INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE – THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE?

The new concept in medical sciences – integrative medicine – based on combination of evidence-based practices from fundamental, clinical disciplines, physiology-based and complementary therapies. Although integrative medicine has many parts, we focus only on three components: (a) patient is treated as a whole person and not considered as a sick individual who needs final diagnosis and therapy. (b) A strong arm of integrative medicine is preventive medicine where the focus is on prevention of acute, e.g., respiratory diseases, and reduction of the prevalence and complications of chronic diseases, the ‘silent killers’ like hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, obesity and diabetes. (c) The power of understanding biological background of stress, training for stress management, stress reduction and building of resilience. This combination can lead to advanced health and wellness in the modern world by integrating mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. It will ensure survival during the war and/or crisis and lead to wellbeing later.