Integrative Health and Integrative Medicine is based on the definition of human health by the World Health Organization (WHO) and which, in its constitution, defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of illness or disability”.(World Health Organization (WHO) Official Archives: No. 2, p. 100).
Summit on Integrative Medicine and Public Health, Vicki Weisfeld 2009. Background and Review of the Subject: Washington DC, Institute of Medicine, Recovery 2011-1-18.
The most important universities and hospitals have embedded in their research fields, Integrative Health & Integrative Medicine.
Universities such as Duke, Harvard, Maryland, Yale, Stamford, UCLA, Southampton, Florida, Arizona, California and Hospitals like Mayo Clinic, Royal London Hospital, Maryland Medical Center, John Hopkins Hospital etc.
Integrative Health and Medicine recognizes that the human organism is an integrated system of cells, organs and networks, thoughts and emotions, social and environmental influences. It is an integrated field (body, mind, soul) which is in constant connection and interaction through hormones, enzymes and many peptides and other complex bio-mechanisms, and with constant influences from the external environment in which it lives. In essence, man as a whole is a complex, open system (with internal and external interconnections and interactions).