Holistic health is a concept in medical practice

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 upholding that all aspects of people's needs, psychological, physical and social should be taken into account and seen as a whole. As defined above, the holistic view on treatment is widely accepted in medicine. A different definition, claiming that disease is a result of physical, emotional, spiritual, social and environmental imbalance, is used in alternative medicine

Alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....

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Alternative medicine

In alternative medicine, it is believed that the spiritual aspect should also be taken into account when assessing a person's overall well-being. This spiritual aspect is claimed not to be associated with any religious ideology.

Holistic health practices

Some of the practices of alternative holistic health include, but are not limited to:

• natural diet and herbal remedies
• nutritional supplements
• exercise
• relaxation
  Relaxation
  Relaxation stands quite generally for a release of tension, a return to equilibrium.In the sciences, the term is used in the following ways:*Relaxation , and more in particular:...
  
  
• psycho-spiritual counseling
• meditation
  Meditation
  Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
  
  
• breathing exercises
• acupuncture
  Acupuncture
  Acupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
  
  
• homeopathy
  Homeopathy
  Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
  
  
• massage therapy

Criticism

There have been no published scientific studies that prove the efficacy, beyond the Placebo Effect

Placebo

A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...

, of holistic medicine in treating any known disease . Major medical organizations recommend that if holistic medicine is to be used at all, it should be used only in conjunction with conventional medicine and not as a replacement.

Medical publications

• http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1744-859X-9-S1-S35.pdf
• http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/holistic-medicine