Out of the Box Coaching and
Breakthroughs with the Enneagram, Mary R. Bast, Ph.D. 
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved. Revised: January 09, 2012  

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"Holistic" is Not a Technique

In The Creation of Health, Caroline Myss and Norman Shealy write:

"The medical trend of looking seriously at the varied influences of stress marks a major turning point in the diagnosis and understanding of disease because it introduces the factor that emotional tension is, in fact, disruptive to the physical body.

Even though the influence of stress is still viewed as only a partial contributor to physical dysfunction, nevertheless this recognition that human emotions do indeed affect physical health has brought the traditional medical world face to face with the fundamental principle of holistic health: The majority of physical illnesses result from an overload of emotional, psychological and spiritual crises."

These authors outline eight dysfunctional stress patterns:

• Unresolved or deeply consuming emotional, psychological, or spiritual stress.

• Negative (and disempowering) belief patterns.

• Inability to give and/or receive love.

• Lack of humor/inability to distinguish serious concerns from life's lesser issues.

• Failure to exercise the power of choice in the matters of one's own life.

• Lack of attention to the needs of the physical body.

• Absence or loss of meaning in one's life.

• Inability to face life's challenges and to acknowledge and change what is not working.

According to Shealy and Myss, the term "holistic" refers to a way of approaching healing that incorporates a variety of therapies including traditional medicine. "Metaphorically speaking, traditional medicine represents the 'mind' of health care and the holistic approach represents the 'heart' of health care."