What is the difference between alternative medicine and holistic health

The core difference is actually that the attributes are completely different - holistic health is a health cognitive framework that focuses on a full-dimensional state, while alternative therapy is a type of specific intervention method that has not been fully verified by mainstream evidence-based medicine and is often used to replace conventional clinical treatment. One is the underlying idea, and the other is the operation method, which are essentially two categories.

Many people confuse the two, or even directly equate them. This is probably because many alternative therapies have been promoting overall health in recent years, packaging "no medicine or surgery" as "focusing on the health of the whole person", which has distorted the reputation of overall health. When I was doing community health science popularization, I met an aunt who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes three years ago. After listening to a health care class, she said that taking insulin would damage the liver and kidneys, and she needed to rely on "natural therapy" to regulate the overall body condition. I secretly stopped insulin and only ate so-called whole-vegetarian nutritious meals and foot massages every day. Within half a month, she went to the emergency room because of ketoacidosis. She later told me that she thought those teachers were talking about overall health, but in fact it was not at all - the so-called natural therapy here is a typical alternative therapy, which directly replaces conventional treatment. Under the true overall health concept, the first step to control sugar must be to take anti-diabetic drugs or insulin as prescribed by the doctor. , on this basis, we will help you adjust your diet, regulate the anxiety caused by illness, help you formulate an exercise plan that suits you, and will even pay attention to whether your blood sugar always fluctuates because you are too tired to take care of your baby and don’t get enough rest. This is an addition to conventional treatment, rather than just throwing away conventional treatment.

There are a lot of controversies about the two now. Some people think that mentioning overall health is pseudoscience, which is actually wrong. Nowadays, many tertiary hospitals open mind-body medicine departments and chronic disease management clinics, which adopt the idea of ​​whole health. They will not just focus on your blood pressure and blood sugar values, but will include your living habits, emotional state, and family environment in the assessment to help you make all-dimensional health adjustments. The effect is actually much better than just prescribing medication. There are also some people who think that alternative therapies are overall health solutions that are more advanced than mainstream medical treatment. This is also untenable. Most alternative therapies still do not have enough large-scale evidence-based evidence to support their effectiveness. If they are really used to replace conventional treatments, they will most likely delay the condition.

To be honest, it is easy to understand if you think of health as raising a pot of flowers. Overall health means that you need to water, bask in the sun, and check whether the soil is nutritious and insect-infested. It is an all-round care idea. The alternative therapy is that you clearly find that the roots of the flowers are rotten. Of course, there are now many studies verifying the effectiveness of some traditional alternative therapies, such as acupuncture to relieve postoperative pain and meditation to reduce the frequency of anxiety attacks. As long as it is verified and used as a supplement to conventional treatment, it can actually be included in the overall health intervention system. The core depends on whether you use it to replace formal treatment or to supplement formal treatment. Ordinary people don’t need to worry about the concept. Just remember not to stop taking the medicine prescribed by the doctor casually, and don’t use unproven methods as the main treatment. The rest of the adjustments that can make you feel better and feel more comfortable are essentially in line with the idea of ​​overall health.