Complementary
•
Alternative
•
Integrative
•
Holistic
T
he majority of motherapy that has
medical doctors Confused been recommended
in this country
by the terminology?
by a conventional
are trained in allopath- doctor.
ic medicine, which is There are now
another name for con-
by Julie ilunic
conventional doc-
ventional, mainstream, tors who use CAM.
or Western medicine. Conventional Complementary & Alternative As CAM grows and as conventional doc-
medicine physicians tend to focus on the Medicine tors learn more about CAM (through their
trauma or illness that a person has and personal experience, their patients, ar-
then uses surgery, drugs or radiation to CAM, which is complementary and ticles and journals or medical meetings),
correct the problem. alternative medicine, is defined by the it will slowly be incorporated into and
In 1928, Dr. Francis Peabody, a fa- National Center for Complementary and become part of what is accepted by con-
mous physician, wrote: “One of the es- Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a part of ventional health care.
sential qualities of the clinician is interest NIH, as “a group of diverse medical and
in humanity, for the secret in caring FOR health care systems, practices, and prod- Complementary medicine can in-
the patient is in the care OF the patient.” ucts that are not presently considered to clude several different modalities or sys-
By this he meant that physicians needed be part of conventional medicine. Con- tems of treatment, some of which over-
to be concerned about the patient as ventional medicine is medicine as prac- lap:
an individual, as a person, beyond their ticed by holders of M.D. (medical doctor)
diagnosis of hypertension or a stroke or or D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) degrees Whole Medical Systems
cancer. It was in this compassionate, car- and by their allied health professionals, Whole medical systems are built
ing and kind attitude that a relationship such as physical therapists, psycholo- upon complete systems of theory and
built on trust and mutual respect would gists, and registered nurses.” NCCAM practice. Often, these systems have
enable a patient to heal, to be cured, to acknowledges that there is scientific evi- evolved apart from, and earlier than,
regain their health. dence concerning some CAM therapies, the conventional medical approach
Over time, this kind of relationship but cautions there are key questions that used in the United States. An example
with a physician has been sidelined by the need to be answered in well designed would include Homeopathic Medicine,
employment of clinical protocols based scientific studies as to whether these a medical system that originated in Eu-
on a predetermined generalized standard therapies are safe and whether they work rope. Homeopathy seeks to stimulate the
of care. Shortened office visits dictated by for the diseases or medical conditions for body’s ability to heal itself by giving very
insurance companies has eroded the ba- which they are used. small doses of highly diluted substances
sic trust between physician and patient. Complementary medicine and alter- that in larger doses would produce the
As a result many patients look elsewhere native medicine differ from each other. same illness or symptoms (an approach
for a different approach. It is not that allo- Complementary medicine is used with called “like cures like”). Another exam-
pathic or conventional medicine is inher- conventional medicine. An example ple would be Naturopathic Medicine,
ently bad – it just no longer addresses all would be Healing Touch (an energetic a whole medical system that originated
of people’s needs. technique), used to relieve pain in cancer in Europe. Naturopathy aims to support
In this context many patients look patients or to reduce fear and anxiety in the whole person and the body’s ability
towards holistic medicine, complemen- patients awaiting cardiac surgery. to heal itself through the use of dietary
tary and alternative medicine, functional Alternative medicine is used in place and lifestyle changes together with CAM
medicine or integrative medicine. Each of conventional medicine, such as using therapies such as herbs, massage, and
of these is somewhat different, but there a special diet or intravenous high dose joint manipulation, and more.
is also a fair amount of overlap. vitamin C to treat breast cancer instead Examples of systems that have de-
of undergoing surgery, radiation and che- veloped in non-Western cultures include
April 2009 13
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