606 Complementary and Alternative Therapies
circulation), (c) distraction from stress, and (d) confronting
stressors by projecting them in dance (Hana, 1995).
While there are intervention studies investigating the ben-
e“ts of DMT for patients with a range of psychological
symptoms (Brooks & Stark, 1989; Stewart, McMullen, &
Rubin, 1994), most were conducted with poor methodologi-
cal control.
Music therapy(MT) involves the active or passive use of
music to enhance health and express emotions (Achterberg
et al., 1994). It has been used with adults and children who
exhibit cognitive and affective de“cits. In addition, patients
with physical disabilities and chronic mental illness were
reported to bene“t from MT (Achterberg et al., 1994). A
review of the literature provides support for the use of MT to
decrease anxiety associated with speci“c events (i.e., sur gery
and medical procedures) in some populations (i.e., cardiac
patients and premature neonates; Snyder & Chlan, 1999;
and patients with asthma; Lehrer et al., 1994). With regard
to depression, one study observed the impact of elderly pa-
tients who were randomly assigned to either home-based MT,
self-administered MT, or waitlist control (WLC) over an
eight-week period (Hanser & Thompson, 1994). Results
demonstrated both MT groups achieved a greater decrease in
depression than those on the waitlist, and these bene“ts were
maintained at a nine-month follow-up assessment.
Art therapyentails using drawing, painting, or sculpting
to express oneself and increase self-awareness (Achterberg
et al., 1994). Art therapy has been connected with mental
health since the 1800s. Few empirical studies have been
conducted investigating the ef“cacy of art therapy as a
treatment for speci“c medical or psychological disorders.
However, Anand and Anand (1997) discussed the bene“ts
gleaned from art therapy in patients following laryngec-
tomy. Speci“cally, art therapy reportedly served as an ad-
junct assessment and treatment tool for patients who
experience depression, anxiety, grief, and concern regarding
physical appearance.
Mind/Body Therapies
Complementary and alternative therapies categorized as
mind/body interventions have often been derived from
decades of psychological and behavioral science. They are
discussed in other chapters of this volume with regard to their
ef“cacy in treatment of psychological and physical syn-
dromes, such as pain, that are associated with various
medical disorders. These include many cognitive and behav-
ioral interventions such as relaxation training, guided visual-
ization, cognitive restructuring, behavior modi“cation,
self-instructional training, stress inoculation training, prob-
lem solving, anger management, and psychoeducation, as
well as other psychological interventions such as hypnosis
and supportive group counseling.
When employed to reduce psychological distress (e.g., anx-
iety and depression), to manage stress, or to treat a range of other
behavioral disorders, many of these therapies are well-tested
and thus considered standard approaches to treatment. For ex-
ample, many clinical interventions falling under the rubric of
cognitive-behavioral treatment have been documented through
numerous studies, reviews, and texts as effective for a wide
range of psychological and behavioral problems (Beutler,
Harwood, & Caldwell, 2001). Many are listed as empirically
validated techniques. Cognitive-behavioral therapies are
markedly present among the list of empirically supported psy-
chotherapies (Chambless & Hollon, 1998).
When the focus of such therapies is on the reduction of
medical symptoms and disease, their use may be viewed as
alternative or complementary, because they have not been
traditionally prescribed or employed in a medical context.
However, as many of the chapters in this volume indicate,
mind/body strategies have shown promise as potentially
effective strategies that can alter the occurrence, course, or
management of medical syndromes. Additionally, their po-
tential effectiveness regarding many medically unexplained
symptoms has been suggested (A. M. Nezu, Nezu, &
Lombardo, 2001). This is particularly relevant with regard to
the large percentage of individuals who seek medical care
each year from their primary care physicians, in which there
exists no identi“able underlying medical disease that can ex-
plain the persistent experience of certain physical symptoms
(A. M. Nezu et al., 2001). Recent reviews concerning other
interventions such as hypnosis have also shown promise
as both alternative and complementary interventions for
medical disorders such as obesity, insomnia, hypertension,
asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, and dermatological disor-
ders (Nash, 2001).
Are all complementary and alternative therapies mind/
body?As traditional psychological interventions are more
frequently applied to both medical and psychological para-
meters of disease, and as other complementary and alterna-
tive treatments described earlier in this chapter gain wider
public attention and acceptance, the dichotomous line be-
tweenmedicaland nonmedicalsymptoms, disorders and
treatments can be rapidly blurred. As such, the concept of
mind/body therapies to maintain health and heal disease can
be expanded to include almost all interventions based on
the understanding that such conditions represent an interac-
tion of physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual
factors. Most of the interventions described in this chapter
are •mind/bodyŽ therapies.