Introduction to Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

“You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? - Medicine.”
―Tim Minchin

Complementary and alternative forms of medicine have long been an area of debate.  Some side with those who ridicule these types of interventions (e.g. National Science Foundation, 2002) while others wholeheartedly believe in the power of natural interventions.  I personally believe in the power of natural methods to help the healing process - both physically and mentally.  I have ascribed to running as a natural health benefit for the last six years (see my blog on my running adventures ).  Running has truly helped me to deal with stress, anxiety, and depression.  I also believe that running has helped me to deal with physical health concerns like irritable bowel syndrome and minimized my chronic back pain.  Do I understand all that has been involved in why running has helped these issues for me? No, but I do know that things have been different during the past six years than in the years prior to.

Professionally, I have worked as a mental health counselor for many years and firmly believe in the evidenced based approaches to address mental health needs.  But I have also incorporated some CAM interventions either as a complement or as an alternative to traditional approaches.  Some examples I have utilized include: relaxation techniques, exercise intervention, stretching, and spiritual counsel.

I imagine that the debate over whether CAM is real medicine or just a pseudoscience as some call it (National Science Foundation, 2002) will continue for years to come.  I do think that we must be careful when reviewing research on CAM but just as we need to be careful when reviewing research on what some refer to as true medicine.

I hope you enjoy as we explore the world of CAM and some of the current research on this up and coming area.

References

National Science Foundation. (2002). Science Fiction and Pseudoscience. In Science and Engineering Indicators 2002. Retrieved from http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm#c7s5l2.