So many clinicians have rethought their traditional opposition to alternative and complementary medicine that more health care personnel now acknowledge using these interventions than do people in the general U.S. population. A recently reported survey of about 14,300 physicians, nurses, medical assistants, and health care administrators nationwide found that approximately three-fourths of them use alternative or complementary options to treat their own medical conditions or as prevention strategies. Among these interventions were yoga, massage, and herbal preparations. A report of this study appears in the August issue of Health Services Research.
To read how even the tradition-bound military is beginning to incorporate alternative medicine into its treatment arsenal, see Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/13/9.full.
And to learn more about the status of research on alternative and complementary medicine in depression treatment, see Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/45/15/17.1.full.
Also, for an in-depth look at this topic see the book Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Mental Health Care, published by American Psychiatric Publishing at http://www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62202.
(Image: Shutterstock)