Frequently Asked Questions
Columbus Polarity Center for Integrative Health & Wellness, Columbus Ohio
What is holistic and integrative health care?back to questions
Holistic and integrative health care is a system that fosters a cooperative relationship among all those involved, leading towards optimal attainment of the physical, mental emotional, social and spiritual aspects of health.
It emphasizes the need to look at the whole person, including awareness of physical, environmental, emotional, social, spiritual and lifestyle values. Holistic health care focuses on education and responsibility for personal efforts to achieve balance and well being.
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Ancient healing traditions, as far back as 5,000 years ago in India and China, stressed living a healthy way of life in harmony with nature. Socrates (4th century BC) warned against treating only one part of the body "for the part can never be well unless the whole is well." Although the term holism was introduced by Jan Christiaan Smuts in 1926 as a way of viewing living things as "entities greater than and different from the sum of their parts," it wasn't until the 1970s that holistic became a common adjective in our modern vocabulary.
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While preventing illness is important, holistic health focuses on reaching higher levels of wellness. The right half of the wellness continuum invites people to constantly explore which everyday actions work for them and discovering what is appropriate to move them toward maximum well-being. People are motivated by how good it feels to have lots of energy and enthusiasm for life, knowing that what they are doing that day will allow them to continue to feel this great for years to come.
When disease and chronic conditions do occur, the holistic health principles can also be applied. The healthcare professionals using the holistic approach work in partnership with their patients. They recommend things that support the body's natural healing system and consider the whole person and the whole situation.
A holistic approach to healing goes beyond just eliminating symptoms. For example, taking an aspirin for a headache would be like disconnecting the oil light on the dash of a car when it flashes. The irritation is eliminated, but the real problem still exists. In holistic health, a symptom is considered a message that something needs attention. So, the symptom is used as a guide to look below the surface for the root cause. Then what really needs attention can be addressed.
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Integrative medicine combines treatments from conventional medicine and CAM for which there is some high-quality evidence of safety and effectiveness. It is also called integrated medicine. An approach to medicine that combines treatments from conventional medicine and CAM for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.
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