Principles of Holistic Medicine
By American Holistic Medical Association
Holistic medicine is the art and science of healing that addresses
the whole person - body, mind, and spirit. The practice of holistic
medicine integrates conventional and alternative therapies to prevent
and treat disease, and most importantly, to promote optimal health.
This condition of holistic health is defined as the unlimited and
unimpeded free flow of life force energy through body, mind, and
spirit.
Holistic medicine encompasses all safe and appropriate modalities
of diagnosis and treatment. It includes analysis of physical, nutritional,
environmental, emotional, spiritual and lifestyle elements. Holistic
medicine focuses upon patient education and participation in the
healing process.
The Principles of Holistic Medical
Practice
· Holistic
physicians embrace a variety of safe, effective options in the diagnosis
and treatment, including education for lifestyle changes and self-care,
complementary alternatives, and conventional drugs and surgery
· Searching
for the underlying causes of disease is preferable to treating symptoms
alone.
· Holistic
physicians expend as much effort in establishing what kind of patient
has a disease as they do in establishing what kind of disease a
patient has.
· Prevention
is preferable to treatment and is usually more cost-effective. The
most cost-effective approach evokes the patient's own innate healing
capabilities.
· Illness
is viewed as a manifestation of a dysfunction of the whole person,
not as an isolated event.
· A
major determinant of healing outcomes is the quality of the relationship
established between physician and patient, in which patient autonomy
is encouraged.
· The
ideal physician-patient relationship considers the needs, desires,
awareness and insight of the patient as well as those of the physician.
· Physicians
significantly influence patients by their example.
· Illness,
pain, and the dying process can be learning opportunities for patients
and physicians.
· Holistic
physicians encourage patients to evoke the healing power of love,
hope, humor and enthusiasm, and to release the toxic consequences
of hostility, shame, greed, depression, and prolonged fear, anger,
and grief.
· Unconditional
love is life's most powerful medicine. Physicians strive to adopt
an attitude of unconditional love for patients, themselves, and
other practitioners.
· Optimal
health is much more than the absence of sickness. It is the conscious
pursuit of the highest qualities of the physical, environmental,
mental, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of the human experience.
This material is used with the permission of the American
Holistic Medical Association (AHMA).
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Use the information provided on this site as an educational resource for determining your options and making your own informed choices. It is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any specific illness.