Patient's Vital Force example essay topic

Holistic is about the whole person - mind, body and spirit. The way a person acts, and how they react to specific situations depends on all these elements. You might react differently to situations at different points in your life because these elements are at different levels. We all have a vital force within us and we can affect how strong this vital force is.

There are many influences on the mind, body and spirit: Diet: What we eat, how we eat. If we are feeling down then we are likely to reach for 'comfort' foods, which tend to be the unhealthy option. These can have an opposite effect to that required, ie if they are high in saturated fats and / or sugars they can make you feel sluggish and miserable, or you might feel guilty about eating them because it has interfered with your healthy eating plan, which makes you feel miserable again. Work: Obviously plays a huge part in our lives. Being satisfied or unsatisfied in a job can have major effects on how we feel.

Relationships: Another major factor in our lives - family, friends and partners. Environment: Where we live, how we live. People living in built up inner cities will have different influences to those living in the countryside. Lifestyle: Your daily routine - if you work a long way from where you live this can have effects on your lifestyle, as you will probably have different eating plans, you might eat on the run or rely on convenience foods because you get home late. Exercise and relaxing takes a back seat because you don't have the time. Also, changes in lifestyle when children arrive etc.

Background: Your family genetics, financial situation, home life and culture. Education: Good or bad education can shape how our lives develop - it can determine the life we lead (employment / housing etc), but also how we deal with situations that arise in our lives. Culture: Your cultural and religious background / beliefs can have an enormous effect on your life. Some religions have different views on accepting medical opinions, e.g. blood transfusions, transplants.

The role of the woman in society varies in different cultures, which can affect the woman's mind, body and spirit. Previous illnesses: The affects they have had on our bodies and our vital forces. With debilitating or chronic illnesses, we might actually gain something positive from them. Attitude: Taking responsibility for ourselves - good / bad attitudes can affect energise or suppress our vital force. Mobility / exercise : Taking regular exercise can make you fitter, healthier, and the endorphins released can make you feel happier and more positive. Where mobility is restricted to any degree, this may lead to frustration and a miserable person.

Past experiences / events in your life: Deaths of loved ones, broken relationships, world events (out of our control). Climate: Your preferred climate can have a very positive effect on how you are feeling mentally and spiritually. The state of your health is not just about having proven medical problems, but is about your mind and spirit. What is happening with your mind and spirit is so important. If you are feeling low, for instance you are unhappy with work or a relationship, it is very easy to become 'ill'.

You probably are not really ill, but the mind has convinced you that you are - probably to give you the excuse to hide from what is really the problem. These negative influences can spiral, and the person might actually become ill for real because they allow it to happen - bad eating habits, lack of exercise, excess alcohol, perhaps drugs - and they have a weak vital force to combat the bad feelings. However, people with chronic illnesses can often be the most positive, energise d people. They don't stop living, but take the opportunity to re-prioritise their lives.

This can mean that they don't 'give in' to the illness - they look for ways of trying to beat it. It is quite common to find people with chronic illnesses trying to help not only themselves but also other people, e.g. by running marathons to raise money for research. These actions can, of course, inspire others to review their lives in a more positive way. Energy flows through the body, but there are 7 areas of concentration called chakras. From the chakras are various pathways (meridians / channels ) that follow the general lines of the nervous system. Ideally, all the energies need to be balanced to give good health.

Unfortunately, chakras can easily become blocked and, therefore, unbalanced, which can lead to bad health and disease. Treatments such as acupuncture and shiatsu can be used to clear the channels to stimulate energy. Our bodies have ways of telling us that we have bad health - they send us symptoms (a feeling, e.g. I feel sick) and signs (a visual manifestation, e.g. a rash). We can then deal with these appropriately. When a person does decide to seek advice from an holistic practitioner, healing begins when there is an acceptance of trust between the patient and the practitioner. The patient needs to accept that they must take responsibility for themselves and that they do have the potential to heal themselves - the practitioner is there to help them to help themselves.

The practitioner must be able to understand the degree of the illness / disease and what the implications are, e.g. is it a life threatening condition, a chronic illness or something that can be dealt with through better eating habits, exercise etc. Not only does the practitioner need to assess the degree of the physical illness, but also needs to try to determine the state of the patient's mind and spirit. This might be easily recognisable by their general demeanour, their appearance, tone of voice, signs on their face etc. Other patients may need 'probing' more for the practitioner to get a better picture of what is going on in the background that may have caused the illness. Once the diagnosis has been made and the healing process has started, the practitioner will need to assess if the patient is getting better.

If treatment runs along the lines of natural law, there will often be a healing crisis - not just physical but also mental. For instance, if they have been experiencing problems with their respiratory system, their healing crisis may manifest itself as a cough or a runny nose. The duration and severity of healing crises are directly proportional to the severity of the case. If the patient's vital force (constitution) is weak, then there may not be a strong reaction. A healing crisis may be unnerving to a patient, but the practitioner can reassure the patient that the treatment is going the right way by explaining the theory behind Hering's Law of Cure.

Hering's Law is the guide to establishing if the cure is going in the right direction or whether the patient is deteriorating or suppressing the illness. The 4 principles of this law are: 1. Disease works its way from inside the body to outside, e.g. asthma to eczema 2. Your vital force moves the disease from the vital organs to the less vital organs, e.g. heart to lungs to gut to skin 3. Reverses the order of appearance, ie your vital force may bring back 'old' problems, ie if treating asthma, eczema my reappear 4. Your vital force moves the disease from top to bottom / downwards and outwards, e.g. arthritis in neck to shoulders to elbow to fingers It the treatment is following these lines, then it is the correct treatment / remedy.

If the patient is showing signs that they are not following the lines, then it may be that the treatment is wrong and needs to be reassessed. The practitioner also needs to check that the patient has been following the treatment - again patients have a responsibility to themselves to follow the prescribed treatments. However, it should be noted that incurable diseases might not follow the lines of Hering's Law. We have to take responsibility for ourselves and this includes our health. Too many people rely on their doctor and chemicals to make them better, when there are so many ways in which we can help ourselves to prevent or cure these problems. Everyone has the potential to heal themselves, but not everybody is aware of this or, if they are, they may need help to find ways of doing so.

We need to be aware of the influences that can affect our lives and, hopefully, learn to deal with them in a positive way. Not only can this help ourselves, but may inspire others to follow the example, thereby helping them as well..