The Myth of Holistic Health

Dr. Phil Maffetone

It’s cool to use the word holistic. And it’s exploited in most areas of health-related products and services, from dietary supplements and cosmetics to therapies of all types. Many people consider themselves to be holistic when it comes to healthcare because they do something associated with the term. This might be getting an acupuncture treatment, a chiropractic adjustment, taking herbs, or even shopping at a health food store. But this is certainly not what holistic is all about.

The term holistic is not synonymous with so-called alternative therapies, nor organic food or fair trade, although that’s often how it’s used. And, it’s not necessarily part of the mind-body movement that’s been popularized in recent years. The way most of these activities are utilized—actually quite narrow in scope—is far from what holistic is all about.

Music therapy is not holistic. Neither is kinesiology, cranial osteopathy, or American Indian dance, although most people involved in these and similar routines consider their participation in them as a holistic act.

The term holistic is not well defined. Much like the word natural, it’s often used to impress others, lure consumers or to help people feel comfort, especially when selling a service.

Here’s how I define holistic: It’s the understanding that everything in life affects us—the food we eat, our physical activity, society, and all aspects of our environment. And it’s the knowledge that we have control of these factors to the extent that, by managing it well we can significantly influence our health. In other words, with very few exceptions, we are in charge of our health.

The foundation of being holistic is living it—eating and being physically activity is only part of it. Thinking it in a way that promotes optimal brain and bodily function is just as important. It’s striving to be in balance in all we do all the time. Humans have evolved along with the environment, so we also must maintain a healthy world—all of our surroundings in the living environment, including the air we breathe, what we sense, see, feel, smell and hear.

All this affects our brains, how we think and feel, and behavior—so holism includes our mental and emotional health too, and beyond to include the individual’s spiritual beliefs, however difficult to understand.

Separate from this are the many therapeutic tools that can positively influence our health, although none can make up for a poor diet, inactivity or an unbalanced environment. They might include various treatments from acupuncture and manipulation to nutrition and biofeedback, including those associated with improving brain function. These activities are only adjuncts to the foundation of living a holistic life. The more solid this foundation, the less we require outside intervention because, overall, a healthy body and brain can keep us more balanced than any therapy.

All this is a difficult pill to swallow in a society that’s obsessed about focusing on one small part of an issue or trend while brushing aside and ignoring the rest of the important factors. As an example, many people go on a diet while remaining physically inactive. Others regularly visit various types of health care practitioners to treat end-result symptoms instead of improving their overall health and environment.

Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners can significantly influence how people think about the concept of holism. Based on surveys, those practitioners who were considered holistic had more spiritual and/or religious beliefs, and utilized some form of alternative techniques compared to general practitioners. More mainstream medical practitioners are now believing the word holistic should be spelled 'wholistic' to avoid confusion with complementary and alternative medicine.

Of course, these words are also thrown around like an old pair of shoes: the term ‘alternative’ has a more radical definition, inferring an exclusive use of therapies that are not mainstream medicine. Many believe that one is either alternative in his or her healthcare approach, or follow the modern medical model of treating symptoms (but in reality, most people yield to both). But the fact is, most alternative therapies follow the same symptom-based model.

The term ‘complementary’ refers to a more open or holistic view that we have the option of using any and all approaches that might help us—from nutrition or biofeedback, to drugs or surgery. Relying on more conservative approaches as much as possible, knowing other options exist, is typically holistic.

Not only does our healthcare education encourage practitioners to not be holistic, the standards of care in virtually all professions make it illegal. Going into private practice in 1977 in New York State meant I could not be holistic unless I broke the law. Not knowing any other way to effectively care for individuals, I went beyond my legal scope of practice almost daily. It was key to helping people in their quest to be healthy and fit. And no one ever complained.

Throughout the world today, there are few truly holistic healthcare models. A model is a format, or an approach to patient care, and just the opposite of a cookbook routine. The most effective models are those that rely on assessment to find, and address, the cause of health problems.

The problem with the modern healthcare approach of being holistic is that it’s not holistic in most cases—although individual practitioners can be holistic. What’s typical is that pieces of a holistic approach are used to treat patients. A good example is acupuncture.

Acupuncture uses needles to treat the body (and there are various versions such as acupressure and electroacupuncture). However, acupuncture is a small part—one of many tools—used within Chinese medicine. Others include diet, massage and manipulation, music therapy, psychology, and others, including color therapy, exercise, and the importance of ones relationship to the environment and society. As one of the oldest models of healthcare, Chinese medicine is holistic. However, its use in Western medicine has resulted in the elimination of the holistic aspect, and broken each of its parts not only into separate remedies, and in some cases different professions. Today, massage therapy, manipulation, acupuncture, diet-nutrition, music therapy and others are isolated parts of healthcare. This renders them less effective unless that particular therapy is just what the patient requires, and no more. This is usually not the case.

The problem, of course, is that not all people require acupuncture, or other single therapy to get well. Not every headache responds to manipulation, and not all muscle spasms resolve with massage. Looking at things holistically, an ill person may require more than one specific therapeutic tool to get better. If you find a practitioner who can provide many types of treatment options, you improve the chances of getting what’s most appropriate for your needs. (Or a practitioner who will refer you to another therapist with the particular expertise you require.)

The modern healthcare system further breaks down because patients generally choose their own therapies based on symptoms. For example, if you have low back pain, you may go to a chiropractor. But what if the cause of your pain is not solely a spinal misalignment? What if the problem is also associated with inflammation of the spinal joints? In this case, two therapies might be necessary to resolve the back pain—spinal manipulation and dietary and nutritional recommendations to help control inflammation. Or, if three or four techniques are necessary to resolve the cause of the problem, this further complicates things, unless one particular practitioner has expertise in assessing and applying the proper therapies, which is possible.

Healthcare practitioners who encourage patients to participate in the process of improving and maintaining their health may be part of an ideal holistic relationship. The word doctor means teacher—this education is a powerful tool, enabling many individuals to learn more about their bodies, and obtain high levels of wellness just by taking care of themselves through optimal diet, physical activity, balancing their environment, and other habits that form the foundation of health.

Today’s healthcare system shuns the holistic approach, one of the reasons it has failed. It is really disease care, and does not encourage people to take responsibility for their health but wait for symptoms to arise and treat them. But individuals who are holistic are changing the system by addressing the causes of preventable diseases—from Alzheimer’s and cancer to heart disease and physical ailments—by eating well, being active, building better brain function, creating a balanced environment, and having a higher quality of life.
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