Alternative Therapies

An Exploration of Alternative Therapies that can be used for Stress Management - Therapy definitions, how each therapy works, best ways to find practitioners, and safety & warnings.

The New Medicine: Integrative, Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM)

In the Bravewell Collaborative's PBS special on the New Medicine Dana Reeves expressed that traditional medicine is now examining and addressing the entire mind-body connection. One of the physicians interviewed stated "It is dumb" to not look at the entire person in order to determine the complete patient diagnosis.

PBS previews state:

"A burgeoning movement is taking place in hospitals and clinics across this country - integrating the best of high-tech medicine with a new attitude that recognizes that treating the patient as a whole person is essential to the healing process. As scientific findings reveal that the mind plays a critical role in the body's capacity to heal, the medical community is beginning to embrace a new range of treatment options, including many once considered fringe.

The National Institutes of Health has been funding rigorous scientific research to determine what alternative healing strategies are safe and effective so that there is solid evidence to broaden medical choices for patients. "Integrative medicine means being able to offer patients a full array of choices from conventional medicine, but to be able to add those complementary and alternative strategies where we have scientific evidence that they work and they're safe," says Dr. Margaret Chesney, Deputy Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a division of the NIH. "

To explore the modalities and their philosophies click below:

Be true to yourself.  If you're feeling uncomfortable or threatened in any way, you should leave immediately and look elsewhere.  Watch out for any therapies that don't respect your value system or where you feel that your autonomy isn't respected.  Even though you're going to an expert or practitioner for their guidance, you should always feel safe and that the process involves a free exchange of ideas.

Always tell your doctor if you are using an alternative therapy or if you are thinking about combining an alternative therapy with your conventional medical treatment. It may not be safe to forgo your conventional medical treatment and rely only on an alternative therapy.