10 Principles of Holistic Medicine

Holistic Medicine vs Modern Medicine

What is Holistic Medicine? How do we define the word “holistic”? The word holistic was derived from the Greek word “Holos”, meaning wholeness. Thus holism has to do with the whole unit rather than as a sum of its individual parts.

Based on this definition, holistic care is about caring for the whole human being. The philosopher Socrates warned against treating only one part of the body “for the part can never be well unless the whole is well.”

Socrates also proposed “As it is impossible to proceed to the treatment of the eye, not thinking about the head, or treat the head, without thinking about the body, so it is impossible to cure the body without curing the soul.” Accordingly, the wholeness of a human being is the sum of the body, mind and spirit. Therefore, the concept of holistic medicine integrates the mind and body that functions purposefully as a unit. 

Conventional Health Definition: This is in contrast to the Cartesian model proposed by the philosopher René Descartes, utilised in modern day Western or Allopathic medicine. The Cartesian model viewed the mind and body as essentially different functioning systems, thus reflecting the concept of dualism. In this Cartesian approach towards healthcare, medical doctors and other health care professionals treat symptoms and disease directly using drugs, radiation, or surgery.

What is holistic and integrative medicine?

Holistic medicine and what it is

Holistic medicine emphasizes the person’s ability to engage in self-care, a sort of health promotion that is self-directed in such a way as to allow a person to be part of his or her own healing processes. Accordingly, the practice of holistic healthcare accounts for the physical, environmental, mental, economic, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of human experience.

Sometimes referred to as complementary care, holistic healthcare is the complete or total patient care that considers the physical, emotional, social, economic, and spiritual needs of the person. Holistic healthcare considers a patient’s wellness (or illness) in the context of how it impacts, or is impacted by, the patient’s ability to meet his or her self-care goals and lifestyle objectives across different areas (e.g., family, relationships, work, recreation, social). It is strongly upheld that emotional or psychological health and well-being, must accompany optimal physical health. If physical health is suboptimal, psychological health, in effect, cannot be optimal. Innsaei Health is a holistic wellness clinic in Singapore that uses the BodyTalk energy healing modality for holistic healthcare.

Here are the 10 key principles of working in holistic medicine:

According to the American Holistic Medical Association (Itharat et al., 2017).

1. Optimal Health is the primary goal of holistic medical practice. It is the conscious pursuit of the highest level of functioning and balance of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of human experience, resulting in a dynamic state of being fully alive. This creates a condition of well-being regardless of the presence or absence of disease.

2. The Healing Power of Love. Holistic health care practitioners strive to meet the patient with grace, kindness, acceptance, and spirit without condition, as love is life’s most powerful healer.

3. Whole Person. Holistic healthcare practitioners view people as the unity of body, mind, spirit and the systems in which they live.

4. Prevention and Treatment. Holistic healthcare practitioners promote health, prevent illness and help raise awareness of disease in our lives rather than merely managing symptoms. A holistic approach gets to the root cause of symptoms and enhances the patient’s life system to optimize future well-being.

5. Innate Healing Power. All people have innate powers of healing in their bodies, minds and spirits. Holistic healthcare practitioners evoke and help patients utilize these powers to affect the healing process.

6. Integration of Healing Systems. Holistic healthcare practitioners embrace a lifetime of learning about all safe and effective options in treatment. These options come from a variety of traditions, and are selected in order to best meet the unique needs of the patient. The choices often include lifestyle modification and complementary approaches as well as conventional drugs and surgery.

7. Relationship-centered Care. The ideal practitioner-patient relationship is a partnership which encourages patient autonomy, and values the needs and insights of both parties. The quality of this relationship is an essential contributor to the healing process.

8. Individuality. Holistic health care practitioners focus patient care on the unique needs and nature of the person who has an illness rather than the illness that has the person.

9. Teaching by Example. Holistic healthcare practitioners continually work toward the personal incorporation of the principles of holistic health, which then profoundly influence the quality of the healing relationship.

10. Learning Opportunities. All life experiences including birth, joy, suffering and the dying process are profound learning opportunities for both patients and healthcare practitioners.

 
Conclusions - What is Holistic Medicine:

Approach To Life. Holistic healthcare is an approach to life. A greater emphasis is given on social, mental, emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects of the health symptom or illness, on top of the physical aspects. The goal of holistic healthcare is to achieve maximum well-being, where everything is functioning at the very best that is possible.

Unlike conventional healthcare, holistic healthcare contributes to the whole of the person’s needs, such as: 

• The person’s quality of life

• Happiness

• Life satisfaction

• A sense of meaning or purpose of life

• Clarity in life

• Life fulfillment
  
  
  

Empowerment & Responsibility. With holistic healthcare, people accept responsibility for their own level of well-being and the pursuit of their own uniquely defined quality of life. It recognizes that the patient’s role in decision making is equal to that of the healthcare provider. The patient’s decision-making process in their personal health journey will take into account their personal values, perspective on the world, and capacity to make choices aligned with those values.

Additionally, research has shown that holistic approaches to health education and holistic health may provide better health and may be more successful in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and other chronic diseases (Itharat et al 2017).

Itharat et al 2017 Holistic Approaches for Health Education and Health Promotion (Review Article, World Heart Journal, Volume 9, Number 1)

The Innsaei Health Approach. Holistic healthcare contemplates the health and wellness of the whole person, thus allowing for a multi-disciplinary approach to healthcare. Holistic healthcare providers like Innsaei Health in Singapore offer healthcare that is based far more on relationship with the patient than on a simple healthcare transaction. Positive and trusting practitioner-patient relationships are essential for effective medical care and adherence to treatment recommendations.

Book a BodyTalk session with Xin Hui from Innsaei Health today to experience holistic healthcare!