicine is far from convincing and there continues to be very little evidence that orthodox medicine is attempting to change at a fundamental philosophical level by the abandonment of reductionism, there is at least some recognition of the need for fundamental change. According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in their recent medical enquiry the American health care delivery system is in need of fundamental change. The Institute also says that the frustration levels of both patients and clinicians have probably never been higher. Yet the problems still remain (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

In spite of the recent enquiries in America in 2000 and 200, and also the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2002, which further underlined the need for change and recognition of alternative therapies, it is very disturbing to witness the resistance to change which still exists in large sections of the medical community. There are huge problems in modern medicine when a health care system which kills around 100,000 people annually is defended in such a manner against the infinitely safer alternative forms of health care which are described as quackery (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

This will continue to be a problem until there is a genuine reappraisal of the relevance of the fundamental reductionist philosophy upon which medicine is based. Any authentic attempt to address the shortcomings of medicine inevitably involves a detailed examination of the fundamental underlying philosophy. All of this based upon the clear assumption that current medical practices, if applied consistently and without error, will provide a safe and effective level of care. This assumption is entirely invalid since a reductionist, symptomatic; interventionist approach to health care is always going to be fraught with problems, no matter how perfectly it is applied. Medical authorities themselves often admit they are not interested in the whole truth. The safety record of alternative medicine is good and speaks for itself. If this record has been achieved because of efficient organization and application, then orthodox medicine should take note and follow its example (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

There is some light beginning to emerge at the end of the tunnel in the integration of alternative medicine. It is becoming apparent that the fragmented reductionist view of biology and medicine is outdated and immaterial. It is increasingly being recognized that the sum of the parts is not equal to the whole. This restrictive reductionist approach is slowly giving way to the increasing application of systems theory which acknowledges qualities of whole systems, such as robustness, which may not be apparent from examining isolated system components. While it is difficult to assess with certainty the direction in which orthodox medicine is progressing, this is not so with herbal medicine and alternative medicine which is moving in the direction of orthodox medicine style reductionism and science. Herbal medicines is under increasing pressure to abandon the fundamentally holistic origins upon which it is traditionally based and adopt a more reductionist approach such as that utilized by orthodox medicine. Proponents of this move support reductionist changes such as the standardization of herbs, the abandonment of holistic or constitutional forms of herbal medicine, and the preference for a more symptomatic non-individualized approach. Such changes, which individually and collectively reflect a philosophical directional change towards orthodox medicine style reductionism, are at odds with the very fundamental holistic roots of herbal medicine. It is interesting to note for instance, that although natural unpurified herbs have been used successfully for thousands of years, we are now suddenly being told that these herbs must be standardized or purified. Such suggestions are based upon the same reductionist philosophy which resulted in the need for the purification of foods and the manufacture of powerful drugs from purified herbs. Evidence shows that standardized herbs, which resemble drugs, are more toxic than whole herbs (Holistic Medicine or Reductionism, n.d.).

Integrated medicine is more and more becoming the way of the future. Integrated medicine where medicine incorporates the many strengths of alternative medicine is essential. While the urgency of this need for change is clearly due to the hazardous and ineffective nature of orthodox medicine, the depth of the need for change results from the fundamentally flawed reductionist interventionist philosophy of this form of medicine. The limitations of reductionism necessitates that change must be fundamental not superficial. By combining the best of orthodox medicine with the best of alternative medicine we can form integrated medicine (Integrated Medicine: new horizons in holistic medicine and orthodox medicine: shaping new directions for health care in the 21st century, n.d.).

Recent looks into our health care system have increasingly acknowledged the fact that modern medicine is failing in three major areas. The first is in the area of safety, because of the increasing incidence of iatrogenic diseases. Second, orthodox medicine has completely failed when it comes to effective treatment of chronic illnesses, and thirdly, the high tech interventionist nature of modern medicine has little or no role to play in disease prevention. It is often agreed that these three areas represent the strengths of holistic or alternative medicine it is vitally important that orthodox medicine examine in considerable detail precisely why this is so. The solutions to these problems of orthodox medicine are not mysterious, elusive, and complicated for they have already been largely solved by alternative medicine. Despite these facts, many within orthodox medicine still cling to the belief that fundamental philosophical change is unnecessary; all that is needed is safer drugs and better training etc. Even more amazing is that some practitioners within the realms of alternative medicine seek to adopt a more reductionist approach and move towards orthodox medicine (Integrated Medicine: new horizons in holistic medicine and orthodox medicine: shaping new directions for health care in the 21st century, n.d.).

Over the past century morbidity and mortality from cancer and heart disease have increased astonishingly, including an increase in heart disease and cancer death rates of more than 200% and 300%. High tech scientific medicine has resulted in the situation where heart disease claims the life of an American every 60 seconds. Today, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, asthma, depression, ADD, and other diseases are spiraling out of control while iatrogenic diseases have become the third leading cause of death behind cardiovascular disease and cancer. Use of prescription drugs and the frequency of medical consultations are increasing alarmingly. Despite all of this medical experts continue to claim we are becoming healthier and living longer and longer. According to health authorities, medical advances in the past century, in spite of staggering increases in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, have enabled us to live 30 years longer (Integrated Medicine: new horizons in holistic medicine and orthodox medicine: shaping new directions for health care in the 21st century, n.d.).

Although statistics tend to show that we are managing to keep the sick alive slightly longer, total life span or longevity is virtually the same as it was a century ago. Contrary to popular belief heart disease and numerous other chronic illnesses are also becoming more prevalent. The standard of public debate about health care today is indeed unacceptable. Spin doctoring has reached epidemic proportions as health authorities struggle to conceal the truth about health statistics while conveying a false impression about the safety and effectiveness of modern medical science. Even so called scientific research is colored by bias and self-interest. It is often seen that care and compassion have given way to self-interest and insults. (Integrated Medicine: new horizons in holistic medicine and orthodox medicine: shaping new directions for health care in the 21st century, n.d.).

If you look beyond the spin doctoring and the rhetoric it is clear that most authorities do not dispute the need for change, it is only the nature and degree of change that is disputed. This is proven by the fact that even within orthodox medicine there are many who are beginning to embrace alternative therapies, therapies which they regarded as quackery only a decade or two ago. "Although the need for change is becoming more urgent and medical researchers are becoming more desperate, there are some who continue to be more motivated by personal gain rather than compassion or concern for the sick and suffering "(Integrated Medicine: new horizons in holistic medicine and orthodox medicine: shaping new directions for health care in the 21st century, n.d.).

For those who seek genuine solutions there are three fundamental questions that must be answered:

1. Why is alternative medicine so much safer than traditional orthodox medicine? This is in spite of all the clinical trials and double blind studies utilized by orthodox medicine. Prescription drugs are seen as toxic foreign compounds and regardless of clinical trials they will always be dangerous.

2. Why is alternative medicine so much more effective for the treatment of chronic illnesses, than orthodox medicine? This is in spite of the many medical breakthroughs and high tech medical equipment that is used today. Suppression of symptoms of chronic illnesses with toxic drugs will not cure anything in the long run.

3. Why is alternative medicine more effective preventatively than traditional medicine? This is in spite of the extensive training and specialization of medical practitioners (Integrated Medicine: new horizons in holistic medicine and orthodox medicine: shaping new directions for health care in the 21st century, n.d.).