Holistic medicine in family practice

Abstract

During the twentieth century there have been great advances in medicine in the area of science and technology. At the same time, there has been a trend back to a more natural, humanistic approach to counteract patients' feelings of alienation. Holistic medicine approaches the physical, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of a person as they relate to health and disease. It emphasizes prevention; concern for the environment and the food we eat; patient responsibility; using illness as a creative force to teach people to change; the `physician, heal thyself' philosophy; and appropriate alternatives to orthodox medicine. Family medicine faces the challenge of integrating these humanistic concepts with science.