Melbourne Holistic Health Group

Published in Clinic Information on 02 January 2010 by Melbourne Holistic Health Group

‘Holistic’, when that adjective is properly applied to health care, refers to a qualitatively different approach, one that respects the interaction of mind, body and environment. Beyond the allopathic approach of treating the disease and the symptoms of disease, it seeks to correct the underlying disharmony causing the problem.

‘Holism’ derives from the Greek word for whole, holos. The word ‘Holism’ was coined by Jan Smuts in 1926, he described it as ‘the tendency in nature to form wholes that are greater than the sum of the parts through creative evolution’. Essentially treating holistically is recognising that each person is complex and unique. It is an understanding that every individual has a myriad of influences that include genetics, physiology, social, psychological, spiritual and environmental, which are important, and impact upon our health and wellbeing. Hippocrates (460-377BC) is famously quoted as stating that ‘It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease, than to know what sort of disease a person has’. Similarly holism recognises that we are more than just our disease or the sum of our physical parts.

One of the key differences between holistic health philosophy compared to a more mechanistic or reductionist biomedical paradigm is the importance of the role of the pathogen in disease. The biomedical model focuses on the pathological factors such as bacteria, viruses and toxins in the causation of disease. From a holistic model, what predisposed the person to being vulnerable to the pathogen, and why the immune system is unable to cope with such a stressor, is of more importance. For example while a large number of people may be exposed to a virus or bacteria, such as the common cold, not everyone will become sick. Clearly there are some situations where pandemics or epidemics arise and a virulent strain of pathogen or toxin can overwhelm any immune system, but for a large majority of illnesses or diseases this is not the case. A holistic model of health will focus on what makes an individual susceptible to infection in the first place and why the body’s various defence mechanisms were not able to ward off this infection. Louis Pasteur revolutionised medicine and is considered the ‘father of germ theory’, he developed the process of ‘pasteurisation’ which is the heating of liquids like milk to kill most of the bacteria and moulds within them. With such focus on the germ, it is interesting that on his death bed he is reported to have said, ‘the germ is nothing, the terrain is everything’. Holistic medical philosophy is similarly concerned with the body’s terrain, of how well the body processes are working to maintain homeostasis and health.

Integral to the holistic philosophy of health is that the mind and body are not seen as separate entities, but rather as part of a continuum. What we think and feel has very real physiological consequences in our body. Likewise the health of our body can directly impact on the thought processes of our mind. Emotions such as anxiety, hate and anger can affect the body by impairing digestion, hormonal balance and blood flow and other aspects of physiology. Chronic pain can also have the effect of creating states of depression and anxiety. The separation of the mind from the body stems from the work of Rene Descarte who held that the mind and material body are separate (Cartesian dualism). Much of the development of biomedicine continued with this assumption, as it led to great advances in surgery by freeing medicine from the constraints of the church, which believed the body sacred. It was not until the early 1970’s that the inter-relatedness of the mind and body was acknowledged in the field of ‘psychoneuroimmunolgy’. Candace Pert, a research scientist and biochemist, conducted pioneering work in the area of neuropeptides and neurotransmitters that led to the discovery of opiate receptors. She describes the old adage ‘the power of the mind over the body’ as inaccurate, and that rather ‘Mind doesn’t dominate body, it becomes body – body and mind are one.’ And ‘...when we explore the role that emotions play in the body, as expressed through the neuropeptide molecules, it will become clear how emotions can be seen as a key to the understanding of disease’.

Naturopathy, and the study of natural medicine, is a good example of how holistic philosophy applies to health care practitioners. Naturopathic medicine has been defined as ‘a distinct system of primary health care – an art, science, philosophy and practice of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of illness’.

The philosophy of naturopathic medicine is based on six principles that include:

• First do no harm (primum non nocere); physicians at all times act to use methods and substances that minimise harm
• The healing power of nature (vis medicatrix naturae); which recognises that the body is intelligent and self-healing, and that treatment should identify and remove obstacles to healing, while supporting the body’s own healing mechanisms
• Identify and treat the cause (tolle causum); physicians should seek to find the underlying cause of ill health and not merely provide symptomatic relief
• Doctor as teacher (Docere); naturopathic physicians educate their patients and encourage self-awareness and responsibility for health
• Treat the whole person; taking into account all aspects on an individual’s life and;
• Prevention; to assess risk factors, hereditary and susceptibility to disease and make appropriate interventions to prevent illness.

The holistic philosophy recognises that health is more than the absence of disease, holism sees health as the sense of positive wellness in conjunction with the absence of disease (see Box ‘Signs of health’). The World Health Organisation clearly embraces this definition of health by stating that; ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’.

Signs of Health

What is health? Although we often think of ourselves as being healthy if we’re not sick, healthy individuals show other signs of balance, harmony, happiness and wellness.

This description of health would be recognised by any practitioner or student of natural medicine, and describes those features of health that we often know, but don’t articulate:

• The stature is erect and held with ease
• The skin is clear, smooth and lustrous. To the touch it is warm, firm and slightly moist
• The individual is within the normal weight range for their age, build and height
• The normal body processes such as digestion, evacuation of the bowels, urination and menstruation proceed normally and occur without excessive discomfort
• The bodily excretions such as sweat, urine, faeces, menstrual blood and saliva are of normal consistency, colour and do not have unusually strong or unpleasant odours
• The appetite is normal and there is hunger in the mornings
• The desire for fluids is balanced: it increases in hot weather and with exercise, and the preference is for fluids which are neither too hot nor too cold
• The emotions are balanced and even. There is neither too much anger, joy, fear, boldness, impulsiveness nor procrastination, and the emotions are maintained in a state of equilibrium
• Sleep is balanced with wakefulness, and is not interrupted by excessive or disturbing dreaming. Dreams that occur are pleasant, uplifting and filled with optimism
• The mind is quick, alert and imaginative; the memory is good
• The limbs move easily, with strength and precision
• The blood vessels can be seen in the flesh and are neither too deep, nor do they bulge out
• The hair is lustrous and is neither too thin nor too coarse. It grows in the correct places and does not grey or fall prematurely

Sources

Ferguson, M. 1980. The Aquarian Conspiracy, Paladin, London, pp. 270.
Baum, M. 1998. ‘What is holism? The view of a well-known critic of alternative medicine’, Complementary Therapies in Medicine 6, pp. 42-44.
Pert, C. 1997. Molecules of Emotion, Scribner, New York, pp. 187.
AANP (American Association of Naturopathic Physicians) 1989. ‘AANP Definition of Natural Medicine’, <http://www.naturopathic.org/positions/definition_naturopathic_medicine.html>, accessed 11 March 2009.
World Health Organisation, 2003. ‘WHO definition of health’, <http://www.who.int/about/definition/en/print.html> accessed 11 March 2009.