What Does it Mean to be Holistic?

Unfortunately, holism has been stigmatized, especially in certain religious cultures who unknowingly teach holism themselves.

Holistic means recognizing that everything is circumscribed into one, great whole. So instead of labeling you by your diagnosis and only treating your symptoms (a conventional approach), I strive to see you as a person and consider everything affecting your diagnos(es), including diet*, lifestyle, and environment. Everything is interconnected. If we compartmentalize anything, we are doing it wrong because we are missing so many variables.

Please note that holism (being holistic) is a philosophy rather than an organizational structure. You might notice that some mental health clinics (including one I used to work for) are hiring dietitians because they are starting to realize the importance of nutrition in health. In doing so, they call themselves "holistic," but they are actually integrative since all they are doing is referring to other allopathic providers. The two terms do not mean the same thing, and therapists are especially guilty of misconstruing this concept. A major distinction is that an integrative practice will still focus on addressing symptoms rather than root causes and a whole-person approach.

A holistic practitioner, while we may still refer to other providers when appropriate, we aren't just focusing on symptoms. We are focusing on the whole person. If only I could get everyone to be homesteaders; we'd solve a lot of our modern health problems!