The Best Alternative Medecine

Pelletier (Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer) examines the most popular alternative therapies being used today--from homeopathy and Western herbal medicine to traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda--with an eye toward integrating them with traditional medicine. A clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and director of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program, Pelletier notes that while many forms of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) are not recognized by the medical community, consumer interest in them has risen dramatically. If, as Pelletier concludes, optimal health stems from attention to all aspects of life--physical, psychological, spiritual and environmental--then CAM therapies, which take all of these aspects into account, will become even more common. Far from suggesting that traditional medicine be bypassed, Pelletier emphasizes that CAM can increase its effectiveness at a relatively low cost. He cites numerous studies in which CAM has fostered the healing process, as well as other studies that either have negated certain claims for alternatives or proved inconclusive. In the second section of the book, Pelletier discusses how CAM can be used for specific conditions such as cancer, heart disease, AIDS and depression. This forward-looking book will be useful to those seeking to address all aspects of their well-being. BOMC, QPB, One Spirit alternate. (Feb.)