Alternative and Complementary Healing Practices

Alternative and Complementary Healing Practices

Many people around the world are spending huge amounts of money on alternative and complementary medicine treatment options every year. The reason for this is that these alternative treatment options do provide quick recovery options for patients, and they help to manage their conditions with ease. In order to understand why alternative medicine works, it is first important to define alternative medicine.

Ramsey et al. (2012)

define alternative medicine as the practices outside the conventional medicine practices which are used to treat or manage the symptoms of the patients. They include practices such as diet, changes in lifestyle, nutrition, herbal remedies, mind-body control and other biological treatments such as bio-field therapies and bio-electromagnetic-based therapies. They have been shown to be effective for the treatment of various diseases such as flu and various forms of cancer.

Reasons for use of alternative medicine

Many patients feel more comfortable with alternative medicine than conventional medicine for various reasons. The first, and probably the most important reason is that people are more comfortable with the natural compounds used in these alternative treatment methods than the man-made ones. These man-made compounds have been found to have among other negatives, side-effects and adverse reactions.

A survey that was conducted by the CDC (National Center for Health Statistics) and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that 54.9% of the respondents used various forms of complementary and alternative medicine to treat their conditions. The patients first went to see a doctor to get confirmation of their diagnosis, but in terms of treatment, they prefer to use alternative and complementary medicine. The respondents stated they feel that alternative and complementary methods are safer than conventional methods. Some reported that they feel alternative and complementary methods are much safer. This is as a result of most of these practices being there for thousands of years, longer than the presence of conventional medicine. One particular respondent stated that the use acupuncture has never been reported to kill or maim a person, and that is why they prefer these alternative methods. When asked about why they felt they first need to see a doctor, the patients stated that they do not believe that either conventional or alternative treatment is superior to the other. They just feel that conventional medicine gives a more accurate diagnosis while alternative medicine serves to treat and manage these symptoms better Barnes, Powell-Griner, McFann, & Nahin, 2004()

Alternative methods and complementary medicine are preferred because some people may have had a bad experience with conventional methods. People take personal experiences seriously, and why they do have a bad experience with a particular thing, they tend to shy away from it. For example, one patient who was surveyed said that when they were pregnant, the patient had a constant feeling of nausea that just would not go away. The patient had tried various conventional medicine methods, but one day decided to try acupuncture. When pressure was applied to the patient's wrists, the nausea vanished and never came back again Bejean & Sultan-Taieb, 2005()

The popularity of alternative remedies also stems from the belief that alternative medicine increases the life expectancy and also improves one's mental health. This is especially true for those methods which use an integrated approach to restore and maintain the health of the patients through changes in lifestyle, diet and other natural therapies. These alternative methods of treatment increase the longevity of life by being effective in preventing certain diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, etc. As well as by promoting the health of the patient and preventing and treating aging. Looking at it from a scholarly viewpoint, it can be seen that these beliefs are actually true since diet and nutrition are related to many chronic illnesses. Therefore, if a person does improve their dietary intake, they can be able to prevent these chronic illnesses.

People also use alternative medicine because apart from treating the symptoms of the disease, they also have several other benefits. Joos, Roseman, and Szecsenyc (2006)

give good examples as yoga, acupuncture and massage which apart from treating the various diseases for which they are used, also help to relieve stress and tiredness. Moreover, when these methods are used in a group or family setting, they help people to bond together, and they can support one another and help each other gain a feeling of empowerment.