Holistic Diagnosis

 During medical studies Doctors are trained to diagnose the diseases in the specific organs. The role of certain factors such as smoking alcoholism, high calorie, high fat diet, sedentary life-style, wrong postures, stress and strain and so on takes place. Dr.Michael Balint also advised health professionals to take into account these factors while diagnosing the disease. He described it as "Overall Diagnosis. Holmer and Rahe studied the effects of different life events on health. They have also attributed specific scores to each event. If the total score is high the possibility of an individual becoming ill are higher. For Holistic Diagnosis take these factors into account. There is a need to note such relevant factors along with the formal diagnosis. Recent or past stressful events, causative personality traits, relevant attitude, belief system, value system which needs a change etc. are to mention a few.

Sunita Patil, 28 yrs. old woman consulted me for migraine headache. While taking her Holistic History, found that she was having a strong feeling of hatred for her mother in-law. She was prepared to do anything necessary to get rid of her headache except transforming her feelings towards her mother-in-law. I specially noted this fact along with the diagnosis of migraine headache. Doctors need to specially note such related factors because complete cure becomes elusive unless these specific factors are transformed.

Rajesh Agrawal, a senior police officer, suffered from chronic depression. Within few sessions of psychotherapy it was noticed that when his wife was away or he was out of the city for some official work he felt better. On further inquiry an extreme difference in the personality trait of the couple was observed. Rajesh had Type A personality. He would become uncomfortable and tense if the things were not systematically kept in their proper place. If he had an appointment with his wife to meet at a hotel at 6.00 and if incase she was five minutes late he would become seriously restless and disturbed, He was also competitive and highly p.m. ambitious. Unfortunately his wife's personality was exactly the opposite. She would never take pain in keeping things orderly. She would be late for an appointment. This exactly opposite personality caused adjustment difficulties in almost all matters of day-to-day life. For couple of years Rajesh tried hard to change his wife's personality. When he felt that his efforts were not yielding significant positive results he became depressed. It's of vital significance to note this personality conflict along with the diagnosis of depression.