What is a holistic approach to health? To me, this is something different than using bio-identical hormones, practicing yoga, or seeking help from an acupuncturist. Sometimes, practitioners using complementary/alternative or integrative-medicine methods have as entrenched a disease model of the reproductive system as anyone else. For example, some practitioners talk about “treating” menopause itself, especially about treating “hormone imbalances” caused by the “shutdown” of the ovaries, accepting a theory that menopause is a disease or intrinsically unhealthy. A similar idea may be applied to normal changes through the menstrual cycle or premenstrual changes that are distressing.
To me, a holistic or integrative approach involves attitudes or understandings about what health is. Feeling healthy is the baseline against which dis-ease or disease contrasts. Sometimes disease results from just-one-thing (like a hormone imbalance), but, more typically, many factors are involved. For example, menopause isn’t unhealthy in and of itself, but sometimes unhealthy or distressing complications of menopause develop based on many factors. For example, treatments for menopause-related, premenstrual, or other reproductive issues often involve lifestyle changes (in diet, activity, etc.) in addition to whatever other approaches are used.
Here is a copy of a handout I use to provide an introductory overview of holistic health:
What Is Holistic Health?
Paula S. Derry, Ph.D.
Health is more than not having any diseases.
The World Health Organization defines health as “complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Feeling healthy is an actual experience.
This may include a feeling of well-being; feeling solid, whole, at home in our bodies; feeling like we can move forward to accomplish our personal aims and goals, feeling physically strong and energetic, etc.
We feel healthy in the here-and-now.
Health involves being able to maintain our balance in the face of adversity.
Being able to cope, being resilient, being adaptable, asking for help when it is needed, etc.
Health involves the whole person and a balance among all our parts.
Physical health, mental well-being, and spiritual needs are all interconnected and play a role in overall health.
There is a natural vital energy in all living things.
Health also involves our relationship to all that is around us.
For example, relationships with other people and the physical environment. Some would put spiritual experience here.
Understanding illness involves understanding the whole person.
A person recovering from illness is restored spiritually, psychologically, and physically.
Maintaining health may mean getting help from a health professional or healer; engaging in activities for the purpose of preventing illnesses (like a diet to prevent diabetes); or having a satisfying lifestyle that is healthy and as a side-product maintains health (like if you practice yoga because you enjoy it, and it ends up helping to reduce stress).
What are basic needs, and what is a healthy lifestyle? It’s individual, but can include:
Activity (including exercise)
Nutrition
Touch
Social Relations
Meaningful existence
Relaxation
Spiritual Connectedness
Etc.
With regard to illness:
The body wants to heal itself.
Sometimes it needs a push in the right direction or other help restoring the ability to heal.
Holistic practitioners help the body regain its ability to heal itself. Sometimes this is not what is needed or enough, as when cancer or other illnesses require different kinds of help.
Some important parts of healing:
Restoring conditions so the body can heal itself; restoring balance to the body/mind/spirit; using the natural vital energy to help the body heal itself; attending to lifestyle; the relationship between a practitioner/giver and the client is important. Some methods: herbs, acupuncture, touch, breathing, talk, etc.
