All traditional and systemic medicine tend to take an holistic approach. They can include a long initial meeting covering many details of the patient’s history in a calm atmosphere; a strong focus on reducing everyday stress and improving diet and exercise; an explanation of how the treatment will unleash the body’s ability to heal itself; assurance that over time the treatment will help both the problem that prompted the visit and also general health; and the establishment of frequent follow-up visits.
Modern medicine stemmed from fighting infectious diseases, which have been the biggest problem until recently. But today, the challenge is less one of fighting infectious diseases and more a matter of dealing with chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. Now that we live longer, these typically late-developing diseases have become by far our biggest killers and account for three-quarters of our health-care spending. And in many cases, lifestyle and attitude changes, the focus in part of alternative medicine, can have an enormous impact on health.