CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE ALL ABOUT? 15
The Absolute Minimum
■ Western healthcare consumers, finding traditional therapies ineffective,
unfriendly, and overly concerned with symptoms and not causes, have turned
to alternative therapies in ever-increasing numbers—almost 50% of
Americans in recent years.
■ Most alternative therapies focus on releasing the healing powers within the
body, rather than creating healing through the application of outside forces
like surgery, technology, or pharmaceuticals.
■ Although the profoundly different natures of the two systems make compari-
son research hard to come by, the research done in the past 10–15 years pro-
vides compelling evidence that alternative therapies create healing, even if
the way they do so is not always clear.
Resources: Institution-Affiliated
Centers of Research on Alternative
Medicine
Institution Specialty of Center
Bastyr University, Bethel, WA HIV/AIDS
Columbia University, New York, NY Women’s health issues
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA General medical conditions
Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, West Orange, NJ Stroke and neurological
conditions
Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, Davenport, IA Chiropractic
Stanford University Palo Alto, CA Aging
University of Arizona Health Science Center Tucson Pediatric conditions
University of California Davis Asthma, allergy, and
immunology
University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore Pain
University of Michigan Ann Arbor Cardiovascular diseases
University of Texas Health Science Center Houston Cancer
University of Virginia Charlottesville Pain
