vitalistic medicine

In alternative medicine, generic term for a range of therapies that base their practice on the theory that disease is engendered by energy deficiency in the organism as a whole or a dynamic dysfunction in the affected part. Such deficiencies or dysfunctions are regarded as antecedent to the biochemical effects in which disease becomes manifest and upon which orthodox medicine focuses. Acupuncture, crystal therapy, homeopathy, magnet therapy, naturopathy, radionics, and Reichian therapy are all basically vitalistic.