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Ordering
The Blissful Brain
The Blissful Brain is published
by Gaia Thinking. For more information on how to order your
copy, please click
here.
Guardian
G2: Mind over matter by Andy Darling
"Neuroscientist Shanida Nataraja has
proven meditation does more than clear your head, it can put
both halves of your brain to work, improving your concentration,
memory, and decision-making...". To read more, please
click
here.
Upcoming
talk: Yoga Ananda, Reigate, Surrey on Friday the 4th of June
Shanida Nataraja will be speaking at a seminar
on The Blissful Brain on Friday, 04th June 2010 at
19:30 at Yoga Ananda Ltd. 46 Albert Road North, Reigate, Surrey,
RH2 9EL. For more information, please click
here.
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Holistic
Medicine and CAM
Recently,
in the West, we have seen an emergence of Eastern practices,
such as mindfulness meditation, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, and yoga,
and a resurgence of Western practices, such as centering prayer,
lectio divina, and mantra meditation. Whilst an increasing
number of Westerners now practice these disciplines as part
of their spiritual life, an increasing number of new practitioners
turn to these as a result of poor health or disease. It is
for the same reason that many people are also turning to other
types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), such
as herbal remedies, acupuncture, and reflexology. These CAM
therapies offer patients greater control over their health,
and their sense of well-being, and promote the patient’s involvement
in the management of their disease.
The term “CAM” includes all therapies that are not commonly
taught in medical schools or practiced in medical institutions.
The term therefore also includes alternative therapies devised
by the patient to improve their medical condition, such as
the avoidance of certain food substances or harmful environmental
triggers. Over the last decade, the use of CAM has increased
dramatically in both the US and Europe. In 2003, an estimated
15 million people, approximately a quarter of the UK population,
used some form of CAM [1]. In the US, CAM use is similarly
high; in a survey done in 2000, more than 50% of respondents
were found to use one or more type of CAM [2]. Not only does
this provide evidence that conventional medicine alone fails
to meet the demands of an ailing Western population, but it
also indicates that a large proportion of patients are willing
to take some responsibility for the effective management of
their medical condition(s).
CAM
appears to play an increasingly important role in the management
of cancer. In a recent survey of UK cancer patients, a third
of patients reported using CAM either in the past or currently
[3]. The proportion of cancer patients using CAM is thought
to be even higher in the US. A number of nationwide surveys
have indicated that the use of CAM in cancer patients in the
US is the norm, not the exception. CAM is perceived to be
a relatively safe way of boosting well-being whilst the patient
is receiving other, more toxic treatments. In the UK, a recent
report on the use of CAM in cancer care acknowledged both
the value placed on CAM by cancer patients and the increasingly
supportive attitude of healthcare professionals towards the
use of CAM in these patients [4]. The costs associated with
CAM use are high; in the aforementioned US study, costs amounted
to more than $34 billion every year [2]. These escalating
costs have prompted some researchers to question the costeffectiveness
of these CAM therapies. However, in one recent study, a number
of different types of CAM were found to be cost-effective,
including stress management for patients with cancer undergoing
chemotherapy, acupuncture for migraine, biofeedback for patients
with functional disorders such as IBS, and guided imagery
and relaxation therapy for patients with cardiac disease [5].
1.
House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology,
2000. Complementary and Alternative Medicine. HL Paper 123,
November. 2. MacLennan AH, Wilson DH, Taylor AW. The escalating
cost and prevalence of alternative medicine. Prev Med. 2002;35(2):166-73.
3. Scott JA, Kearney N, Hummerston S, Molassiotis A. Use of
complementary and alternative medicine in patients with cancer:
a UK survey. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2005;9(2):131-7.
4. Kohn M. Complementary Therapies in Cancer Care. Abridged
report of a study produced for Macmillan Cancer Relief, June
1999.
5. Herman PM, Craig BM, Caspi O. Is complementary and alternative
medicine (CAM) cost-effective? A systematic review. BMC Complement
Altern Med. 2005;5:11.
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