Page 76 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

76 | Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

Doctors new to the subject typically start by reading articles or
books (such as this one) or attending seminars. They may seek
out professional associates who use CAM and learn from them.
They may stop at booths at medical conferences. If they are
serious, they can join organizations of CAM physicians, such as
the American College for Advancement in Medicine
(www.acam.org), Institute for Functional Medicine
(www.functionalmedicine.org), or the International Society for
Orthomolecular Medicine (www.orthomed.org). They can attend
gatherings such as the 2010 Integrative Mental Health
Conference at the University of Arizona. Also, the newly formed
International Network of Integrative Mental Health
(www.inimh.org) is a global organization to advance an
integrative whole-person approach to mental health through
education, research, networking and advocacy.

Common Concerns

Physicians new to CAM have common concerns. First of all, is it
scientifically based? Hopefully, we have made the case in this
guide that, indeed, much of it is, and the research continues to
grow and appear with regularity in even the most conservative
of medical journals. With internet access to the literature,
finding evidence (or lack of it) of a treatment’s efficacy is not
difficult.
Another concern depends on what others in the profession may
think. Repute is important and can affect patient referrals,
professional advancement, teaching appointments, etc. Doctors
commonly don’t want to appear to their colleagues to be
abandoning their orthodox roots. But part of those roots are the
commitment to use the best science has to offer and primum non
nocere—first, do no harm. Given the rapid advance of research
into CAM treatments, the orthodox paradigm is shifting and,
indeed, in many medical circles, the physician who ignores CAM
may now be considered the less learned.