ABSTRACT
The therapeutic strategies of biomedicine revolve largely around the use of powerful pharmaceutical drugs. Relatively little attention is given to the task of activating the inherent and often remarkable healing capacities present within patients themselves. Not all patients are driven to participate in their own health-making. A broad acceptance of holistic medicine will necessarily require a broader acceptance of the holistic basis of life, which holds that each of people represents an integral confluence of material, mental and living influences in constant interaction with each other and with the world. The word ‘healing’ itself means different things to different people. For some, it signifies a form of recovery from illness and disease that has been mediated by psychic or spiritual forces. Naturalistic systems of medicine consciously take on the task of bodily regeneration and the strengthening of organ systems, known as trophorestoration as part of their therapeutic mission.
