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holistic medicine

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

holistic medicine


n.
An approach to medical care that emphasizes the study of all aspects of a person's health, including physical, psychological, social, economic, and cultural factors.


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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:

holistic medicine

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Doctrine of prevention and treatment that emphasizes looking at the whole person — body, mind, emotions, and environment — rather than a single function or organ. It promotes use of a wide range of health practices and therapies, including acupuncture, homeopathy, and nutrition, stressing "self-care" with traditional commonsense essentials. In the extreme, it may accord equal validity to a wide range of health-care approaches, some incompatible and not all scientific. It does not ignore mainstream Western medical practices but does not see them as the only effective therapies. See also alternative medicine.

For more information on holistic medicine, visit Britannica.com.

Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health:

Holistic Medicine

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The words "holism" and "holistic" are derived from the Greek word holos, meaning "whole." Jan Christian Smuts coined the term "holism" in a book published in 1926 titled Holism and Evolution. Holism is based on an understanding that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Practitioners of holistic medicine focus on the whole person, not just a specific disease, and believe that mind, body, and spirit are inseparable. They also believe that good health is not merely the absence of disease, that the body has an innate power to heal itself, and that lifestyle factors contribute to health and illness.

(SEE ALSO: Alternative, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine; Theories of Health and Illness)

Bibliography

Smuts, J. C. (1999). Holism and Evolution: The Original Source of the Holistic Approach to Life. ed. Sanford Holst. Sherman Oaks, CA: Sierra Sunrise Books.

— MARY JO KREITZER



Columbia Encyclopedia:

holistic medicine

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holistic medicine, system of health care based on a concept of the "whole" person as one whose body, mind, spirit, and emotions are in balance with the environment. Stressing personal responsibility for health, a holistic approach may include conventional medicine and various nontraditional methods of diagnosis and therapy, e.g., acupuncture, biofeedback, faith healing, folk medicine, megavitamin therapy, meditation, and yoga. Patients are encouraged to establish self-regulated regimes to control such illness-related factors as poor diet, smoking, alcohol intake, and stress. Surgery and prescription drugs are generally avoided. See also alternative medicine.


(hoh-lis-tik)

An approach to medicine that emphasizes treating the person as a whole, with special attention to the interconnections of the mind and body and of the systems within the body. Holistic medicine stresses the patient's role in health care through such means as positive attitudes, sound diet, and regular exercise.

Saunders Veterinary Dictionary:

holistic medicine

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A comprehensive approach to health care and prevention of disease employing conventional and many of the alternative medicine modalities, including acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal medicine, homeopathy, massage, nutraceuticals and physical therapy which integrates the body as a whole, including mind and spirit, rather than separate systems.

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'holistic medicine'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
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Copyrights:

American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
$copyright.smallImage.alttext Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health. Encyclopedia of Public Health. Copyright © 2002 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Health. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Saunders Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more

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