Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Question 1

What is complementary medicine?

Answer 1

When a non-mainstream practice is used together with conventional medicine

Question 2

What is alternative medicine?

Answer 2

When a non-mainstream medicine is used instead of conventional medicine

Question 3

What are alternative medical systems?

Answer 3

Treatments built upon complete systems of theory and practice (eg. homeopathic medicine)

Question 4

What are mind-body therapies?

Answer 4

Use a variety of techniques designed to enhance the mind’s capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms (eg. meditation)

Question 5

What is natural product therapy?

Answer 5

Use of natural products (eg. herbal products)

Question 6

What are manipulative and body-based methods?

Answer 6

Movement of one or more parts of the body (eg. chiropractic)

Question 7

What are energy therapies?

Answer 7

Involving the use of energy fields (eg. biofield therapies affecting energy fields surrounding the human body, bioelectromagnetic-based therapies involving use of electromagnetic fields)

Question 8

Types of users of CAM

Answer 8

• Earnest seekers = have a health problem for which they try many forms of treatment
• Stable users = either use one therapy for most of their health problems or have one problem which they use a regular CAM treatment for
• Eclectic users = use different forms depending on problem and circumstances
• One-off users = discontinue CAM after limited experimentation

Question 9

Positive reasons people use CAM

Answer 9

• Perceived effectiveness
• Perceived safety
• Philosophical congruence
• Control over treatment
• High touch/low tech
• Good patient-therapist relationship
• Non-invasive nature
• Accessibility
• Pleasant therapeutic experience
• Affluence

Question 10

Negative reasons people use CAM

Answer 10

• Dissatisfaction with conventional healthcare (eg. adverse effects, poor doctor-patient relationship, high tech/low touch)
• Rejection of science and technology
• Rejection of ‘the establishment’
• Desperation

Question 11

Common concerns of doctors regarding CAM

Answer 11

• Patients may see unqualified practitioners
• Patients may risk missed or delayed diagnosis
• Patients may stop or refuse effective conventional treatment
• Patients may waste money on ineffective treatments
• Patients may experience dangerous adverse effects from treatment
• The mechanism of some CAM is so implausible they cannot possibly work