| Integrative Medicine |
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In the early 1970s the holistic health movement emerged, though it remained outside of mainstream medicine and popular culture. In the 1990s, the field was re-conceptualized as “alternative medicine” and/or “complementary medicine,” and it was beginning to become increasingly respected and utilized by a strong minority of Americans.
In the 21st century, this field has gone through one more step in its evolutionary process and is now called “integrative medicine.” Integrative medicine assumes a synthesis of the best of modern technological medicine and the best of various natural treatment modalities. Today, courses in integrative medicine (or a similar name) are taught in virtually every medical school in America, and even prestigious medical publishers such as Oxford University Press are beginning to publish textbooks on specialty applications of integrative medicine (a textbook called Integrative Oncology will be published in late 2008 or early 2009, and Dana Ullman served as the primary author of the chapter on homeopathy and oncology).
According to a 2008 survey conducted by the American Cancer Society, a majority of cancer survivors utilize one or more of the alternative and complementary treatment modalities. Numerous other studies have confirmed the present and growing interest in alternative and complementary therapies. |
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