Integrating healing and other CAM approaches with conventional medical care can be enormously rewarding for doctors, nurses, CAM practitioners, and their patients.
Bridging these two worlds is often a challenge.
I have extensive knowledge of:
Complementary/ Alternative Medicine (CAM) approaches
Methodologies
Therapist-administered, as in acupuncture, acupressure,
chiropractic, homeopathy, craniosacral therapy,
and healing
Self-administered, as in relaxation, meditation, imagery,
psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), acupressure
Theories and Philosophies
Complementary/ Alternative Medicine research
Wholistic Integrative Care
Systems analysis
Developing harmonious teamwork with medical staff
Integrative Care
Combining CAM with conventional medical care offers you
the best of both worlds.
I consult in hospitals and clinics to develop integrative care
programs.
Integrative Care is highly valued by patients.
Integrative Care is cost-effective
Integrating healing with conventional medical care
Complementary/ Alternative Medicine (CAM) approaches
CAM therapies can help patients with problems which Western medicine may have limited means to alleviate, such as allergies, arthirits, anxiety, back pain, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines and other headaches, strokes, and more.
Differing approaches between CAM and conventional medical care can make it a challenge to integrate them.
To apply CAM approaches you must know the methodologies, as well as theories and philosophies that accompany these methodlologies.
CAM methodologies
There are many different CAM modalities. Here is a partial list:
Acupuncture Movement
Acupressure Alexander Therapy
Applied Kinesiology Feldenkrais
Reflexology Dance
Shiatsu Naturopathy
Autogenic Training Nutrition
Ayurveda Calories
Biofeedback Vitamins
Bodymind therapies Special diets
Bioenergetics Vegan
Chelation Macrobiotic
Chinese (Oriental) Medicine Allergy
Chiropractic Osteopathy
Energy Medicine (popular Craniosacral therapy
termincluding healing, Mind-body therapies
acupuncture, homeopathy, Applied Kinesiology
and many other biological (ref. acupuncture)
energy modalities) Thought Field Therapy (TFT)
Electromagnetic therapies Emotional Freedom Technique
Fitness/Exercise Matrix Therapy (Clinton)
Flotation Tapas Acupressure Technique
Flower Essences Hypnotherapy
Healing Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
Healing Touch Relaxation
Polarity Therapy Meditation
Prayer healing Imagery
Qigong Group work
Reiki Psychosomatic Medicine
Therapeutic Touch Qigong
Herbs Reflexology (ref. acupuncture)
Homeopathy Tibetan medicine
Hydrotherapy Yoga
Iridology
Magnets
Massage
Muscle kneading
Biological energy massage
Aromatherapy
Many of these modalities are largely unfamiliar to Western medicine. Some of the interventions may seem odd. A healer holds her hands near the part of a person's body that is hurting to relieve pains. A homeopath may give very dilute remedies to alleviate physical and emotional symptoms that cluster in combinations that are very different from Western diagnostic categories. Acupuncture points are stimulated with needles, pressure, electricity, or laser light to produce analgesia and anesthesia, and to address other physical and psychological problems.
While many doctors hesitate to be involved with treatments they have not learned in medical school, patients are seeking out these therapies in droves. National surveys by David Eisenberg and colleagues in 1993 and 1998 demonstrated that patients were paying out of pocket as many billions of dollars for CAM treatments as were spent (mostly under insurance) for conventional medical care. Doctors who have started using CAM therapies find that patients are happy with them and benefit greatly from them.
A growing body of evidence from randomized controlled studies confirms that healing, acupuncture, homeopathy, and other CAM therapies can produce significant effects in a variety of illnesses.
Many doctors take brief introductory workshops in these methods and are able to introduce them into their practices. This use of CAM methodologies is similar to a doctor knowing a bit of psychology and offering light counseling for psychological problems. Clearly all of these can be a great support and help.
Just as clearly, referring a person to a counselor or psychotherapist can offer much deeper levels of interventions for emotional and relational difficulties. Similarly, referring patients to a CAM therapist who has spent several years in training and many more years in practice can offer a deeper level of CAM intervention. Some doctors are now taking this sort of in-depth training in order to provide broader and deeper help to their patients through these approaches.
CAM therapists usually offer sessions of at least thirty minutes, and many offer an hour or more. A major attraction of CAM therapies is that they allow a space in which people can tell their tales of whoe, feel they are being fully heard, and find new ways of exploring, understanding, and dealing with their problems and issues.
In CAM therapies, the therapist is a major instrument for change. The treatment This encourages therapists to work on being as healthy as they can in order to provide the best care for their patients.
CAM theories, philosophies, and cosmologies
Methodologies comprise only a small portion of the practice of CAM therapies. For instance, spiritual healing includes a belief system of interacting biological energy fields, a potency in the intentions of healer and healee, and often includes invocation of higher powers or Divine intervention. Acupuncture is given within a cosmology derived from thousands of years of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In a similar way, homeopathy, craniosacral therapy, and most of the other CAM therapies have their own cosmologies. These world views may offer avenues for healing that do not exist within conventional medical care.
Some of the cosmologies may appear to be more mythical than pragmatic. Suggesting within spiritual healing that there might be a higher reason for a person's suffering might seem to be no more than a suggestion that cognitively re-frames a person's problems so that s/he allows a possibility of hope to enter where previously the darkness of despair had reigned.
Even if taken only as a metaphor, however, such a cosmology may allow a person to perceive his problems in new ways and to explore new avenues for dealing with them. For instance, rather than festering and stewing over being helpless to deal with physical problems that as yet have no solution, mental and emotional energies can be applied to working out new ways to relate to all aspects of life - including but not limited to the debilitating disease. New career options, relationships with significant others, with one's inner self, and relationships with a higher power can be explored.
Therapist-administered CAM therapies
Many CAM modalities require the services of a therapist. Spiritual healing, acupuncture, herbalism, homeopathy, hypnotherapy, massage, craniosacral therapy, and many other modalities are administered by the therapist. The process of treatment is very similar to that of Western medicine, in that the healee consults and relies on the expertise and interventions of the therapist.
Utilization of these modalities requires individual treatment rooms for consultations. Many integrative care programs have faltered or even failed due to the high costs of treatment room rentals within medical facilities. While CAM therapies cost less per session in the CAM therapists' facilities, they are less cost effective within the ordinary scheduling of hospitals and clinics because of the longer CAM sessions and lower fees.
Self-adminstered CAM therapies
One of the great attractions of CAM for many people is that these therapies offer opportunities to help themselves. Illness and therapist-administered therapies, particularly under treatment in conventional medical care, are experienced as disempowering. Patients feel vulnerable because their disease limits their activities and because they have to rely on the interventions of caregivers to deal with their problems.
Many patients are very pleased when CAM therapists suggest ways in which they can help themselves. This could be through lifestyle changes, diets, or various exercises. Here are some of the many ways to participate in self-healing through CAM therapies:
Acupressure - pressing on points to relieve pain
Applied Kinesiology - muscle test themselves to develop intuition
Aromatherapy - oils for relaxation and treatment
Autogenic Training - profoundly potent self-relaxation technique
Ayurveda - health promoting diets
Biofeedback - relaxation and self-regulation for many problems
Bodymind therapies - relaxation and muscle exercises
Chinese (Oriental) Medicine - lifestyle changes
Electromagnetic therapies - treatments for pain, depression
Fitness/Exercise - muscle and cardiovascular toning
Flotation - relaxation
Prayer healing - promote health, treat illnesses, decrease side
effects of medications
Qigong - self-healing exercises
Reiki - self-healing treatments
Herbs - medicinal remedies with few side effects
Hydrotherapy - relaxation
Hypnotherapy - relaxation, strengthening intent for self-healing
Movement (Alexander Therapy, Feldenkrais, Dance) - improve
muscle tone, posture
Naturopathy - Nutrition, relaxation, lifestyle changes
Nutrition - diet,
Meditation - relaxation, spiritual awareness
Meridian-Based Therapies - treat anxieties, pains, emotional
traumas, phobias
Psychoneuroimmunology - enhance immune functions
Tibetan Medicine - diet, lifestyle changes
Yoga - muscle toning, relaxation, meditation
Complementary/ Alternative Medicine research
Wholistic Integrative Care
Click here for a discussion on wholistic integrative care
Systems analysis
Developing harmonious teamwork with medical staff
Integrative Care
Combining CAM with conventional medical care offers you
the best of both worlds.
I consult in hospitals and clinics to develop integrative care
programs.
Integrative Care is highly valued by patients.
Integrative Care is cost-effective
Click here for scheduling
Integrating healing with conventional medical care
The British Doctor-Healer Network
I founded and directed the British Doctor-Healer Network 1987-1997.
In Britain, healers now work in doctors' offices, and some are paid under the National Health Service. Many more doctors are referring patients to healers at the healers' clinics. A few doctors are developing their own healing gifts and may get Postgraduate Education Allowance (equivalent to CME) credits for this by attending approved workshops. Healers work regularly at hospital pain, cancer and cardiac rehabilitation centers.
In the Doctor-Healer Network regional groups there are healers, doctors, nurses, other health care professionals, clergy, and complementary/ alternative therapists who meet every 3-4 months to discuss patients (often those who are treated by doctor-healer pairs), as well as theoretical and personal questions and demonstrations of healing methods. This provides a forum and resource for sharing information and progress in integrating healing with conventional medicine.
The Doctor-Healer Network Newsletter (1990-1994) shared experiences of healers and doctors between member groups and with others who are interested in healing.
The Doctor-Healer Network - North America
The DHN-NA features seminars for doctors who are using healing themselves or interested to learn about healing and how to integrate it in their clinical practice.
A newsletter will share some of these explorations, until the International Journal of Healing and Caring is launched.
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