The study assumes that holistic healing has an integrative theory that guides its process. Additionally, it assumes that holistic healing adheres to a theoretical orientation that promotes universal spiritual ideals as opposed to specific religious ones. The researcher believes that human existence is multidimensional. In addition, this study assumes that illness, whether physical, psychological or spiritual effect all the levels of existence of the human body, mind, and spirit. Research Questions This research investigates the main question: What does it mean to be
holistically healthy? Hypotheses: So the hypothesis of this study would be: Personal experiences will be a key contributing factor to participants` developing a holistic healing approach. Background and History of the Problem Holistic healing remains on the edges of mainstream scientific thought. It is contrary to the accepted view that we will always be able to find a specific cause for any given disease. Holistic healing deals with the totality of a person’s being: the mental/emotional, physical, social, and spiritual dimensions.
It is this totality as an integrative and synthesizing force, so perceived and utilized by the healing person or team, that constitutes holistic healing. (Otto & Knight, 2001, p. 3). Holistic healing was described by Pelletier (1997). For him, all states of health were psychosomatic, each person representing a unique interaction of body, mind, and spirit. Illness was a disturbance in the dynamic balance of these relationships. The client and the practitioner shared the responsibility for the healing and both creatively learned about themselves during the healing process.
Purpose of the Study In spite of a thorough search of the literature, no studies have been found that relate directly to the focus to this study, the experience of holistic healing. The holistic healing perspective in this study imply that healing is much more than physiological change. The literature review is not the theoretical foundation on which the study is based, but it is represented in order to illustrate the current state of the relevant literature. The initial review established the appropriateness of this study.
The majority of the review will be accomplished after the data is analyzed and will be guided by the findings. Literature from both the initial review and the later review will be combined and the connections between the literature and the results of this study will be explored in the later chapters. Topics will also be discussed that might relate to the experience of healing, such as health status, recovery, and survival. In this related literature the independent variables such as social support, optimism, and hardiness are often well defined with reliable and valid measures.
The dependent variables such as “being healthy, having minor health problems, suffering from chronic disease, being disabled, and being dead are treated as equally-spaced points on a continuum” (Hobroyd & Coyne, 1987, p. 364), and are not often well-defined or measured. Other measures sometimes defined as “healthy” are help seeking behaviours and compliance with medical recommendations. Attempts are often made to define personality characteristics that relate to health and survival.
Krantz and Hedges (1997) believed that enthusiasm outweighs the evidence about how personality traits, psychological factors, and behaviours relate to disease. Nevertheless, there are some interesting studies in which an attempt is made to measure the factors that might be relevant to healing. The popular literatures claim much more knowledge than can be substantiated with valid research but this literature has stimulated a research interest that will lead to more knowledge about healing.