Holistic health

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Holistic health is a term used by alternative medicine advocates to describe medical care that views physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of life as closely interconnected and balanced. Advocates of the holistic health philosophy typically seek or use a wide variety of alternative practices, the most common of which include acupuncture, ayurveda, Siddha, chiropractic, naturopathy, yoga, aromatherapy, homeopathy, massage, Tai Chi, Chinese herbology, Medical cannabis, medicinal herbs.

Holistic Health Is A Philosophy not a Modality.

The first National Conference on Holistic Health was held with the University of California San Diego California School of Medicine in June 1975. Each year thereafter for ten years about 3,000 health professionals participated each year in a conference and forty to fifty different workshops about holistic health promotion in contrast to our traditional Allopathic Medical Model philosophy that is focused on treating symptoms, by prescribing drugs to elevate the symptoms and providing surgery and drugs for corrective action.

The Holistic philosophy acknowledged in the pioneering work in California is as follows: First, Holistic is not new, it has been around for thousands of years. Holistic is just new to our health care system. It refers to the theory that whole entities such as human beings have an existence and a reality greater than the sum of their parts.

Applying the term holistic to concepts of health and fitness means that achieving and maintaining good health involves much more than just taking care of all the various components that make up the physical body.

When the concepts of holistic health are put into practice within the health care system, the approach to therapy takes on a new dimension. We see traditional medical care expanded to encompass a broad spectrum of therapies coordinated to meet that totality of a particular individual. The focus then is not just on the disease but the whole person.

The role of the patient changes in learning how choices, actions and attitudes affect the present condition, and how one can be an active participant in the healing process.

The ideal of Holistic Health is the realization of our human potential as total beings, and our desire to live fulfilling and satisfying lives. The goal is not just to be “well” in the physical body, but also to be in harmony with our environment and ourselves at all levels, body, mind and spirit. Also, life-style, social responsibility and relationships are taken into consideration when creating the optimum health that Holistic is about.

The first International Conference on Health Promotion was very comprehensive so “The Charter” that came out of it could be called the foundation for implementation of Holistic Health. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ph-sp/phdd/docs/charter/

Criticism

Advocates of alternative medicine often employ the use of the holistic health philosophy to claim that conventional medicine does not address the needs of the patient as a whole. Supporters of conventional medical practices dispute that claim, pointing to trends within conventional medicine that could also be described as "holistic", such as wellness programs focused on achieving whole-body health through nutrition, exercise, meditation and preventive care. This is a result of the Holistic Health movement.

Some of the more extreme holistic health practitioners encourage their patients to not seek conventional medical help, which has led to various lawsuits and convictions (often negligent manslaughter, if the patient died nonetheless when conventional medicine would have had a chance of saving him).

See also

Biopsychosocial approach Complementary and alternative medicine Evidence-based medicine Health behavior Exercise Fruitarianism Herbalism Holism Lifestyle

Meditation Medical model Mucoid plaque Naturopathic medicine Natural Hygiene Osteopathic medicine Physical treatment methods Prolotherapy

External links

• Holistic Community - (Information and resources within the field of Holistic Therapy)
• Holistic Wellness (Free holistic directory of practitioners and schools)
• American Holistic Health Association (organization website)
• Australasian College of Health Sciences (College specializes in online holistic health education.)
• About Holistic Healing (About.com site focuses on holistic approach to living life.)