What does holistic medicine actually means?
By Sylvia Orozco Silberman DO
Written for Creative Healing for Youth in Pain
Many healthcare clinics coin the term integrative, holistic, functional, alternative or complementary medicine. What do these different terms mean? How do we understand the approaches of our western medical model, in comparison to other practices of medicine? With our current climate and crave for more holistic and natural approaches for our health- its important to understand the philosophy and framework from which we are holding space for someone in a healing setting. Are we simply using complementary therapies through a conventional medicine approach? Is the foundational principle by which we view disease and diagnosis- not allowing these complemetary therapies to treat in a holistic approach and be effective?
Conventional/ Western/ Mainstream Medicine:: This is the type of medicine practiced here in the United States. It is the education received from an allopathic medical schools where doctors receive an M.D. (medical degree) after their name. Osteopathic medical schools also offer western medical education, where doctors receive a D.O. (doctor of osteopathic medicine) after their name. But in addition, they are taught to incorporate an additional tool of hands-on skills which offer diagnostic guidance and treatment- instead of just the primary pharmacotherapy treatment options that M.D.s primarily offer.
(As a side note: DOs in the US primarily practice as MDs. Very rarely do we find an osteopathic physician that approaches their clinical cases within the osteopathic philosophy and hands-on approach). Choosing a DO physician in a conventional healthcare system, does not always mean you will get a hands-on holistic evaulation and treatment. The limitations within the healthcare models of care (hospital systems, insurance companies)- don’t allow for the practice of holistic care in the osteopathic perspective, as it was intended. Understanding these confines of medical practice- can help you navigate where you seek care. Is the care compromised? Is it biased?
Non-mainstream/conventional medicine examples: acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, naturopathic medicine, reiki, ayurvedic medicine, massage, tai chi, qi gong, osteopathic manipulative medicine, resonance medicine, and shamanism to name a few.
What approach are we seeking? Here are some definitions as per the National Center for Complemetary and Integrative Health Department.
Integrative Medicine: Brings conventional mainstream medicine with complementary approaches. Example: medication for migraines, along with acupuncture treatments. Is the acupuncturist treating a symptom? Are they evaluating the whole being to diagnose and treat within their traditional philosophy? Or are they simply supporting conventional medicine’s treatment plan.
Holistic Medicine: Medicine that considers the whole person- mind, emotion, body and spirit. Most understand the mind and body aspect of this statement, but lack understanding of what spirit means. Acknowledging the importance of body work and a mental health therapist is not inclusive of the health of one’s spirit. More on what spirit is below.
Functional Medicine: As per the Institute for Functional Medicine- “provides a framework to systematically identify and address the underlying processes and dysfunctions that are causing imbalance and disease in each individual.” This is where the future of conventional medicine should be! Evaluating blood work in greater understanding of how minerals and vitamins play a role. Understanding probiotics and supplements and how we best absorb them. The limitation within this scope of medicine is the future down the rabbit hole of a reductionist view of the body. Missing the neurobiomechanical body, the mind and spirit. How many individuals have you met that have had a revolutionary improved diet and supplement intake, but yet continue to have issues? Could the nervous system be on overdrive?
Alternative Medicine: Use of non-mainstream medicine in place of conventional medicine.
Complementary Medicine: Use of non-mainstream medicine with conventional medicine.
Now that we’ve defined these different labels, we can begin to understand the limitations within the different approaches and perspectives. Lets dive deeper into what holistic medicine means…
As I try to define sperately what all these terms mean (mind, emotion, body, spirit), it becomes difficult and “stuck” for me. As a culture, our language has reduced our capability of expanding our understanding of wholeness, because we are constantly dividing, reducing and seperating concepts. For example, seprating body parts— care from a cardiologist vs pulmonologist. We divide the body into different organ systems to provide care, and we divide it even further in order to apply pharmaaceutical therapies to it… in the midst of this reductionist view we have lost sight of the whole. We have forgotten what a living breathing body is. I can not describe just the body, without encorporating emotion to it. I can not describe the mind without describing the spirit. It all is interweaved within one another.
In truth, our past and present history in the body is all related. A birth trauma, a familial dynamic, a poor diet, a concussion, an illness, a dental device…
Tensegrity:
In osteopathic philosophy we discuss the concept of tensegrity ALOT! The tensegrity model is a physics concept that states that there is a reaction for every action, whether yielding or resisting. Envision yourself holding a ballon. If you squeeze the ballon on one side, you can immediately feel the change on the other side. This is tensegrity! Everything in the body is connected! The word tensegrity combines the words tension and integrity. Evaluate how beautiful the body holds itself up with connective tissue— the area of the wings of the scapula to the shoulder joint to the clavicle to the sternum. None of these bones connect to the spine! Its held up by bio-tensegrity to the top of the sternum!
Spirit/Soul:
“Spirit is the expansive oneness from which all things emanate. Your soul is a part of the vastness of Spirit connecting everything.” (Dr. Dijamco). Every soul has their own unique, precious and needed expression of spirit. The intuition and guidance our soul receives is from Spirit. The word inspire means to “breathe in Spirit”! Our magnificent body is home for our spirirt. We feel this when our body, mind and spirirt are grounded and aligned. “When there is a disruption to the connection to spirit, the body and mind will also reflect that disruption.” (Dr. Dijamco MD).
How can we approach the WHOLE in order to understand where the body has become overwhelmed. Where is the “missing peg in the wheel?” Which layer of the body is the “peg” blocking the flow? Is it the emotional body? Is it the mind- stuck in a mindset? Do they have an unresolved birth trauma in the body? Is their airway compromised? Do they not feel joy in being themselves? Are they deficient in good fats in their diet? Is their toxic load overhwleming?
When we’ve narrowed in on one aspect too closely, like a hyperfocus on a diagnosis. it is then that we’ve lost sight of the other factors of a living breathing body that contributed to the developement of this dysfunction/dis-ease. Maintining a peripheral/whole perspective vs narrowed focus— is SO challenging because all of our education and culture is narrowed in on details. We have a hard time recognizing the whole.
Finding a healthcare provider or physician which holds space for all to be acknowledged and considered. Where they see the WHOLE you. Where the medicine provided is not only based on the tools they have to provide but the UNDERSTANDING of where the medicine is needed. Many times I have patients go to a surgeon for evaluation and state they were prescribed surgery— not surprising, it is what they have to offer! It doesn’t mean they don’t need it, but for many that isnt the “peg” in the wheel. For example: a functional medicine approach to a case may be the necessary medicine before considering the surgery. Or maybe a functional medicine doctor will be recommending lots of testing and supplements when the “peg” in the wheel is in the emotional-body of the organs.
As a holistic osteopathic physician, I hold a space where I am witnessing all parts of the patient; their past, their present, their home, their terrain, their inspiration— their WHOLE BEING- with the fulcrum of the treatment begining with the KNOWING that the body has an innate ability to heal itself. It is not for me, not for anyone to come in and fix, but rather to recognize where the being got ‘stuck’ and bringi awareness to that aspect of the whole. Honoring our beautiful continuous healing journey.
Resources:
National Center for Complemetary and Integrative Health Department.
https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/complementary-alternative-or-integrative-health-whats-in-a-name
Institute for Functional Medicine
https://www.ifm.org/functional-medicine
Book: I am Intuitive by Arlene Dijamco MD