Introduction: What is Holistic Therapy?
Holistic therapy is based largely on psychosynthesis, a therapeutic technique that views and treats the emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual person as a whole. Those who practice holistic therapy believe that while taking care of our physical bodies is an important component of maintaining health, we must not neglect the other levels. Good health is more than the absence of physical pain or disease. This technique also differs from more traditional psychotherapy in the methods used to approach and treat psychological and emotional distress. While traditional therapies and conventional medicine often focuses only on the present behaviors and thoughts that accompany a specific issue, or seek to use
This technique is useful in the treatment of couples, individuals, and families and helps uncover the underlying reasons for symptomatic behaviors and emotions. Because they are taught to recognize and identify their own personal symptoms and issues, as well as given tools to essentially treat and/or heal themselves, clients are a direct and essential part of their own healing process. The client ultimately develops and creates their own highly personalized therapy. This approach leads to greater client empowerment, inner-knowledge, and further success in any future situations that may have once caused enormous difficulty. For clients, holistic therapy becomes a life-long process of tuning into and listening to their bodies, on all levels, and identifying what it is they need. It is very much a process of self-discovery, self-care, and
Wholeness is the state of being in which all four levels are aligned, and energy is free to flow throughout all of the systems, without resistance. Through the holistic healing process, the therapist strives to balance each of a person’s four levels; both independently and interdependently with each other as a whole system. In order to achieve the balanced interdependence of the four systems, the therapist must first independently balance each of the four levels individually. Once this is accomplished, the four levels will naturally fall into a beautiful flow with each other, and wholeness will be achieved. Over time, those who practice holistic therapy become highly sensitive to imbalances within their own bodies. Oftentimes these imbalances can make a person feel emotional or physical pain, discomfort, or just offer a sense that something is “out of place.” Before long, after being given the correct tools, a person is able to correct these imbalances at will. People naturally desire to return to a balanced and harmonious state of functioning. Our organs and bodies work at their very best and most healthful state when in this state of alignment and wholeness. Healing and rebalancing are one and the
Experiential Family Therapy is a therapy that encourages patients to address subconscious issues through actions, and role playing. It is a treatment that is used for a group of people in order to determine the source of problem in the family (Gurman and Kniskern, 2014). Experiential Family Therapy has its strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths of this therapy is that, it focuses on the present and patients are able to express their emotions on what is happening to them presently. The client will have time to share everything about his/her life experiences one on one without any fears. As a result, it helps the client in the healing process because, he/she is able to express their feelings freely and come out of the problem. Therefore, in this type of therapy, the clients are deeply involved in solving their issues. It helps clients to scrutinize their individual connections and to initiate a self-discovery through therapy, on how their relationships influence their current behaviors (Gurman and Kniskern, 2014). By examining their personal relationships through experiential family therapy, family members are able to
Psychotherapy is a verbal communication between a therapist and a patient that is intended to help the patient. It is designed to help the patient in many ways such as finding relief from emotional distress. The patient becomes less anxious, fearful, or depressed. Psychotherapy can also help to seek solutions to problems in the patient’s live. It helps with dealing with disappointment, grief, family issues, and job or career dissatisfaction. It also helps to modify ways of thinking and acting that are preventing the patient from working productively and enjoying personal relationships. Talking with a psychotherapist is different from talking with a friend in three respects that increase its likelihood of being helpful. Friends may be able and willing to listen and give advice, but qualified and duly licensed psychotherapists are trained professionals with specialized education and experience in understanding psychological problems. Second, friendships are typically mutual relationships. People take turns being helpful to each other. Psychotherapy is devoted entirely to the patient’s welfare and focused solely on the patient’s needs for symptom relief, problem solutions, or lifestyle changes. Lastly, psychotherapy involves a formal commitment to meet regularly at a designated time. They talk only about the patient’s concerns. They continue meeting as long as doing so serves the patient’s best interests. This is in contrast to the mutuality,
...In this specific style, the therapist tends to have the most success in gaining knowledge of the patients feelings of inadequacy, fear of intimacy, and low self esteem.
As this book points out, and what I found interesting, the therapeutic relationship between therapist and client, can be even more important than how the therapy sessions are conducted. A therapists needs to be congruent. This is important because a client needs a sense of stability. To know what is expected from him or her while being in this transitional period of change. In some cases this congruency may be the only stability in his life, and without it, there is no way of him trusting in his t...
The psychotherapies that I most support are a hybrid of two therapies, Carl Rogers’ nondirective Person/Client-Centered Approach and Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Approach. To put it simply, I call it the Person-Centered Cognitive Approach to psychotherapy. A collaboration of these two approaches is what I feel to be the most effective way to help clients achieve homeostasis and growth. I believe the client/therapist relationship is important, and this is why I support the Roger’s Person-Centered therapy and feel it is effective. If the client/therapist relationship is agreeable the atmosphere of the therapeutic relationship will allow for the client to open up, trust the therapist, and allow them to aid the client to move in a constructive direction (Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy). Beck’s Cognitive Therapy also puts great emphasis on a collaborative therapeutic relation, but the reason I support this approach opposed to behavioral approaches is because it says we are what we think (Corsini & Wedding, 2008), and in order for us to be able to change we have to become aware and evaluate our thoughts (Rosner, 2012).
I really like that this form of therapy does not focus on problem talk, but instead focuses on solution talk. However, the true focus is all about change and the resources needed to make that change. The emphasis is on the client’s, “unique, subjective perspective or self-constructed narrative, as contrasted with an objective or consensual reality” (Norcross, p. 406). Thi...
Thornton, L. (2014, January 1). Welcome to AHNA: What is Holistic Nursing? Retrieved November 12, 2014, from
Experiential family therapy is one that believes the root cause of the problems in the families is a result of emotional suppression. This theory is focused on freedom experiencing emotions in the here-and-now. Experiential family therapists believe clients should seek self-fulfillment and focus on individual’s roles in the family rather than on the family as a whole. In order to promote growth, the individual and family must both grow. Once families are emotionally healthy, healthy attachments can then be made. I am drawn to this approach because of its focus on the individual. I believe that if individuals are healthy, family roles will become clearer and the system as a whole will become healthier. It is similar to when a spoiled piece of fruit makes it into a fruit salad, the entire salad is then ruined; however, if the entire salad is healthy, everyone will enjoy it. (Nichols, 2014, p. 130-132)
When someone hears holistic nursing their mind may immediately jump to a form of hippie nursing with little to none scientific background or accuracy in the quality of care. This belief however is extremely inaccurate as to what holistic nursing really is. Holistic care can be defined as to when the nurse honors the patient’s wishes and takes into consideration the social, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the patient’s life (American Holistic Nurses Association, n.d.). Holistic nursing is growing in popularity amongst patients because of its open communication between nurse and patient, its unique approach to health and healing, as well as the comprehensive care it can provide.
Fain, N. C. & Lewis. N. M. (2002). Wellness: The Holistic Approach to Health. Journal of
The Journal of Dietary Supplements discusses the increased use of “Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)” and how it is becoming a need among physicians to educate and train themselves so that the idea of Integrative Medicine is a realization to the public (Litchy, 2011). This holistic approach allows the ability for conventional medicine to be incorporated with alternative interventions which, further enables the patient to decide which route of care best suits their specific preferences.
There are varying descriptions from Holistic Medicine, Alternative Medicine, Natural Medicine to Complementary Medicine. They all embrace the concept of interconnectedness and that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. All aspects from the animal to human bond, environment, and lifestyle are considered when treating the
Therapy has long been thought of as taboo. In this paper, I will discuss the major forms of therapy and their characteristics along with the strategies that are also used. This essay will also cover examples of each disorder and show which therapeutic method is best used in caring for individual(s).
In this paper I will be discussing the two most prevalent models of health. These two models of health are not, of course, total opposites. Similar to terms such as gay and straight they are two definitive labels placed upon a broad spectrum that is hardly definitive. There exists in this case as well a large clouded middle between the two limiting labels. These are collections of thoughts about how to go about continuing life. These two paradigms in modern healthcare I hope will one-day come to know one another. For now let us say that in generally speaking there are two different approaches or models of medicine and they are allopathic and holistic. Allopathic is another term for our modern western medicine, which in the United States is the dominant one and the one most familiar to the masses. The other, the holistic model, also known as alternative, is commonly associated with older ideas that originated in the East.
I think the major technique is focusing on the person and not the problem which would help the client to achieve independence and allow the client to cope with current and future problem they may face. Another major technique is the client determines the course of directions of therapy. Another technique is the person-centered therapy which is a non-directive which allows the client to be the focus of the therapy session without the therapy giving advice.