The “Up” Side of Holistic Medicine. If we ignore these latter, demonstrably bogus interventions, there is surely some merit to both the underlying philosophy and many of the specific practices of holistic medicine. The emphasis on taking responsibility for the direction of one’s own treatment, for example, is certainly wise. No matter how concerned and compassionate a doctor might be (and not all of them excel at this part of their job), they cannot be as concerned as the patients themselves.
