What is the difference between alternative medicine and holistic health?

Many people put the two together or even equate them. In fact, the two are not in the same dimension - alternative therapy is a collective name for a specific type of health intervention, while holistic health is a set of underlying logic that guides health management. Many alternative therapies themselves are even tools used when implementing the concept of holistic health.

A while ago, a friend from the Internet industry came to me and said that he had been suffering from shoulder and neck pain for more than half a year. Even applying plasters and taking painkillers didn't help. If you just give him acupuncture or fascia relaxation with the idea of ​​"treating the pain wherever it hurts", it is actually an intervention with alternative therapies. The pain can be relieved a lot at the moment, but there is a high probability that it will relapse within two weeks. I chatted with him for almost an hour, and then I found out that he had been working on projects until the early hours of the morning for the past six months, eating takeaways that were high in oil and salt, and didn't even have time to date his girlfriend. All the stress was accumulated on him. The final plan I was given was also very complicated: I would first go to the orthopedic department to take a X-ray to rule out organic problems, walk briskly for half an hour in the evening three days a week, switch milk tea to herbal tea without sugar, make an appointment for a massage if the pain was severe, and go out to the park with my girlfriend for half a day on weekends without having to think about work. After persisting for more than a month, he said he was much better. His shoulder and neck pain rarely occurred and his sleep was stable.

The massage and acupuncture mentioned just now belong to the category of alternative therapies. Most of these methods have not been evidence-based verification in large-scale double-blind controlled trials, so they have always been controversial: supporters believe that they can fill the gap in mainstream medicine. Many chronic pain and emotional sub-health that cannot be diagnosed as organic problems can be significantly improved by alternative therapies.； Opponents believe that the safety and effectiveness of methods without evidence-based support cannot be guaranteed. In recent years, there have been many cases of patients who blindly stopped regular drugs and relied on alternative therapies to treat diseases and eventually became seriously ill.

Many people confuse the two. This is actually because many institutions that focus on overall health now use alternative therapies as service carriers. But if you really understand the core of overall health, you will know that it never excludes mainstream medicine, let alone treats a certain type of therapy as a master key - its essence is to treat people as a person. A complete system will not treat headaches and feet. Physiological problems have psychological triggers. Emotional problems may be related to living environment and social relationships. Whether it is mainstream medical examinations and medication, or alternative therapies such as massage and mindfulness, it can be used as long as it can help people return to a more stable state of health.

To be honest, I have been in this industry for a long time and have seen too many marketing gimmicks that tie the two together, such as "cancer is cured by holistic natural therapy" and "alternative therapies are safer than Western medicine and have no side effects." They are all rhetoric to harvest IQ taxes. If you really need to adjust your condition, you should first find a regular hospital to rule out organic problems, and then sort out your life with an overall health perspective. Alternative therapies can only be used as a supplement and cannot replace regular treatment. This is the only way to be responsible for yourself.