A Profile In Alternative Medicine

A history of the Eclectic Medical Institute (EMI), and an account of the history of eclectic medicine, which competed with regular medicine in the 19th century. It recounts the feuds, successes, adversity and ultimate failure of this bastion of freedom in medical thought.

Highly researched and referenced, Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Health Professionals: A Holistic Approach to Consumer Health educates students about the many complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities that are available, in addition to the more traditional methods that exist. Early chapters provide an overview of both traditional and alternative medicine, scientific method and steps in scientific research, and look at the cost of health care in the U.S. Later chapters introduce students to integrative medicine and provide a thorough overview of CAM practices employed today. Topics that are covered include acupuncture, meditation, herbals and aromatherapy. By reading this text, students will become astute at distinguishing among those traditional and CAM health practices that are helpful, those that have been scientifically tested, and those that may offer no benefit. Case studies throughout the text give students an opportunity to apply material and ideas to real life situations.

'Alternative' medicine is now used by one in three of us. In the UK we spend an estimated £4.5 billion a year on it and its practitioners are now insinuating themselves into the mainstream. There are methods based on ancient or far-eastern medicine, as well as ones invented in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many are promoted as natural treatments. What they have in common is that there is no hard evidence that any of them work. Treatments like homeopathy, acupuncture and chiropractic are widely available and considered reputable by many. Ever more bizarre therapies, from naturopathy to nutraceuticals, ear candling to ergogenics, are increasingly favoured. Endorsed by celebrities and embraced by the middle classes, alternative medicine's appeal is based on the spurious rediscovery of ancient wisdom and the supposedly benign quality of nature. Surrounded by an aura of unquestioning respect and promoted through uncritical airtime and column inches, alternative medicine has become a lifestyle choice. Its global market is predicted to be worth $5 trillion by 2050. Suckers reveals how alternative medicine can jeopardise the health of those it claims to treat, leaches resources from treatments of proven efficacy and is largely unaccountable and unregulated. In short, it is an industry that preys on human vulnerability and makes fools of us all. Suckers is a calling to account of a social and intellectual fraud; a bracing, funny and popular take on a global delusion.

Focusing on emerging therapies and those best supported by clinical trials and scientific evidence, Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative Medicine describes some of the most prevalent and the fastest-growing CAM therapies in use today. Prominent author Dr. Marc Micozzi provides a complete overview of CAM, creating a solid foundation and context for therapies in current practice. Coverage of systems and therapies includes mind, body, and spirit; traditional Western healing; and traditional ethnomedical systems from around the world. Discussions include homeopathy, massage and manual therapies, chiropractic, a revised chapter on osteopathy, herbal medicine, aromatherapy, naturopathic medicine, and nutrition and hydration. With its wide range of topics, this is the ideal CAM reference for both students and practitioners! An evidence-based approach focuses on treatments best supported by clinical trials and scientific evidence. Coverage of CAM therapies and systems includes those most commonly encountered or growing in popularity, so you carefully evaluate each treatment. Global coverage includes discussions of traditional healing arts from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Longevity in the market makes this a classic, trusted text. Expert contributors include well-known writers such as Kevin Ergil, Patch Adams, Joseph Pizzorno, Victor Sierpina, and Marc Micozzi himself. Suggested readings and references in each chapter list the best resources for further research and study. New, expanded organization covers the foundations of CAM, traditional Western healing, and traditional ethnomedical systems from Asia, Africa, and the Americas, putting CAM in perspective and making it easier to understand CAM origins and contexts. NEW content includes legal and operational issues in integrative medicine, creative and expressive arts therapies, ecological pharmacology, hydration, mind-body thought and practice in America, osteopathy, reflexology, South American healing, traditional medicines of India, and Unani medicine. Revised and updated chapters include aromatherapy, classical acupuncture, energy medicine, biophysical devices (electricity, light, and magnetism), massage and touch therapies, traditional osteopathy, reflexology, vitalism, and yoga. New research studies explain how and why CAM therapies work, and also demonstrate that they do work, in areas such as acupuncture, energy healing, and mind-body therapies. Expanded content on basic sciences includes biophysics, ecology, ethnomedicine, neurobiology, and pschoneuroimmunology, providing the scientific background needed to learn and practice CAM and integrative medicine. Expanded coverage of nutrition and hydration includes practical information on Vitamin D and healthy hydration with fluid and electrolytes.

Welcome to the world of alternative medicine. Prince Charles is a staunch defender and millions of people swear by it; most UK doctors consider it to be little more than superstition and a waste of money. But how do you know which treatments really heal and which are potentially harmful? Now at last you can find out, thanks to the formidable partnership of Professor Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh. Edzard Ernst is the world's first professor of complementary medicine, based at Exeter University, where he has spent over a decade analysing meticulously the evidence for and against alternative therapies.He is supported in his findings by Simon Singh, the well-known and highly respected science writer of several international bestsellers. Together they have written the definitive book on the subject. It is honest, impartial but hard-hitting, and provides a thorough examination and judgement of more than thirty of the most popular treatments, such as acupuncture, homeopathy, aromatherapy, reflexology, chiropractic and herbal medicine.In Trick or Treatment? the ultimate verdict on alternative medicine is delivered for the first time with clarity, scientific rigour and absolute authority.

The provision and use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been growing globally over the last 40 years. As CAM develops alongside - and sometimes integrates with - conventional medicine, this handbook provides the first major overview of its regulation and professionalization from social science and legal perspectives. The Routledge Handbook of Complementary and Alternative Medicine draws on historical and international comparative research to provide a rigorous and thematic examination of the field. It argues that many popular and policy debates are stuck in a polarized and largely asocial discourse, and that interdisciplinary social science perspectives, theorising diversity in the field, provide a much more robust evidence base for policy and practice in the field. Divided into four sections, the handbook covers: analytical frameworks power, professions and health spaces risk and regulation perspectives for the future. This important volume will interest social science and legal scholars researching complementary and alternative medicine, professional identify and health care regulation, as well as historians and health policymakers and regulators.

The rapid growth of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) demands that the public, the medical world, social scientists, the media, and governments pay attention. People are questioning the limits of what modern medicine can accomplish and seeking additional ways to manage their health. While many are enthusiastically adopting complementary and alternative forms of medicine, others are more sceptical. Physicians' attitudes are in transition, and governments are pondering where this increasingly important phenomenon fits into the health care system. The challenge is to keep pace with the changing ways that people view health and illness, take reposibility for themselves, and incorporate CAM into their health care. This text brings together for the first time a wide range of leading North American and European social scientists to identify who uses CAM, why they use it, and how they find out about it. Presenting research from psychology, sociology, anthropology and public health, they alert us to the current context of CAM use and provide new models and techniques for understanding its future place in health care.