What is the "Holistic Approach" in health?!
Question:
What is the "Holistic Approach" in health?
Answers:
Holism refers to the idea of treating the whole person, and not just their particular problem. It means looking at their issue from every aspect of their life.
Example: A traditional doctor might treat a cancer patient with chemo drugs. The doctor will pretty much specialize in just that, and won't worry too much about any other aspect of hte patient.
The Holistic approach will bring in other people to the team. A nutritional expert will give you a diet that might help you prevent a recurrence of the cancer. An internal specialist or endocrinologist will tell you how to support your immune system during the chemo to keep you on schedule. A sports medicine guy will give you an exercise program that helps support the chemo, and your immune system. The dietitian will show you foods to support the exercise program, and will be sensitive to the problems cancer patients face regarding being able to eat. A psychologist helps you cope with the pressures of trying to heal your body. The massage therapist gives you the rub-down that relaxes you enough to face a day full of chemo needles. Last but not least, your General Practitioner coordinates the whole effort to make sure that ALL your bodily and emotional needs are being met at the same time.
All of these people will communicate with each other, so that each one is supporting all the others, and all of it supports YOU. No-one stays isolated in their treatment of you. Everyone worries about every part of you.
Most people today look at this approach and say, "Well, duh!" but it wasn't like that just a couple decades ago. Today, holism is a basic part of health care training and we all follow it to some degree or another. Hope that helped...
Best,
Ed, RN