COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE HEALING MODALITIES Flashcards
o An approach to health that focuses on the use of
science in the diagnosis and treatment of health
problems.
o Conventional medicine
o Biomedicine
o Allopathic medicine
Western medicine
Greater emphasis on prevention, natural healing
* Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
o As many as 1,800 other therapies practiced all
over the world over thousands of years
o Based on ancient medical systems
o Evolution in the U.S.
▪ Bioelectromagnetic therapy
▪ Chiropractic therapy
o On frontier
▪ Some mind–body approaches
Eastern medicine
o CAM in place of conventional medicine
- Complementary
o CAM together with conventional medicine
- Alternative
Assumption that one’s own culture or ethnic
group is superior to others
Ethnocentrism
Has prevented Western health practitioners from
learning new ways to promote health and prevent
illnesses
Ethnocentrism
o Indian system of medicine
Ayurveda
is a Sanskrit word that means “science
of life” or “sciences of life span.
Ayurveda
emphasizes the interdependence of the health of
the individual and the quality of societal life.
Ayurveda
State of imbalance among body systems
Ayurveda
o Imbalance or interruption in the flow of qi
- Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
Spirituality and medicine are inseparable.
o Values each individual’s uniqueness
o Healers use medicine objects and ceremonial
treatments.
▪ Sweat lodge, music, dancing,
drumming, and chanting
▪ Herbs
o Harmony between mind and body
- Native American Healing
Therapeutic use of essential oils
o Extracted from plants
o Massaged into skin, inhaled, placed in baths,
used as compresses, or mixed into ointments
o To calm, stimulate, improve sleep, change eating
habits, or boost immune system
o Do not ingest
▪ Can be fatal
Aromatherapy
o Cultural healing found in Latin America and
Latinos in United States
o Traditional healing system with Western
biomedical beliefs, treatments, and practices
o Curanderos (men); curanderas (women)
o Herbalists, midwives, counselors, spine and joint
workers, massage therapists
o Religious rituals, cleansing rites, prayers
Curanderismo
Self-healing system
o Law of similars
▪ claims that a natural substance that
produces a given symptom in a healthy
person cures it in a sick person. If taken
in large amounts, these natural
compounds will produce symptoms of
disease.
o Remedies stimulate self-healing capacity
Homeopathy
