Abstract
Clinical holistic medicine (CHM) is short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) complemented with bodywork and philosophical exercises, to be more efficient in treating patients with severe mental and physical illness. STPP has already been found superior to psychiatric treatment as usual (TAU) and thus able to compete with psychiatric standard treatment as the treatment of choice for all non-organic mental illnesses; we have found the addition of bodywork and philosophy of life to STPP to accelerate the process of existential healing and recovery (salutogenesis). In this paper we compare the side effects, suicidal risk, problems from implanted memory and implanted philosophy of CHM with psychopharmacological treatment. Method: Qualitative and quantitative comparative review. Results: In all aspects of risks, harmfulness, and side effects, we have been considering, CHM was superior to the standard psychiatric treatment. The old principle of “first do no harm“ is well respected by CHM, but not always by standard psychiatry. CHM seems to be able to heal the patient, while psychopharmacological drugs can turn the patient into a chronic, mentally ill patient for life. Based on the available data CHM seems another alternative to patients with mental illness. There seem to be no documentation at all for CHM being dangerous, harmful, having side effects of putting patients at risk for suicide. As CHM uses spontaneous regression there is no danger for the patient developing psychosis as, according to some experts, has been seen with earlier intensive psychodynamic methods. CHM is an efficient, safe and affordable cure for a broad range of mental illnesses.
Highlights
Integrated science and integrative medicine has become increasingly popular, both with scientists and with patients
Clinical holistic medicine (CHM) aims to integrate epidemiological research on quality of life and health[41], Hippocratic character Medicine[42,43,44], psychosocial medicine focusing on Antonovsky and sense of coherence[45,46], psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy, and transcultural medicine and CAM, both in theory, methodology and clinical practice
Most CHM is build on the strong traditions of clinical practice and research of psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) that is known to be almost completely free of side effects/adverse-effects as documented by a search on Medline
Summary
Integrated science and integrative medicine has become increasingly popular, both with scientists and with patients. The research in issues like scientific holistic medicine and quality of life has exploded the last decades, as a search on www.pubmed.gov will show. Most CHM is build on the strong traditions of clinical practice and research of psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) that is known to be almost completely free of side effects/adverse-effects as documented by a search on Medline (www.pubmed.gov). A similar search for “psychodynamic psychotherapy AND side effects” gave 19 hits none reporting side effects and some reporting no side effects. As the experience of being mentally ill is what basically torments the patients the most, the subjective improvement of this aspect might very well be the most important dimension of any psychiatric quality assessment and treatment-effect evaluation. This paper is going to examine the most important differences between CHM and standard psychiatry regarding the risk aspects and side effects of the treatment
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