Many alternative healthcare practitioners today call themselves holistic. Some medical doctors say they practice integrative medicine which is supposed to combine allopathic medicine with a holistic approach to health and wellness. Unfortunately, many provide holistic or integrative treatment in name only. Achieving balance in all your systems couldn’t be further from their minds.
It’s an interesting experience to visit a self-labeled holistic physician. He’ll record your history but only based on a finite set of physical factors.
Integrative medicine that combines holistic with conventional medicine claims to be healing-oriented. And if they truly are, those integrative M. D.s will take account of you, the whole person.
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What should you look for when consulting a holistic or integrative medical doctor? And in a related field of medicine, what might be the questions to ask functional medicine doctors?
First, let’s explore the definition of ‘holistic?’ What does it truly mean?
holistic |hōˈlistik|
characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole;
medicine characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the physical symptoms of a disease.
Looking at the whole person includes all aspects of your lifestyle as well as your relationship with your practitioner.
Both holistic and integrative medicine, if authentically practiced, will forge a therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient. They’ll integrate all the evidence of conditions they discover and make use of all appropriate therapies.
Ancestral energy medicine broadly popular in more ancient China ensured doctors’ focus on the health of their patients. They only looked at sickness and disease as a sign they weren’t keeping their patient healthy.
The ancient Chinese family physician was fully paid so long as all family members were in good health. When someone became ill, the physician either tool less pay or took nothing at all until everyone in the household was well again.
In the book, Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance, by Charles A. Moss, M. D., the authro describes a rare medical school experience he had in the late 60s.
The following description summarizes how every healthcare practitioner of any kind should approach you, the patient:
I remember in 1968 hearing a professor of neurology, Dr. S. M. Megahed, discussing the importance of listening to everything the patient had to say while observing with exquisite precision how they spoke and the emotions they expressed.
He emphasized the importance of touching the patient, and the amount of information that a detailed examination would provide. His caring nature influenced me. He approached each person as unique, leading to a greater understanding of the process that resulted in the patient’s illness.
Instead of focusing solely on making a medical diagnosis, Dr. Megahed looked at the whole person.
In the spirit of taking care of the whole patient, a good healthcare practitioner should do more than collect a basic physical and hereditary history.
The authentic holistic physician should take the following issues into account when treating you.
All these factors significantly impact your state of health and well-being:
overall stress levels
how resilient a patient in responding to stress
a person’s line of work; number of hours worked in a week; whether the work is sedentary or physically active; what parts of the body, mind or emotions are most taxed as the patient performs the work
family structure; a single parent could face many more life challenges; the number of children, especially in the household, is important as this factor can seriously affect a single parent’s health
the diet and eating habits; how many meals per day; does the patient eat on a regular schedule or only when there’s time? how much time is allotted for each meal? does the patient eat alone or in company? does the patient chew food very well?
exercise pursuits and how consistent; assessment of spinal flexibility and ability to walk long distances both of which are key indicators of vitality and longevity
history with and outlook on holistic therapies and remedies
patient’s income level in order to determine a sliding scale for fees, if warranted
mental state
emotional state
health goals
level and manner of sexual engagement
how much fun and enjoyment
habits or addictions, good and bad, and which the patient would like to be free of
whether spirituality or belief in a higher power plays any or a central role in the patient’s life
how often the patient takes time to simply “be” in a quiet space and relax
The practitioner can immediately and superficially assess these in order to get a quick read of your present level of vitality:
the state and presentation of your skin, countenance and hair
eye brightness
weight
muscle tone
overall emotion radiated
the pulse: this can provide info. about key organs beyond the feedback provided by the rhythmical throbbing of blood through the arteries, especially to doctors of oriental medicine
the tongue as indicator of healthy or unhealthy digestion and elimination
It may be challenging to find a holistic practitioner who will take the time for such an extensive yet important interview. But if your holistic practitioner gets to know who you are as a whole person she or he will quickly know how to serve you best.
When you find a practitioner who asks you the primary 15 holistic questions, that practitioner’s definitely a keeper.
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Photo courtesy of RODNAE Productions at Pexels
Moss, Charles A. Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance. North Atlantic Books, 2010.
