The incorporation of spirituality into medical practice is increasing as the mechanistic view of patients is no longer satisfactory. It is being recognised and remembered that a patient needs to be treated as a 'whole person' and not just as a condition or disease. A 'whole person' has physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions which interact with each other and account for personal well-being. In the Dialogues of PLato the holistic principle is described:... that as you ought not to attempt to cure the eyes without the head, or the head without the body, so neither ought you to attempt to cure the body without the soul .... for the part can never be well unless the whole is well?
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