What is Holistic Medicine?
I practice holistic medicine and I’m often asked what that means. Here’s how I define it.
The Gift of Time. I set aside 90 minutes for the first visit to permit time to listen to my patient’s story. This way, I learn the many different factors influencing my patient’s well-being and can get to the root causes. I can’t do this in twelve, even 20 minutes. Sometimes a potential patient will ask why my appointments are longer than usual. I explain that my conventional medical training taught me to listen for symptoms then quickly order tests or write prescriptions. This model lets physicians see a large number of patients in a short amount of time. However, drugs and surgery silence symptoms, but rarely improve the underlying condition. This never made sense to me, and I sought a different approach.
Restoring Health. I don’t fight disease. I help my patients restore their health. I offer each a regimen designed to create the causes and conditions for health. With that, their own self-healing ability, an idea that goes back to at least Hippocrates, cures their ailments. I have a special interest and faith in diet to do this, but I also use bioidentical hormone replacement, nutritional supplements, homeopathy, and cranial osteopathy. I often advise patients to learn mindfulness meditation, yoga or tai chi to cultivate mind and body awareness, and to calm their overtaxed nervous systems. I refer when other modalities seem appropriate, such as acupuncture or psychotherapy.
This model of restoring health is the model of the future. I hope more physicians will adopt it.
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