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In Boston last spring, I was privileged to speak at a conference on Integrative Medicine. The conference was hosted by the Integrative Medicine Alliance, and organization for which Seth Goodwin, our acupuncturist, serves as a board director. The conference, held at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacology, brought together allopathic (western medicine) physicians, scholars, clinicians from a variety of nonwestern medical traditions, and community health organizers. It became clear that this health care community is only beginning to define what we mean by Integrative Medicine.
The term, CAM, or CAM Therapies (Complementary and Alternative Medicine Therapies) is commonly used to denote nonwestern health care modalities. This term, CAM, arose as a way to categorize a range of health care practices that seve as adjuncts to primary, allopathic care. But the spirit and practice of Integrative Medicine transcends the limitations of any one medical perspective and invites us to integrate all forms of medicine, western and nonwestern alike, into our health care. We stand at a time when structures for the delivery of effective, affordable health care are failing us. It is at just such a time when we can invent new models that will work better for all of us.
The following are a few principles on Integrative Medicine—cornerstones for a new model of health care.
Each individual is the integration of physical make-up, emotions, thoughts, lifestyle, and spiritual life. These aspects are interdependent—together, they create health. Symptoms arise from the interplay of all these internal factors; symptoms do not have one, univeresal cause.
Health is not the absense of illness. Illness, imbalance, and death are processes of health—they serve as opportunities for change and integration
People use all sorts of methods to heal, from prescription medicines to prayer. A wide variety of health care practices work. Belief and personal choice are key elements in healing. Practitioners serve best when we apporach clients not with ready-made solutions, but with curiosity and respect. Our job is to help our clients make informed choices and to take personal responsibility for their own care.
When practicing integrative medicine, health care providers share clinical perspecives and pool imnformation to form a more whole picture of an individual client. No one perspective can provide a complete diagnosis. Multiple perspectives allow for a more accurate view. Team-based health care is essential.
Whatever helps us feel more alive and improves our relationships with ourselves, our loved ones and our environment is part of our health care.
Individual, family, and community health, ecological health and the health of nations—all are inextricably bound. Health care providers and consumers (that's all of us!) will naturally engage cultural issues of social justice, economic equity and ecological sustainability. The quality of our water and our schools, the time we can spend with friends, children and elders, the strength of our local economy, access to open space . . . all of these are measureaments of a healthy life, a happy family and a vibrant community.
