Holistic Health Care in the 21st Century

The practice of holism teaches that we can not separate the physical from the mental and spiritual aspects of our being. I believe true health is achieved through attention to this principle. Western science has made great strides in controlling infectious disease and providing access to a varied diet year-round. Life expectancy in the last 100 years has increased dramatically, largely due to advances in technology and our understanding of the physical cause of disease. Yet, many of us are dissatisfied with the present health care system. Why? Yes, the advent of the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) has produced some very controversial benefits and problems, but the moral dilemmas I experienced as a nurse began long before we knew what an HMO was. If a man is treated for a disease by amputating his leg, and this cures the disease, was the man healed? Not necessarily, according to holism. In a physical sense, yes, but what if his wife divorces him because she can not love him any more? What if his religious beliefs were that he could not go to heaven if his body is not whole? What if he abandoned God because he believed God failed him? Holism looks at the whole person who has the dis-ease. Holism understands that dis-eases in the body can be a direct result of mental and spiritual imbalances as well as nutritional or chemical deficiencies. Just by breaking down the word into its two syllables, one can see that it means a lack of ease within the body. I believe much suffering could be prevented or alleviated using holistic principles.

Holistic medical care is also heavily preventative. In nursing school, I learned about primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention is what we do long before even the threat of disease develops. We don't smoke, we eat whole, unprocessed foods, we take the right supplements, we exercise, we maintain a positive attitude, and we get enough sleep. Secondary prevention is what we do when there is a good chance disease will strike, such as when we get a polio vaccine during a polio outbreak. Tertiary prevention is what we do to prevent relapses, such as entering a cardiac rehabilitation program after a heart attack. Prevention of illness is not only cost effective, it is the only way any condition will be 100% "cured". Education is the main key to bringing holistic care into the main stream, but it will be up to society to decide the motivating factors for change. It is easy to blame outside forces for our ill health. Currently, people with adult onset diabetes, arteriosclerotic heart disease, asthma, and other chronic diseases are seen and treated as "victims". When we understand more about how disease actually develops as a result of our attitudes and values, we will become empowered to change the course of disease, and even the course of our planet.

Our existence is flooded with meaning, and we choose freely which meanings will control and dominate our lives. It is ever so obvious in health care that the choices we make are crucial to our well being. Meaning is directly attached to how our mind regulates body systems that determine if we are well or if we are sick. If my work is all I give meaning to, and something happens to me that I can not do this work any longer, I will become depressed. Is it such a far-fetched idea then that this depression can lead to disease in the body? Many studies have shown that emotional depression is linked to immune system depression. The link between heart disease and depression is also clearly outlined in many studies. There are books by well-regarded physicians on this subject. Simply put, we need to put more emphasis on the importance of where we place value. When we come to understand we don't die from heart failure but from meaning failure, we will have reached a changing point. The difference between being well and being sick is far more complex than our limited medical paradigm has recognized. No drug can change our meanings or values in life; this is something we humans must regularly assess and modify for ourselves. Science can give us wonderful information, but the true meaning of life and health comes from within us. So, the next time you have a physical checkup, why don't you give yourself a "meanings" check as well?