Holistic health recognizes that for some individuals and families, the experience of illness and pain may relate to spiritual concerns and that those concerns may manifest as physical or emotional symptoms.
Holistic health approaches address not only curing or treating a specific physical ailment, but also ensure that support and comfort are provided to the individual and his or her family and community. Thus, holistic care would address the care and support of families who have a child or other member who is seriously or chronically ill or has a disability. It would address the pain of the bereaved. Part of that support can include spiritual and religious resources.
When seeking quality care, reference is often
made to its being “holistic.” Each person, adult and child, in a clinical
encounter - patient, family members, and health and mental health care
providers - enters with his or her own personal configuration of body, mind,
and spirit. For each individual, the component parts may have different levels
of significance and, for some, the “spirit” part may not be important at all.
Rarely
is one person’s configuration identical to that of others. There may be many
similarities or there may be extreme differences (even among family members, or
between the patient and the provider). Importantly, health and mental health
care providers may have to negotiate their own notions of what is perceived to
be a professional rather than a personal map.
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