personally, I don't think a 100% holistic approach is the way to go. what I *do* think is this:
~ "holistic" whatnot involves a lot of crap and fads and marketing scams, but if you can see through those and get to the good stuff, a holistic approach has plenty to offer
~ people (americans in particular, I suspect, though I could be wrong) tend to have WAY too much of a "can't you just give me a pill for that?" mentality and billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies have gotten rich off their asses by marketing to peoples' hopes and dreams of a "magic pill" (or 10) that will solve all their woes... but if you look past all the "our pill will make your life perfect" scams, a fair amount of western medicine and pharmaceuticals CAN be incredibly beneficial when used properly.
I generally try to avoid medication unless it's truly necessary... but sometimes there really IS a "magic pill/drug" that significantly increases your quality of life.
for example, I once got a shot of morphine... and it was freaking GODLY, took me from around a 12 on a misery scale of 1-10 to a zero. I've had strep throat twice in my life, both times really, REALLY badly. the second time was when I was 18 and it was even worse than the first time somehow - I ended up waking up my mom and begging her to take me to the ER at 3:30 in the morning because I was *beyond* miserable and could tell I was well on my way to becoming severely dehydrated. despite oral antibiotics and, the morning before the ER trip, a follow-up shot of antibiotics, I was getting worse if anything. I couldn't eat and - worse yet - couldn't drink. the pain of swallowing was so severe that I was spitting into a cup to avoid having to swallow saliva. the ER folks gave me another shot of antibiotics, a shot of morphine and a shot of something to stop the morphine from making me sick to my stomach. it took less than five minutes for the morphine to kick in and I swear I downed at least half a dozen cups of cold water while sitting there in the hospital after the round of shots. as soon as I finally got some fluids in my system, I felt about 500% better... and without the morphine, I would NEVER have managed to drink enough to get properly hydrated again. oddly enough, the morphine didn't make me feel "messed up" (kudos to them for perfecting the dose to where it relieved my pain without making me loopy!)... but it sure as hell eliminated any trace of pain.
oh, and at around 6:30 the morning of the morphine shot (ie right around when the day-time manager came into work at IHOP), I called in to tell captain jackass (seriously, he was stupid and incompetent and an idiot and a moron and a total wanker) that I wasn't going to be coming in at 3:30 for my shift (as a note, I was scheduled as a cook that day rather than a server) and gave a detailed explanation as to why... and he had the audacity to try to tell me that he NEEDED me to come in to work and couldn't afford to have me call in sick! WTF. I was in the ER 3 hours earlier getting a shot of morphine, I'd been awake all night (and thanks to the morphine, wasn't even remotely tired yet), I was severely ill with a *highly* contagious disease and I was still running a fever... and he wanted me to come in to work for 12h so that I could stand in front of 400 degree grills all night, preparing FOOD for customers. there's at least half a dozen things wrong with that line of thinking, and probably equally many health code violations waiting to happen. I basically told him (in slightly more tactful language, yet in no uncertain terms) to go f*ck himself, because it wasn't going to happen.
also, I take adderall (dextroamphetimine, so basically legalized speed) on a daily basis and have for 15-16 years. I honestly can't function reasonably well without it. while I theoretically take it for ADD, and it DOES do a wonderful job at managing that, I honestly take it more because it somehow helps regulate my bi-polar disorder better than any anti-depressant or bi-polar medication ever has. it evens me out, helps me think/focus better and basically just makes my brain work a hell of a lot better.
on the other hand, I've had chronic back pain for like 18 years now and the only thing that's ever made it go away (hell, even put a dent in it) was that shot of morphine (granted, the only things I've tried are otc meds and, on a couple occasions, vicodin (I was prescribed it once when I had my wisdom teeth out and again after the ER trip for the strep throat)). I *could* see about getting pain meds from a doctor to manage it... but honestly, any pain medication that would do anything at all for me would have serious potential side effects, potentially be addictive and/or make me feel "messed up" - none of which I'm interested in dealing with... so I've always opted to just live with it and do what I can to manage it without pharmaceuticals because, in my opinion, using medication to try to manage my pain just isn't worth the downsides. I already need adderall to get through my days - the last thing I want is another medication I'm having to take routinely.
the point I'm getting at (I know, I've been rambling... it happens when I'm sleep deprived and the adderall's worn off, lol) is that prescription drugs and holistic medicines both have their benefits and limitations. my personal opinion is that a balanced combination of both, tailored to each specific situation, is generally the best way to go. neither one, by itself, is a complete solution to whatever ails you... and not only are they not mutually exclusive, they can actually complement each other quite nicely at times. it's all about taking the good and leaving the bad for each approach. it seems to me that a total mind/body approach that incorporates herbal remedies, non-medicinal (usually "eastern") techniques (be it relaxation exercises, acupuncture, massage, spiritually-focused treatments, reflexology/pressure points or whatever else) AND western medicine/science tends to fare better than either path individually.
