Holistic Health Defined

Holistic health represents a form of medical practice that believes in treating the whole person – mind, body and spirit. The practice of holistic medicine can be traced to the very origin of the medical profession and asserts that there are an enormous number of variables that can affect a person’s health. This was the practice of the historically great physicians like the African/Egyptian physician Imhotep – who Sir William Osler called “the real father of medicine” and Hippocrates – the renown physician who wrote the oath that every MD takes upon graduation from medical school – that final step into the noble profession of medicine. Since that time, the profession of medicine has moved more to the principles of evidence-based medicine where drugs and therapies have undergone rigorous “clinical trials” to prove their effectiveness and safety. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, defines Integrative Medicine as a medical practice that combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is some scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness. It encompasses the art and science of medicine.

If you look in my life and see what I’ve seen…
It seems that a rift has been emerging between doctors and patients and has potential to completely destroy the healing doctor-patient relationship. Patients tell their doctors that drugs/treatments are not working and doctors, perhaps feeling, otherwise helpless label the patients “WRONG”. Suddenly, the healing relationship deteriorates and patients are placed secondary to “the evidence” when in fact, they ARE the evidence. Modern day doctors are suffering from image problems – loss of trust and confidence of patients, loss of moral authority held to keep the interest of patients first, loss of autonomy where government, insurance companies, and even drug companies dictate prescribing practices and reimbursement which ultimately yields an incredible influence over the practice of physicians. Can doctors recover from image deterioration and get restored back to the healing practitioners in whom their patients can believe? Yes, I believe we can, we are and we will.

Did you know?

The World Health Organization estimates that between 65 to 80 percent of the world’s population (about 3 billion people) rely on holistic medicine as their primary form of health care.
U.S. adults spent $33.9 billion out-of-pocket on visits to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners.
One half of all medical schools offer courses in holistic health care.
74 percent of the American population desires a natural approach to health care.

I believe…

Pharmaceutical drugs are over demanded by patients and over used by physicians.
Demands for great miracles are so intense that we often fail to acknowledge the little miracles that happen each and every day.
Nothing is so powerful as is the caring touch of a healing physician.
The human body is a tremendous masterpiece formed by a creator who cannot be challenged, cannot be fully comprehended, and can NEVER be duplicated – no matter how hard science and man might try.

Favorite Quotes

The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest their patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease. – Thomas Edison
It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of a disease a patient has. – Sir William Osler
A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. – Proverbs 17:22
There is more to life than merely increasing its speed. – Ghandi