Complimentary and Alternative Medicine

Reflection #1

The National Center for Complimentary and Integrative Health states that in 2007, 38% of adults and 12% of children are using some form of Complementary and Alternative medicine in the United States alone. These numbers are only expected to rise which is why Health care professionals should concern themselves with the issues of religious and spiritual practices in healing. The field of integrative health care requires professionals to be aware of and respect the beliefs of those they treat. The knowledge of someone’s spirituality and religious practices allows the health care professional to be fully understanding of that individual and allows those being treated to feel as if they are in a comfortable environment for healing. This knowledge can also lead to the understanding of how the individual handles their relationships with other people. Interaction with others could either provide eustress (good stress) or distress (bad stress). Distress could prove to be the leading cause at the forefront for whatever their ailment may be and should be taken very seriously.

According to an article written by Stephen Pattison in 1991, the National Health Systems (UK) Patient’s Charter enunciated that people had the right to have their religious and spiritual needs met within the health care system. It could be said that, prior to this time, health care professionals were mostly illiterate about the fields of spirituality and many spiritual communities were equally ignorant to the bio-medical health care system. In 2003, the first International Conference on the Integration of Health and Spirituality was held in Rockville, Maryland to ask the question, “Are religious practices and spiritual living good for your health?” According to the research presented, the answer was “yes”. They noted that in the just in the last decade, research on the link between health and spirituality has doubled. Another speaker noted that, “spirituality and...