What is the difference between alternative medicine and holistic health

In fact, many people confuse the two concepts. They are not in the same dimension at all - alternative therapy is a "classification of treatment/intervention methods", and overall health is the "core idea of health management", which is different in positioning.

I have been practicing natural health for almost 8 years, and I have met too many people who equate the two. They either think that those who engage in holistic health are selling folk remedies instead of Western medicine, or they think that using acupuncture and herbal medicine means they agree with holistic health. In fact, this is not the case at all.

Let’s talk about alternative therapies first. Its corresponding reference is the conventional treatment methods of modern medicine. Simply put, all intervention methods that are not included in mainstream clinical routine programs can be counted in this category. From moxibustion and massage that everyone often does, to homeopathy and bioresonance therapy that many people have heard of, they all fall into the category of alternative therapies. The water here is actually quite deep. Some of them have been proven effective by evidence-based medicine. For example, the relieving effect of acupuncture on chronic back pain has been written into the clinical guidelines of many countries. There are also some that are purely IQ-based. For example, alkaline therapy, which claims to be able to cure cancer without taking medicine, has long been proven to have a placebo effect and even delay treatment.

As for overall health, it has never been a specific method, but more like a perspective of looking at the problem - instead of disassembling people into individual organs, treating headaches and treating headaches and feet, but treating physiology, psychology, emotions and even social relationships and living environment as a whole that affects each other. When there is a problem, we must find the root cause instead of just suppressing the symptoms.

Let me tell you something I encountered two years ago. There was a girl in her early 30s who had high levels of Hashimoto's antibodies for almost two years. She had taken western medicine for a long time and her levels had not dropped. When she came to her, she had imported herbal conditioning pills recommended by several bloggers. She opened her mouth and asked me if this could replace her current medicine. I didn't answer her directly, but I chatted with her for almost 40 minutes before I found out that she worked in Internet operations and stayed up until two or three o'clock all year round. She and her husband had been arguing about pregnancy preparations for three years after we were married, and most of our meals were takeout, which was heavy in oil and salt. Later, in addition to suggestions for adjusting her medication, the plan she was given also included dietary supplements suitable for her body type. She was also asked to do 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation three days a week. She and her husband set aside one night a week to go out for a walk and eat snacks instead of talking about work or pregnancy preparations. More than three months later, she went for another check-up and found that the antibodies had dropped by almost half. Do you think there are any products related to alternative therapies used here? Yes, but the core logic is not to rely on herbal medicine pills to cure diseases at all, but to use the idea of ​​​​holistic health to fill up all the holes in her life that are dragging her body down one by one.

It’s no wonder that people are confused. Nowadays, many legal practitioners of alternative therapies use a holistic health approach to intervene. They will not just give you products right away, but will go through all aspects of your life first. But the reverse is not necessarily true. Many merchants selling alternative therapy products use the guise of overall health to cut leeks. They don’t even ask what your physical constitution is, and they dare to say that a certain herbal medicine or a certain instrument can cure all diseases. In fact, this has nothing to do with overall health. They are just selling products.

There is now a lot of controversy between the academic community and the general public about these two concepts. Some people feel that overall health is too nihilistic and cannot be quantitatively evaluated, and it can easily become a gimmick to deceive people. Others feel that alternative therapies do not have unified clinical verification standards and the risks are uncontrollable. These doubts are actually justified. You don’t need to memorize definitions when you come into contact with relevant content. Just remember that if someone comes up and recommends a product or claims that a certain method can cure all problems, whether it is under the banner of alternative therapy or overall health, you should be more careful. If you really have a health problem, go to a regular hospital to check for organic problems first, and then consider whether to combine other adjustment plans. It is very stable.