If you have ever gone to a Wellness Fair you will be surprised by the number of modalities offered to improve your health. Some are new ideas and some are ancient. Some are scientifically validated and some are not. The main point is that Wellness has historically been associated with alternative medicine, alternative meaning those practices that go beyond conventional Western medicine and science. An alternative medicine practice that is used in conjunction with a conventional one is known as a "complementary" medicine, for example, the use of ginger syrup to prevent nausea during chemotherapy. Together, complementary and alternative medicines are often referred to by the acronym CAM. Now, here is the exciting part. Conventional medicine is now widening its arms to include more of the complementary and alternative medicinal practices. This is the realm of integrative medicine.

Integrative medicine recognizes that human health is much more than simply physical health. Integrative medicine is healing-oriented medicine that takes into account the whole person (body, mind, spirit and community), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship (the medical practitioner-patient-modality interplay) and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative to make the patient better. This is a liberating perspective as it no longer requires the medical practitioner to adhere to one modality of healing, instead it challenges the medical practitioner to learn and select from a much wider range of healing modalities to achieve long term health improvement. Conventional medicine can help treat people for lung disease caused by smoking, but the question remains, “How does one stop the addiction to smoking?” What stresses exist in the patient that can’t be addressed using surgery and drugs? What can be done to alleviate self-destructive life habits? A doctor practicing integrative medicine would triage the problem to first address the physical health problems using conventional medicine, and then incorporate CAM to address deeper issues of self-worth, addiction and stress.

To be frank, integrative medicine is still in its infancy. Just as the concept of wellness is becoming less counter-culture, so too is integrative medicine starting to seep into the consciousness of the general public. Let’s not mince words -- on a purely practical level each day of our lives is an ongoing struggle to avoid disease and suffering. That is the human condition. Framed in this less rosy way, many people will use all resources, conventional medicine and CAM, to help them in this struggle. In other words, it is an intrinsic imperative, particularly when we are facing life threatening disease, to consider all options to regain health – nothing is off the table.

Why do I speak so forcefully about integrative medicine? Because I have a sister who is, right now, struggling with life threatening brain cancer. In this context one must do all that one can to survive. Now, not all conventional and alternative medicines can be simultaneously applied, and often one needs to defer to conventional medical practices, but that still begs the question, “Is there something else that will help me through this struggle?” The answer is often yes. Integrative approaches attempt to answer that question using judiciously chosen CAM to address the many needs of a healing patient that aren’t being addressed by conventional medicine. As stated by Brad Lemley (DrWeil.com News), here are the principles of Integrative Medicine:

• A partnership between patient and practitioner in the healing process
• Appropriate use of conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body's innate healing response
• Consideration of all factors that influence health, wellness and disease, including mind, spirit and community as well as body
• A philosophy that neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically
• Recognition that good medicine should be based in good science, be inquiry driven, and be open to new paradigms
• Use of natural, effective, less-invasive interventions whenever possible
• Use of the broader concepts of promotion of health and the prevention of illness as well as the treatment of disease
• Training of practitioners to be models of health and healing, committed to the process of self-exploration and self-development

The underlying theme of these principles is one of “keeping an open mind”. As any seasoned medical doctor will tell you, the patient who is most likely to heal quickly is a person who is centered spiritually, lives within a supportive community of friends and family, and has the motivation to care for him/herself (mental health). Accepting this medical wisdom opens the door to so much more when it comes to medicine. It opens the door to accepting integrative medicine as important. Integrative medicine directly acknowledges that health is a physical, sociological, and emotional need that extends deep into the heart of the life process. Undoubtedly we will see integrative medicine grow here in North America in coming years. The reason it will grow is that is sensible. It is wise. The faster we move towards that point the better.