Abstract
Holistic health, incorporating mind and body as equally important and unified components of health, is a concept utilized in some health care arenas in the United States (U.S.) over the past 30 years. However, in the U.S., mental health is not seen as conceptually integral to physical health and, thus, holistic health cannot be realized until the historical concept of mind-body dualism, continuing stigma regarding mental illness, lack of mental health parity in insurance, and inaccurate public perceptions regarding mental illness are adequately addressed and resolved. Until then, mental and physical health will continue to be viewed as disparate entities rather than parts of a unified whole. We conclude that the U.S. currently does not generally incorporate the tenets of holistic health in its view of the mental and physical health of its citizens, and provide some suggestions for changing that viewpoint.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-14-2006
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2006.339
Repository Citation
McClanahan, Kimberly K.; Huff, Marlene B.; and Omar, Hatim A., "Holistic Health: Does It Really Include Mental Health?" (2006). Pediatrics Faculty Publications. 63.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/pediatrics_facpub/63
Notes/Citation Information
Published in The Scientific World Journal, v. 6, p. 2092-2099.
Copyright © 2006 Kimberly K. McClanahan et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.