What Is Holistic Health Care? A Whole-Person Approach to Well-Being

Holistic health care is care that looks at the whole person, not just one symptom or one lab result. It asks about your body, your sleep, your stress, your food and your mood. Then it builds a plan around what it finds. Responsible holistic health care works alongside your regular doctor. It does not replace them.

The word "holistic" gets used for everything from a yoga class to a bottle of supplements, and holistic wellness can mean very different things to different people. That makes it hard to know what you are getting. This guide explains what holistic health care means, what a whole-person visit looks at, which holistic treatments have research behind them, and how to spot the red flags.

What Holistic Health Care Means: Treating the Whole Person

A holistic approach starts with a simple idea. Your health is not one thing. The National Institutes of Health describes whole person health as improving and restoring health in several connected areas, including biological, behavioral, social and environmental ones, "rather than just treating disease."

In practice, holistic health care pays attention to these aspects of health:

• Physical health: your symptoms, medical history, labs, movement and sleep.
• Emotional health: stress, mood, anxiety and how you cope.
• Social health: your relationships, your work and the support around you.
• Spiritual health: for some people, a sense of purpose or meaning. It is personal, and a good provider does not push it.
• Environment and habits: food, activity, substances and the places you live and work.

The goal is overall health and well-being, not only the absence of a diagnosis. A whole-person provider still diagnoses disease and still uses medicine when it is needed. The difference is the question they keep asking: what is the root cause of this problem in this person?

Holistic medicine considers your thoughts and feelings, your mind and body, and your health as a whole. Many holistic doctors also look for underlying causes of health concerns instead of stopping at the first answer. This whole-person approach is why the same symptom can lead to very different plans for two people.

Holistic Health vs. Conventional Medicine: Complementary and Integrative, Not Alternative

Many people think holistic health care means giving up traditional medicine. It does not have to. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) draws a clear line between two terms people mix up:

• Complementary: a non-mainstream approach used together with conventional medicine.
• Alternative: a non-mainstream approach used in place of conventional medicine.

NCCIH also notes that most people who use non-mainstream approaches use conventional health care too. Integrative health brings conventional and complementary care together in a coordinated way, with an emphasis on treating the whole person rather than one organ system.

That is the safe version of holistic health care. A blood pressure medicine, a nutrition plan and a stress-management practice can all sit in the same plan. When a provider asks you to choose one side and drop the other, slow down.

What a Holistic Approach Looks At During a Whole-Person Visit

A whole-person visit usually takes longer than a standard appointment, because there is more to ask. Expect questions that go past your chief complaint. A thorough visit often covers:

• Your full medical history, past diagnoses and family history.
• Every medicine and supplement you take, prescription or not.
• Sleep, energy, digestion and pain patterns.
• Nutrition and daily eating habits.
• Stress, mental well-being and life events that may be weighing on you, and ways to manage stress that fit your life.
• Gut health, including digestion, bloating and food reactions.
• Labs and tests that fit your symptoms, not a one-size-fits-all panel.

At 417 Integrative Medicine in Springfield, Missouri, a new patient starts with a detailed intake, a review of health history, labs when they make sense and a talk about daily life. Our integrative primary care visits are built around that fuller picture. The result is a comprehensive treatment plan with conventional tools and integrative ones side by side, and a clear approach to care you can understand.

Common Types of Holistic Treatments and What the Research Says

Holistic treatments fall into a few groups. NCCIH sorts complementary approaches by how they are delivered: nutritional, psychological and physical. The research behind them is uneven, so it helps to know which is which.

Psychological and physical approaches

These include meditation, yoga, tai chi, acupuncture and massage therapy. NCCIH reports that research suggests several of them may help with certain conditions:

• Acupuncture may help ease chronic pain such as low-back pain, neck pain and knee osteoarthritis pain.
• Meditation may help lower blood pressure and ease symptoms of anxiety and depression, and may help people with insomnia. It is also a simple way to reduce stress and improve mood.
• Tai chi appears to help balance and stability, and may improve quality of life in people with heart disease and other chronic illnesses.
• Yoga may relieve stress and support sleep, balance and emotional health.

Notice the word "may." These are possible benefits, not promises, and the amount of research differs from one practice to the next.

Nutritional approaches and alternative treatments

Food and lifestyle changes are the most useful tools in holistic health care for most people. Eating well, getting enough physical activity and not smoking can lower your risk of heart disease and other serious conditions, and can help with high blood pressure and other health conditions your provider is already managing. Herbs, vitamins and minerals, and other supplements are a different story. NCCIH says large, careful studies on a few supplements often showed the products did not work for the conditions studied, and research on many others is still in progress. Supplements can also interact with medicines. For example, St. John's wort can change how many prescription drugs work, according to NCCIH.

How to Tell Evidence-Based Holistic Health From Pseudoscience

Good holistic health care and bad holistic health care can look alike from the outside. Both use warm language and talk about "root causes," and both may offer alternative treatments with confident names. The difference shows up in what they claim and how they treat your other doctors. Watch for these red flags:

• Miracle cures. Any provider who promises to cure cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disease or another serious illness is making a claim the evidence cannot back.
• "Detox" and "cleanse" claims. NCCIH reports that a 2015 review found no compelling research that detox diets help with weight management or remove toxins from the body. The FDA and Federal Trade Commission have acted against detox products with hidden ingredients and false claims.
• Telling you to stop prescribed medicine. Never stop a prescription without talking to the provider who prescribed it. Stopping some medicines suddenly can be dangerous.
• Treating your regular doctor as the enemy. Safe care depends on your providers talking to each other.
• Guaranteed results. Honest providers explain what is likely, what is uncertain and what is unknown.
• One product for everything. A plan that is mostly supplements sold by the same person who recommends them deserves a second look.
• Vague credentials. NCCIH notes that the credentials required for complementary health practitioners vary tremendously from state to state and from discipline to discipline.

Green flags look different. A trustworthy holistic health practitioner explains the evidence and its limits, asks about everything you take, orders tests for a reason, and is glad to coordinate with your primary care provider or specialist.

Questions to Ask Before You Choose a Holistic Practitioner

The best holistic practitioners welcome tough questions. NCCIH recommends being as careful choosing a complementary health practitioner as you would be choosing conventional care. Bring these questions to a first call or visit:

1. What are your education, training, licenses and certifications?
2. Are you willing to work with my other health care providers?
3. Have you worked with people who have my condition?
4. How will we know if this plan is working, and when will we change it?
5. Will this treatment interact with my current medicines?
6. What is the evidence for what you are recommending, and what is still unknown?

Also tell every provider you see about the complementary approaches you use. Include supplements, herbs and anything you buy over the counter. Do not assume your insurance will cover a service. Ask your insurance company first.

Is Holistic Health Care Right for You?

Holistic health care can be a good fit for improving your overall health if you feel like your appointments are rushed, your symptoms keep coming back, or you want a plan that includes sleep, stress and nutrition along with medicine. It may be less useful on its own for an emergency, a new serious symptom or an illness that needs urgent treatment. Those call for conventional care first.

If you are already managing a condition, keep your current providers. A good practitioner will want to know who they are and will work with them. If you are looking for a clinic in the Springfield area that combines conventional and integrative tools, call 417 Integrative Medicine at (417) 363-3900 or visit us at 1335 E Republic Rd D, Springfield, MO 65804.

Holistic Health Care FAQs

What is holistic health care in simple terms?

It is care that looks at your whole life and body, not just one symptom. It considers physical health, emotional health, lifestyle and stress, and it often combines conventional medicine with complementary approaches.

Is holistic health care the same as alternative medicine?

No. Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional care. Complementary approaches are used together with it. Responsible holistic health care is complementary care that fits next to your regular plan.

Can I use holistic health care while taking prescription medicine?

Often yes, but tell every provider what you take. Some herbs and supplements can change how medicines work, so your providers need the full list.

Does holistic health care replace my doctor?

It should not. A good provider works alongside your primary care provider and specialists, and never asks you to stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

How do I know if a holistic treatment is safe?

Ask for the evidence, check the practitioner's credentials and talk with your regular provider before you start. Be careful with any plan that promises a cure, relies on a detox or cleanse, or discourages you from seeing your doctor.

This article is for education only. It is not medical advice and does not replace care from your doctor. If you think you are having a medical emergency, call 911.

If you are in the Springfield area, you can read more about holistic care in Springfield and how a natural, root-cause approach fits into whole-person wellness.