When a persons health has been compromised, the patient often is looking for anything that will make them whole again. To begin healing, the patient has two options, the first being conventional medicine- also known as western medicine- which is defined as a system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. The second option is known as alternative medicine. Alternative medicine works exclusively with treatments and methods that use natural products and mind and body practices. Although conventional medicine utilizes science, and alternative medicine focuses on spirituality, these contrasting methods both have a common goal healing. Alternative medicine proves to benefit a patients health independently, as well as when used simultaneously with conventional medicine, harmonizes science and spirituality by finding a necessary bond between these two worlds as well as emboldens holism which proposes t
he idea of viewing the patient as a whole.
It is difficult for western and holistic medicine to regard each other as equal because of their opposing views on medicine. Integrative medicine is a type of holistic medicine that may be able to bridge the gap between these two very different methods. The concept of holism is, The theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole. (Oxford Dictionaries). Intermediate medicine assesses health care from all points of view. This method works to heal the patient not only physically, but emotionally too. It utilizes western methods of physical healing in conjunction with the knowledge of holism and alternative medicine. Integrative medicine finds a balance between mind and body which can not be achieved by a doctor that favours western or holistic medicine. It demonstrates the importance of a balance between these two methods of healing, as well as the significance of holism.