What is Holistic Psychology

Holism (from the Greek όλος, Olosi) indicates the totality, the globality of something and, in this case, of the human being. It is a theoretical, philosophical-scientific approach, based on the idea that the properties of a system cannot be explained exclusively through its individual components. In the field of health and well -being, the holistic approach allows a greater variety of strategies and provides more skills to the psychologist, but above all it refers to the relationship as built by "people", a fact and that helps a lot in the process of "Welfare recovery", which becomes more effective. In this Psychology-online article we will discover together What is Holistic Psychology, Where is you studied and how it works.

1. What is Holism in Psychology
2. Holism in the history of psychology
3. What studies holistic psychology
4. Why choose holistic psychology and why not

What is Holism in Psychology

In the psychological sphere, the term "olism" suggests that the individual, understood as a whole, is much more than the sum of its parts. Holistic psychology concentrates its observation on how these parts work together, unable to dissociate functions in certain processes. For holistic psychology, unlike reductionism, the individual is considered much more than the sum of its parts, which adds more complexity to evaluation and intervention, but offers more positive results than other approaches.

The holistic approach is born from an accurate attitude of each human being towards himself, towards other living beings and towards the surrounding environment. It is expressed through a state of consciousness that knows how to capture the unity of each phenomenon. In the clinical field (in medicine as in psychology), the holistic approach is, above all, a way of being of the psychologist, the patient and of his relationship. It is done when psychologist and patient know how to capture the unit process together that he sees them "waves of the same ocean" and when they become able to observe with clear eyes; Observe, that is, they themselves, their relationship and "symptoms", widely, open, free of preconceived schemes and strictly diagnostic conjectures.

Holism in the history of psychology

The Holistic psychology It is particularly interesting for its ability to provide solutions that other approaches cannot give. Evaluate how our past has affected us, how we live our present and how we face the future. In the history of psychology we find several schools of thought that have adopted a holistic approach:

• Gestalt psychology, which firmly holds that human behavior must be observed as a whole.
• Humanist psychology, born as partial response to reductionism of behavioral and psychoanalytic school.
• Social psychology, which incorporates this approach contemplating as a whole the environmental, social, emotional and group aspects.

What studies holistic psychology

To understand the reasons that drive us to think or act in a certain way, holistic psychology, instead of focusing on a soil aspect of the problem, Study the individual as a whole. There are several factors that interact and interfere with each other, influencing or conditioning, and that is what olylism takes into account to understand a problem. A very clear example is found in the brain: we know that it contains millions of neurons, but observing each one separately will never tell us what the brain is able to do as a whole.

A holistic approach is adopted when The different factors that act and interact together are taken into account And how this set can influence the behavior or emotional state of the individual. In this sense, the variables that must be managed are quite heterogeneous: they go from the place where the individual lives, to his work, his professional and educational training, his social ties, their group interactions, their health and their perception of well -being and stress. Therefore, the observation of the individual is not relegated to the analysis of the symptoms.

Why choose holistic psychology and why not

Compared to other smaller approaches, holistic psychology has several aspects that make it one of the best intervention approaches. The inclusion of several factors in the study of the case increases the possibility of finding the origin of the problem; The counterpart is that, often, by increasing the spectrum of analysis, the demand for resources also increases to assign. However, this approach helps to find more precise and potentially better solutions, working at different levels of intervention.

As in almost all approaches, holistic psychology is also not immune to some disadvantages: for certain disorders, it is better to focus on a specific aspect to find a solution. In this sense, holistic psychology can present obstacles to this type of intervention.

In particular, when working in a field of research, the variables that must be managed must be clearly defined; That is why holistic psychology is not always compatible with the scientific method. Holism is a complex approach that can lead to the conception of evaluations and interventions that can be a challenge due to its complexity, which can make the difficult holistic approach to handle in some cases, as well as not all professionals are capable of Apply it.

There are many schools and specialties in psychology. Know here the types of psychologists and branches of psychology.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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