1. Holistic physicians embrace a variety of safe, effective options in
the diagnosis and treatment, including a) education for lifestyle
changes and self-care, b) complementary alternatives and c)
conventional drugs and surgery.
2. Searching for the underlying causes of disease is preferable to treating symptoms alone.
3. Holistic physicians expend as much effort in establishing what kind
of patient has a disease as they do in establishing what kind of
disease a patient has.
4. Prevention is preferable to treatment and is usually more
cost-effective. The most cost-effective approach evokes the patient's
own innate healing capabilities.
5. Illness is viewed as a manifestation of a dysfunction of the whole person, not as an isolated event.
6. A major determinant of healing outcomes is the quality of the
relationship established between physician and patient, in which
patient autonomy is encouraged.
7. The ideal physician-patient relationship considers the needs,
desires, awareness and insight of the patient as well as those of the
physician.
8. Physicians significantly influence patients by their example.
9. Illness, pain and the dying process can be learning opportunities for patients and physicians.
10. Holistic physicians encourage patients to evoke the healing power
of love, hope humor and enthusiasm, and to release the toxic
consequences of hostility, shame, greed, depression and prolonged fear,
anger and grief.
11. Unconditional love is life's most powerful medicine. Physicians
strive to adopt an attitude of unconditional love for patients,
themselves and other practitioners.
12. Optimal health is much more than the absence of sickness. It is the
conscious pursuit of the highest qualities of the physical,
environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual and social aspects of the
human experience.
