What Is Holistic & Integrative Medicine?
From choosing better foods to exercising more, many Nashvillians are joining a growing movement focused on improving overall health. Holistic doctors at Nashville’s St. Thomas Medical Group are here to support you in this journey.
While many modern health care providers rely heavily on prescription medications for treating disease and illness, holistic and integrative medicine providers tend to put a greater emphasis on lifestyle modification, herbal and nutritional therapies and cognitive therapies. Additionally, holistic doctors in our Nashville clinic take a proactive stance in promoting overall wellness. Providers don’t just respond to disease. They help patients achieve optimal health as a disease prevention strategy. As St. Thomas Medical Group provider Dr. Joseph Lamb says, “Health is so much more than the simple absence of disease.”
#1 Lifestyle Modification
Holistic medicine practitioners frequently encourage patients to make lifestyle changes in an effort to promote healing. Instead of prescribing a sleeping pill, for example, a holistic doctor may recommend specific dietary changes or exercise routines. Rather than prescribing phentermine for weight loss, a holistic physician may carefully evaluate your current diet and recommend manageable modifications that can lead to weight loss without prescription drugs (and their potentially dangerous side effects).
#2 Herbal & Nutritional Therapy
Many holistic physicians are knowledgeable about herbal and nutritional therapies that are less commonly used by internal medicine doctors. These methods, which draw on a rich history of traditional medicine, may be used in conjunction with modern medicinal practices to help patients achieve wellness.
#3 Cognitive Therapy
Thirdly, holistic providers in Nashville’s St. Thomas Medical Group may use cognitive-behavioral therapy to help patients deal with psychological issues, such as depression, eating disorders, drug addiction and substance abuse. Because holistic doctors view patients as “whole” (not people with isolated symptoms and illnesses within the body), these providers use evidence-based approaches to involve a patient’s way-of-thinking in caring for their joint mental and physical health needs.
Your Health Matters…
While holistic and integrative physicians use techniques that are not commonly seen in your “normal” doctor’s office, these physicians are still able to prescribe medications, refer patients for surgery, and provide all of the other health care services that patients may expect of a primary care physician. The benefit of seeing a holistic doctor is that patients have the ability to choose less invasive, more natural therapies first.
As Dr. Lamb says, “In our journey together, through illness and disease to optimal wellness, lifestyle modification can be a most potent opportunity for achieving the patient’s goals.” This prioritization of non-drug-based therapies doesn’t isolate individual illnesses and care plans, but instead incorporates the patient’s entire health into a single, unified plan of care. This approach can be useful for patients dealing with complex health issues like…
- Cardiometabolic disorders
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Osteoporosis
- Autoimmune disorders
- Chronic fatigue
- Fibromyalgia
- …and more
Take Charge of Your Health With a Holistic Doctor in Nashville
St. Thomas Medical Group Holistic & Integrative Medicine is committed to helping you take charge of your health through lifestyle modification and other methods that take your overall health into account. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call +1 (615) 297-2700.
