Integrative/Complementary Medicine and Wellness
By: Clint Thompson, MD

In the most profound sense of 'holistic' or 'holism', for human beings to experience health fully, they must enjoy an integrated relationship between body, mind, and spirit. Hence the term integrated medicine which has become increasingly prevalent in the common vernacular, and made familiar by such physician/authors as Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Depok Chopra, Dr. Larry Dossey, and others. The general perspective here views health care as a verb, an active process whose aim is to bring about a greater sense of wellness, health, well being, and moment to moment quality of life, through the simultaneous attention to nourishing the needs of the body, the mind, and the spirit.

Another term sometimes used in this context is complementary medicine. The term complementary comes to us from the science of quantum physics and refers to the observation that a given particle or state of existence, in a single point in time, can appear to exhibit characteristics previously thought to be mutually exclusive of one another, i.e. an electron appearing to exhibit properties of both a wave and a particle, simultaneously. As this applies to the realm of medicine, and particularly within the realm of wellness and healing, it refers to the concept that multiple modalities, perspectives, and approaches to healing, which on the surface appear to contradict each other, in fact, complement each other in the simultaneous application to a particular individual's health.

For instance, we can look at the systems of (1) Western (allopathic) medicine, which is based on the Newtonian frame work of pharmaco-physico-chemical approaches to healing the body and (2) Oriental medicine based on a more ethereal/energetic approach, utilizing meridian energy mapping and herbal and nutritional medicine. On the face of things, these two systems appear to contradict each other. Actually in practice, they complement each other when applied properly with sensitivity and care by experienced practitioners.

Thus integrative or complementary medicine seeks to apply the best of all known healing experiences. It intends to synthesize for any given individual a treatment plan for health, healing, and wellness, utilizing the wealth of healing tools available in apparently disparate bodies of knowledge such as traditional Wester/allopathic medicine, Chinese/Oriental medicine, Aruvadic medicine, herbal medicine, vibrational medicine (including homeopathy), bodywork/massage, psychotherapy, and behavioral medicine. Many of these traditions are thousands of years old and have unique gifts and tools for healing. Integrative or complementary medicine can be viewed at present as the process of consummating the marriage of 'alternative' and 'western' medicine.

When experienced and applied at a deeper level, each of these bodies of knowledge is, in truth, describing the same process. That is, the healing of the human being as experienced in the multiple dimensions which each individual spans: the physical body, the interface with the emotional and discriminating minds, and the interface with the aetheric, transcendental spirit.

My personal practice of integrative or complementary medicine, mind/body/spirit medicine, if you will, has evolved parallel with my own personal experience of wellness and healing. I entered the healing profession through the initiation to traditional Western medicine, allopathic training with medical school, internship and residency. After an initial intoxication with the wonders of Western medicine, which are truly marvelous in many ways, I became increasingly disillusioned with the limited tools which I perceived as quite inadequate for many people who presented to me for advice/assistance seeking the experience of healing. It felt to me like an artist trying to create with a single color, a sculptor with a single tool, a carpenter with only a sledgehammer.

Outside the hospital setting, in medical clinics, and doctor's offices, I found that perhaps 75% of the complaints presented to me were not adequately or relevantly addressed by the tools and procedures I was prepared to deliver as a medical doctor. I am not speaking here of the area of acute medicine, for instance acute heart attacks, acute bacterial infections such as pneumonia, appendicitis, or acute trauma. These areas are all wonderfully and quite powerfully addressed by Allopathic/Western medicine. I am referring, instead, to the majority of us who while fortunately not presently ill or disabled with an acute or life-threatening disorder, still are not as well as we feel we would like to be.

Feeling 'well', wellness, is a term which refers to the optimization, or maximization of each individual's day to day, moment to moment perception of the quality of their life: one's ability to function, to perform in ways meaningful, to lead a satisfying and peaceful life. Wellness is much more than preventative medicine, though it does certainly embrace and include the concepts of preventing disease. Immunizations, screenings for cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc, only scratch the surface of what wellness can mean.

In fact, perceptions of wellness and healing may change from moment to moment for each individual, and, in many cases, look quite different from one individual to the next. A central tenet within integrative/complementary medicine is the perception of the individual in question, their personal experience of disease and wellness. What is experienced as healing by one individual may be experienced as dis-ease by another. Likewise, wellness for one individual may be experienced by the same individual at a different time as dis-ease.

Wellness is graceful - there's no end to it, for any of us, ever. There is no limit to the optimization of any given individual's health. As with the terms 'holistic and holism', 'integrative and complimentary', healing and wellness are also truly verbs and these processes never end. In any given moment, every individual may gain wellness, and may continue this life-long process of healing. What is required ultimately is nothing more than an openness to the varieties and shades of experience which the process of healing presents to each of us.