Why Clinics Should Offer Holistic Healing

Our bodies are like machines, with each part working in tandem to help maintain our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. And like a machine, if any one of these components of our wellness is imbalanced, our entire being can suffer.

In the past, the standard approach to health and wellness would look at these parts as separate entities and treat them based on a limited understanding of the whole.

Holistic healing aims to change this narrative around wellness. It is an integrative, complementary, and alternative approach to healing that looks at an individual’s health as a whole, creating a wellness plan that incorporates the mind, body, and soul. 

According to a 2012 national survey, many Americans — more than 30% of adults and about 12% of children — use healthcare approaches that are not typically part of conventional medical care or that may have origins outside of usual Western practice. 

More often than not, these practices fall underneath the holistic umbrella.

It’s important to note here that, like holistic healing, psychedelic therapy has been considered an integrative, complementary, or alternative approach to wellness, especially mental wellness.

What Is Holistic Healing? 

The term holistic means to consider systems as a whole, rather than a collection of parts. And in holistic healing, no aspect of ourselves operates without impacting the other: your mental health can affect your physical health, your spiritual health can impact the body and mind, and so on.

At MINDCURE, we’re studying the impacts of mental health on sexual health and vice versa. The Desire Project looks at the cyclical relationship of mental and sexual health, focusing on how female sexual desire is rooted in the mind. 

In the healthcare realm, holistic healing is a progressive practice that involves treating an individual by analyzing things like the mind, body, and soul as a whole. For holistic healers, this can involve asking questions and looking for clues of imbalance in physical, emotional, and spiritual areas. They then create a treatment plan based on this information.

A holistic healer and clinic will use a variety of healthcare treatment approaches that range from talk therapy to physical therapy to treat a patient. 

What Does a Holistic Healing Clinic Look Like?

As mentioned, the goal and mission of a holistic healing clinic emphasize treating patients with a variety of practices from psychotherapy to physiotherapy and anything in between.

A variety of treatment techniques are used to help patients. According to WebMD, these depend on the clinic and the clinician's training and include treatments like:

• Patient education on lifestyle changes and self-care to promote wellness (including diet, exercise, psychotherapy, relationship, spiritual counseling, and more)
• Acupuncture, chiropractic care, homeopathy, massage therapy, naturopathy, and others
• Medications and surgical procedures

Why Is Holistic Healing Necessary? 

For the same reason that one loose cog can halt production on an entire assembly line, holistic healing is a treatment approach to care that considers all parts (not just tightening one bolt). It also gives clinicians the freedom to create an individualized treatment plan that caters to any and all needs. Patients feel more understood and become active participants in their wellness journey.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Care, in the last decade, the use of this integrative approach to health and wellness has grown within care settings and centers across the United States. Researchers are exploring the potential benefits of integrative and holistic health in a variety of situations, including pain management for military personnel and veterans, relief of symptoms in cancer patients and survivors, and programs to promote healthy behaviors. These areas overlap with ongoing psychedelic therapy studies.

At MINDCURE, we’ve applied the same practices of holistic healing to our iSTRYM app. Now, integrative clinics have the tools they need in one system to connect and empower patients within the healing journey.

How Can Clinicians Improve Care for Patients With Tech & Psychedelics? 

At MINDCURE, we’re looking at how holistic approaches can include digital therapeutics and psychedelics for the most targeted care. Tools like iSTRYM take a holistic healing approach to mental wellness by providing an array of tools for clinicians and patients to promote individualized care. 

Features like speech analysis with Speak AI, personal music with Lucid, breathwork practice with SOMA, as well as data collection and analysis features allow users and clinicians thorough insights into their wellness practice. 

After examining the success of self-improvement techniques when compared to that of social factor techniques like therapy, one study concluded that Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) outcomes are not exclusively the result of mindfulness meditation practice, suggesting instead that social common factors may account for much of the effects of these interventions. Tools like iSTRYM allow you to get the most out of treatments, as well as connect you with therapeutic tools to optimize these outcomes.

Learn more about how iSTRYM’s holistic approach to technology, wellness, and health can lead to better outcomes.