Practitioners of holistic medicine believe you must look at the whole person before you begin diagnosing and prescribing medicines. Holistic doctors want to know about your daily nutritional intake, sleep habits, exercise routine, family background, work, energy level, and disposition, or overall view of life. They work best at the preventive level. Orthodox medicine tends to be best at working with people who have already acquired a symptom. Its practitioners have not been taught to emphasize preventive medicine.
Types
Some of the practices that fall under the category of holistic medicine are: ancient healing systems such as ayurveda from India, and Chinese medicine; homeopathy; naturopathy; meditation/prayer/relaxation techniques; biologically based practices such as dietary and herbal remedies; chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation; and energy medicine, which includes qi gong, therapeutic touch, reiki and magnet therapy.
Significance
Orthodox doctors are cautious about telling their patients about holistic or complementary medicine because there are so many holistic claims of curing serious illnesses that have not been substantiated through scientific studies. Medical and scientific studies are expensive and are mostly financed through the government. However, more and more studies being performed on holistic treatments as more people turn to them for healing. The agency responsible for this research is The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Considerations
Holistic practitioners are equally suspicious of orthodox medicine because they believe it to be invasive and interventionist, relying on pharmaceuticals to suppress an illness rather than looking for a cause. They believe drug companies and doctors are more concerned with making money than in curing people, focusing more on symptoms, diagnosing and implementing surgery, says the Holistic Health Topics website.
Orthomolecular Medicine
Some medicines that are still considered "alternative" are based in science, so they overlap into orthodox medicine. One such practice is called orthomolecular medicine and it was developed by double-Nobel laureate Linus Pauling in 1968. It is highly scientific and the basic assumption is that the genetic make-up of an individual affects not only her body, but also her biochemical environment. Biochemical channels in the body have genetic fluctuations so that illnesses such as cancer or schizophrenia are correlated with particular biochemical dysfunctions that fortify contributing components of the disease.
Studies in Africa
In 2007, a study was conducted at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria, on cancer patients using alternative or holistic medicine. The use of traditional herbs, medicinal teas, prayer/faith healing were the most common forms used. The results were that most of the cancer patients did not acquire the expected advantages, and unfavorable effects were reported. However, this has not deterred people in that country from seeking holistic treatments because they believe cancer is a spiritual force which cannot be reckoned with by man, says the Bio Med Central website.
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