The Holistic Approach to Medicine

The holistic view, or "holism" (from holos, a Greek word meaning whole, entire, total), is a way of seeing things, a philosophical method of addressing and managing issues such as health.

To date, "reductionism" has been the dominant philosophy in modern life in general, and particularly in medicine. Sick animals usually present an array of problems, symptoms, and signs. This is particularly true for chronically ill animals. A chronically ill dog may suffer chronic vomiting and diarrhea as well as chronic skin disease; it may also have behavioural problems. Traditionally (following the reductionist model), to treat this dog the veterinarian would divide him into problems, namely: gastro intestinal, skin, and behavioural. Having established an ultimate cause for each problem, the veterinarian prescribes a separate drug to treat each one of the problems. So for example, he may be given metronidazole for the chronic gastrointestinal problem, cortisone for the skin disease and a psychotropic drug to control his behavioural problem. This is reductionism at work.

A holistic method for the treatment of this dog (which is my usual way), also starts with identifying the problems that the animal has, and running diagnostic tests to identify their causes. But more importantly, I identify the interaction among those problems. I find that our dog’s skin and digestive problems are an expression of a hyperactive immune system. Further, I recognize that the immune system is directly connected to the neurological system and his behaviour directly affects his gastrointestinal and skin systems. To treat this case I address the three identifiable problems as one. Primarily I would use homeopathy, but I may also use acupuncture and even standard drugs (antibiotics, hormones, etc). In each case I use the medicine that is most likely to produce a positive effect on the overall health of the animal.

In summary, holism is a philosophy whereby the world is seen as an integrated unit and where each event or part is interdependent with others and whereby for us to manage anything, we must understand all of them and their interactions. This is in contraposition to reductionism, whereby to understand or study something, such as treating a sick animal, we must break the subject into its smallest identifiable parts.