The holistic health movement is perhaps the most successful development of the whole alternative spirituality movement. Like the Human Potential Movement and New Age Movement with which it is connected, it is less a coherent tradition than an umbrella term for an enormous range of schools, groups and practices, generally known simply as complementary health. As a movement it crosses boundaries between east and west, New Age and paganism, psychology and spirituality, body and soul, alternative and mainstream. Of all the movements of the last hundred years, holistic health is the most integrated and accepted in mainstream society.
The growth of complementary medicine can be attributed to several causes. First, the inability of allopathic medicine to treat many chronic, stress-related, mental and environmental illnesses has caused desperate patients to look else-where. Second, there is a rise in iatrogenic and hospital-acquired infections, combined with increasingly harmful side-effects from drugs and other mainstream treatments, particularly drugs. Perhaps most importantly, a personalized, attentive treatment regime appeals to many patients alienated by the dehumanizing routinization of standard healthcare. Complementary approaches are experienced as particularly beneficial when combined, as they often are, with an educational and spiritual dimension.
Holism derives from the etymologically related concepts of health, wholeness and holiness, integrated into a philosophy and praxis the ‘whole person’. Its key doctrine is the validity and interconnection of all our faculties: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. It is linked with the environmental movement through its belief in the intimate connection between personal and planetary healing, a belief shared with shamanism and Neo-Paganism. Holism also comprises an ongoing journey of self-development whose destination is the state Maslow called self-actualization (see Maslow, Abraham): functioning at the optimum level of health and happiness. The ideal is health defined as a positive state of wellbeing rather than a negative absence of symptoms. Holistic is also a synonym for alternative therapies, in which the healthcare professional or ‘healer’ and patient work as partners. Symptoms are not just eliminated or masked, but used as a guide to diagnose the root cause, and treatments are selected to support the body’s natural healing system. Central precepts of the holistic health movement include:
• Health is a positive value, beyond the absence of disease or symptoms.
• Education and prevention are preferable to treatment.
• Health is only present to the degree that an individual’s complete needs are met.
• Responsibility for health lies largely with the individual, determined by manageable lifestyle factors, particularly diet and nutrition. Many practitioners and patients eat organic food and may be vegetarian, vegan or macrobiotic.
• Illness and aging, like other major life events, offer opportunities for growth and self- discovery.
• Non-conventional health options and supportive therapies can work in conjunction with standard medical practices
• Mind and body directly affect each other as inseparable partners in producing health and/or illness.
The holistic health movement is rooted in ancient medical systems around the world. The Classical Greek physician Hippocrates defined a healthy life as in harmony with nature. Socrates warned against treating only one part of the body ‘for the part can never be well unless the whole is well’. Traditional European medicine has been rediscovered, particularly the sixteenth century English herbalist from Culpeper, whose book is still taught on courses. Homeopathy was founded in the eighteenth century by Samuel Hahnemann (1745-1843), and is now one of the best established systems, used among
others by the British royal family. Herbalism and homeopathy, along with osteopathy, chiropractic, therapeutic massage, shiatsu and acupuncture, are now recognized by the British Medical Association and available from the National Health Service. There are hundreds of other approaches of which some of the best known are: Alexander technique, aromatherapy, Feldenkrais method, naturopathy, radionics, reflexology, and Reiki. Fitness is an important element of the holistic lifestyle, and spiritually derived techniques such as yoga are particularly popular. Alongside the growth in healing services is a whole industry selling health products including chains of health stores. Aromatherapy in particular has made inroads into the beauty market, and multinational companies are manufacturing ranges available on the high street. However, many people prefer to obtain their products from organic and ethical sources.
Among the most fashionable current Asian therapies in holistic health circles are Chinese herbalism and Indian ayurvedic medicine, the latter popularized mainly by Deepak Chopra (see Chopra, Deepak). Although the holistic health movement is not an NRM, it does contain a number of highly charismatic practitioners who often become famous through their books and media appearances as well as their therapy, such as Chopra himself. Spiritual healing approaches, perhaps unsurprisingly, are particularly likely to produce ‘gurus’ such as Bernie Siegel, Caroline Myss, and Barbara Brennan— all bestselling authors. Conversely, there are attempts at regulation and institutionalization through bodies such as the British Complementary Medicine Association and the American Holistic Medicine Association.
The holistic health movement has been criticized because therapeutic outcomes are seldom subjected to rigorous statistical analysis, allowing practitioners to make unverifiable claims. Insofar as there have been proper evaluations, the results have been mixed. For example, one British study dismissed homeopathic remedies as no better than a placebo effect, although other research has yielded dramatic evidence of its curative potential. Holistic health practitioners claim that standard scientific methodologies are unsuitable for evaluating the multifaceted nature of their work. The movement has always defined itself to some extent in contrast to allopathic or scientific medicine. Although there has been tension and rivalry between the two systems, many allopathic family practices (up to 50 per cent in the UK) include the option of holistic treatments of many kinds. This is true not only in the western world, but also in Asia, especially China, where traditional acupuncture and herbal medicine may be on offer as well. There are also various attempts to synthesize the best aspects of each approach, such as Andrew Weil’s Integrative Medicine. Holistic health has now grown to the point where around a fifth of British people have used complementary health products and services, and the numbers are comparable in other Western countries.
