Alternative and complementary medicine encompasses a great number of practices and systems of healthcare. Some have been incorporated into standard care as in the many integrative or integrated medicine clinics that have recently opened, usually under the direction of a conventional physician or MD.

Conventional medicine or western biomedicine is sometimes referred to as allopathic medicine, derived from the Greek, allo, meaning opposite, and pathos, meaning suffering. In general, conventional medicine focuses on diseases and employs techniques to eradicate it. For example, antibiotic drugs for bacterial infections or anti-hypertensives for high blood pressure.

Alternative and complementary medicine is frequently referred to as CAM, although the two terms have different connotations. Alternative medicine is used to replace conventional treatments, so opting for a nutritional therapy for cancer instead of chemotherapy is alternative. Complementary therapies are used alongside conventional treatments. For example, acupuncture or herbs may be used for the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

Conventional biomedicine is sometimes referred to as traditional medicine. This is a misnomer. Traditional systems of medicine existed long before the development of modern western medicine. Traditional systems, such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), or Tibetan Medicine have developed distinctly different concepts of health and disease that usually combine concepts of body, mind, and spirit. Notions of cancer or infectious diseases have no direct parallels in these systems.

New perspectives on health and medicine, incorporating ideas of "life force", balance and harmony may be referred to as mind-body approaches. Yoga, guided imagery, biofeedback, hypnosis are examples. Novel approaches emphasizing spiritual practices and the wholeness of all aspects of human life are often referred to as holistic, wholistic, or New Age medicine.

NOTE: The following resource listings are not intended to be comprehensive, nor to be used as a guide for treatment. They are provided for information only. The resources are selected and categorized to help you with your own research:

Richard P Brown, Patricia L Gerbarg, Philip R. Muskin How to Use herbs, Nutrients, and Yoga in Mental Health CareFW.W.Norton & Company, 2009A reference book for healthcare professionals and the public on integrative mental health approaches. The authors are clinical psychologists and medical school professors.

Kenneth Pelletier, Andrew Weil (introduction)The Best Alternative MedicineFireside, 2002Dr. Kenneth Pelletier provides an authoritative consumer reference guide that focuses on the existing body of clinical research and the safest applications of the 12 most common practices.

Spencer, JW and Jacobs, J (Eds.)Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach
Mosby, 1998Individual chapters deal with disease states and patient groups, along with information on and evidence for therapies used to treat them. Provides categorization of types of evidence and how the research has been evaluated.

Micozzi, Marc (Ed.)Current Review of Complementary Medicine
Current Medicine, 1999Individual chapters deal with particular modalities or diseases. Information on how to create an herbal formulary, insurance coverage and surveys of usage.

Fugh-Berman, AdrianAlternative Medicine: What Works
Williams-Wilkins, 1997A comprehensive and readable review of the scientific evidence both for and against a range of therapies.

Institute of Medicine - Report on Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United StatesThe IOM, component of the National Academies, collected information on the scientific and policy implications of the use of complementary and alternative medicine by the American public. The $1 million study was published in January, 2005.

Report to the National Institutes of Health, Office of Alternative MedicineExpanding Medical Horizons
NIH Publication, 1994Useful reference resource, covering a wide range of scientific, clinical and historical research on alternative medical approaches.

Roanne Weisman & Brian Berman, MDOwn Your HealthHealth Communications, 2003Weisman, a medical writer, used a range of alternative treatments to aid recovery after suffering a debilitating stroke. This reference book was inspired by her experiences.

James S. Gordon Manifesto for a New Medicine
Addison Wesley, 1996A guide for practitioners and patients on how to integrate the best of conventional and alternative healthcare.

Weil, AndrewSpontaneous Healing
Fawcett, 1996General health guide based on the idea that the body has the power to heal itself, also applied to remissions of cancer and other life threatening diseases.

F.A.C.T: Focus on Alternative and Complementary TherapiesPublished by the Pharmaceutical Press, London, UKFACT is a quarterly review journal that aims to present the evidence on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in an analytical and impartial manner. Editor-in-Chief, Edzard Ernst, MD

CAM on PubMedNCCAM and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) partnered to create a subset of NLM's PubMed. PubMed provides access to citations from the MEDLINE database and additional life science journals. High quality research resources are publicly available.

Healthfinder.gov
This resource from the Department of Health & Human Services provides information on the integration of alternative and complementary medicine, with an emphasis on healthy lifestyles.

Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), National Institutes of HealthThe mission of ODS is to strengthen knowledge and understanding of dietary supplements by evaluating scientific information, stimulating and supporting research, disseminating research results, and educating the public to foster an enhanced quality of life and health for the U.S. population.

Promotional and commercial sites are not included in this listing unless they provide significant impartial information resources.

AUTHORITATIVE RESEARCH RESOURCES

Directory of DatabasesCompilation of the major databases containing significant alternative medicine resources. The categorized listings are hyperlinked to existing Web sites where available, or to brief information on the resource, such as: how to obtain further details; type of literature covered; size of the holding; and mode of access.

DrugWatchExtensive directory of pharmaceutical drugs with information on interactions, side effects, conditions, and news alerts.

Natural StandardValidated rating scales are used to evaluate the quality of available scientific evidence. Information is incorporated into comprehensive monographs which are designed to facilitate clinical decision making. Subscription required for access.

Ask Doctor WeilYou can search for advice on specific health problems and therapies. The site provides listings of integrative medicine practitioners who have graduated from the University of Arizona's Program in Integrative Medicine, by geographical location and specialty.

World Research Foundationhttp://www.wrf.org/41 Bell Rock Plaza
Sedona, AZ 86351
Tel: (928) 284-3300
Fax: (928) 284-3530
Email: info@wrf.org
Provides information packets on many health topics, as well as books and videos. These can be ordered for a varied donation, based on size and scope of packet.