Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine - Essay Example

The factors responsible for the growing popularity of CAM are thought to be: Holistic Care: Many practitioners guide the patients towards CAM in conjunction with allopathic paradigmEscalating Costs: Expensive chronic treatments are giving way to CAM managed healingGreater awareness and interest in wellbeing: People are becoming aware of alternative ways of curing common ailments without the use of allopathic medicines factors which are hindering acceptance of CAM in the United States are: Most CAMs are perceived to be pseudoscientific have not been scientifically proven and sometimes are not testable.

Perceived to be dangerous- Many of the CAM streams are shrouded in mystery and associated with primitive cultures of the Far East or Africa. Lack of government support towards their research and building of a scientific database of credible success stories. An ancient CAM is Ayurveda (the science of life) which has been practiced in India for around 5000 years. It is based on the belief that there are broadly 3 body types, Kapha, Pitta, and Vata, and an illness manifests itself if there is an imbalance in the body.

Diagnosis is done through monitoring the pulse and observing the tongue. Treatment involves diet restrictions, hatha yoga, breathing exercises, and a prescription of herbal medicines. Allopathic Medicine in contrast lays stress on treating the symptoms like fever, cough, etc and killing pathogens that are believed to be the cause of illness. Here the medicine suppresses the natural response of our body to pathogens. Thus the two streams cannot be compared as they are based on different philosophies, one tries to regain the body's natural balance and the other overrides the nature of the body to cure.

The attributes of the five categories of CAM as defined by the National Centre for CAM are: Whole Medical Systems-These are believed to have developed earlier than conventional medicine and are complete systems in theory and practice e.g. homeopathic, naturopathic, Ayurveda, and traditional Chinese medicine. Mind-body Medicine-These are believed to augment the mind's capacity to stimulate bodily functions, eg prayers, meditation, dance, etc. Biologically based practices- Herbs and other substances found in nature e.