This is the first in a new monthly guest blog for A Little Bit of Stone by Sue Weller and Allyn Edwards from Stone’s Ishta Centre. They’ll be looking at different aspects of complementary and alternative and metabolic medicine (CAM) and associated topics. In this post they introduce CAM medicine and the principles on which it is based.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] little history. Modern medicine is around 200 years old, before this people sought medical help from their local medical healer, bone setter or some other form of natural practitioner. Modern medicine developed out of these natural therapies into the sophisticated, technological medicine we have today.
Thankfully the more natural approaches have survived and are flourishing today due to public demand. Generally CAM medicine has come to embrace anything outside mainstream Western medicine.
The approach in CAM medicine is to view the person as a whole being; mind, body and spirit. We are born with the ability to heal ourselves as long as we provide ourselves with the right conditions. Unfortunately life gets in the way which results in imbalances in one or more areas of the mind-body-spirit. This can lead to pain, dis-ease or dysfunction, which manifest in the symptoms people present with when they visit their doctor or health care practitioner.
When visiting a CAM medicine practitioner, the practitioner will be interested in your whole life, not just the symptoms you are presenting with. They will usually take a detailed medical history, do an assessment and give you a treatment that will aim to help the symptoms and rebalance you on all levels, allowing your innate healing abilities to bring you back to a state of wholeness. Normally a course of treatment is required.
Owing to the large number of therapies available it can be confusing when you are trying to decide which therapy may best suit you. Through this column we aim to help you decide which therapy would be appropriate, where your local therapists are, and to provide the reader with some general background information.
If there are any specific topics you would like to see covered we’ll do our best to include them, but there may well be a wait of a few months before we can fit them in. In the mean time you could browse our web site www.ishtacentre.co.uk for answers, as we have a team of therapists offering a host of different holistic approaches and classes.
This column will be edited by Sue Weller and Allyn Edwards of Stone’s natural health centre, the Ishta Centre, on Kings Avenue. If you need some personal advice please contact them at the centre on 01785 616010 or via mail@ishtacentre.co.uk
[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” width=”200″ ]If you’re interested in doing a monthly guest blog for A Little Bit of Stone, please do get in touch by emailing blogs@alittlebitofstone.com[/box]
4 comments
Kris Grainger
I think this is fine so as long as this kind of advice is given in addition to, not as a replacement for proven medicine. I think the comment ‘The body can heal itself’, although true of broken bones etc, can be a little dangerous if people use this as a reason to not seek medical advice or not seek proven medical remedies and treatments.
I think it would be nice to see a medical blog, maybe from one of Stone’s GPs to offer a balanced perspective. I apologise for my slight cynicism but i’m always dubious of miracle cures and treatments that are charged for when the NHS provides scientifically proven and researched cures and treatments for free.
Jamie Summerfield
Hi Kris / Matt. Obviously, people have to make their own minds up when it comes to alternative treatments. We’re certainly not saying to people – ‘Hey, you have to try this’. It’s a guest post by one of our long-established local businesses
Rachel
Jamie, I think your comment emphasises the point here. The article is about COMPLIMENTARY therapy. To be used alongside medically proven treatment. And not as you have called it ALTERNATIVE therapy. There is little to no scientific evidence of benefits so should no way be advertised or offered as an alternative treatment option.
Matt
There’s no evidence (of adequate providence) to suggest that CAM is more effective than placebo – I have concerns about CAM being advertised as a treatment.