Everything You Need to Know About The Holistic Medicine As people search for healthcare options that are natural and affordable, many are turning to alternative medicines and home remedies. Others, however, are dissatisfied with aspects of institutional medicine but are wary of “folk remedies.” For those people, there is a middle ground. You may also be interested in going to a holistic medicine practitioner for a second opinion, as they are often more willing to try to treat certain conditions or to treat them in a different way. Whether you've heard of holistic medicine or not, keep reading for a crash course: Holistic Medicine 101.
What is Holistic Medicine? Holistic medicine is most often practiced by a licensed doctor, setting it apart from most “alternative medicines.” However, holistic medicine does include elements that most people would consider alternative or traditional. What to Expect from a Holistic Medicine Practitioner Where most doctors treat symptoms or illnesses, practitioners of holistic medicine try to treat the individual. This means that if you go to a practitioner of holistic medicine for, say, a stomach ache, you may find that they proceed in ways that you might find arbitrary, or even alarming. This is largely because holistic medicine is focused on treating “the whole person” – body, mind, and spirit. As a result, practitioners of holistic medicine are more likely than other doctors to suggest things like meditation or even prayer. While holistic medicine practitioners aren't clergy and won’t judge you on your religious background or practices, they may ask you about it. The questions that you may get from a holistic medicine practitioner isn't the only difference that you are likely to notice. The tests that holistic medicine practitioners tend to use are also different from what you may be used to, but these can also vary based on the practitioner. Finally, the “prescriptions” that holistic medicine practitioners write are different from those favored by other healthcare providers. For one thing, holistic medicine practitioners are more likely to recommend lifestyle changes or herbal remedies that don’t require prescriptions.