The approach to health care which includes all parts of a patient's self, the physical, emotional, mental (or intellectual), sexual, and spiritual parts, is called holistic, indicating wholeness. Homeopathy is a system of medicine that operates on the holistic model, along a mind-body-spirit continuum. Western medicine, on the other hand, does not.

Dr. Feingold is a holistic practitioner. She combines all facets of her patients into one over-arching prescription using homeopathic remedies, herbal medicines, and nutritional therapies.

For example, take a 54-year-old women suffering from asthma, vaginal dryness, obesity, and arthritic pains in her knees. She doesn't need to go to four different doctors and end up taking at least four different, powerful, prescription pharmaceuticals, with no one knowing or caring what the others prescribed for her. She should go to her primary care physician to have some general blood and imaging tests performed to rule out such diseases as hypothyroidism, tumors, and allergies. Then, if she were Dr. Feingold's patient, she would undergo an extensive homeopathic interview, lasting one to two hours. This interview, with questions about her physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and sexual health, would give Dr. Feingold 90 percent of the information she needs to be able to formulate a treatment plan. The other 10 percent is the physical examination and test results. Dr. Feingold creates an individualized prescription, unique to this particular patient, for homeopathic remedies, herbal medicines, and nutritional therapies. Putting all this information together into one plan for each patient is a key component of the holistic approach to health care.

[Excerpted from Dr. Feingold's book, The Complete Self-Care Guide to Homeopathy, Herbal Remedies and Nutritional Supplements.]