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Acupressure
Acupuncture
Adaptogen
Allopathy
Alternative Medicine
Aromatherapy
Aryuvedic Medicine
Belief-Systems
Bioenergetics
Chiropractic
Colonic Irrigation
Complementary Medicine
Faith Healing
Folk Medicine
Health Foods
Herbs
Holistic Medicine
Homeopathy
Homeovitics
Homeostasis
Hypnosis
Informed Skepticism
Iridology
Microbiotics
Mind-Body Connection
Naturopathy
Nutraceutical
Natural
Orthomolecular Medicine
Organic or Natural
Osteopathy
Placebo Effect
Psychoneuro-
immunology
Quackery
Reflexology
Risk/Benefit Ratio
Shamanism
Shiatsu
Teas or Tisanes
Therapeutic Massage/Touch
Traditional Medicine
Wellness
A
Acupressure - The application of pressure a specific point to treat symptoms or disorders.
Acupuncture - An ancient Chinese healing art that employs fine needles inserted at various (ca 2000) points in the body to restore "the smooth flow of qi (energy)." Each location along a meridian is associated with specific organs, and every acupuncture point is considered to have a particular therapeutic effect.
Adaptogen - Agents (usually from plants such as ginseng) that help or adapt the body or protect it from stress.
Allopathy - A system of medical treatments using remedies that produce effects upon the body differing from those produced by disease; now generally refers to standards or orthodox medical practice.
Alternative medicine - Almost any form of therapy that differs from conventional medical practices. Examples include homeopathy, chiropractic, and naturopathy. The name suggests an alternative method other than the more conventional treatment.
Aromatherapy - The treatment of disease through the use of various aromatic herbs, volatile oils, and similar preparations.
Aryuvedic medicine - A system of medicine derived from an ancient Indian philosophy. The practices emphasize the use of one's physical and mental abilities to achieve harmony with the environment. Therapy consists of maintaining a balance between diet, daily routine, and activities. Foods and herbs are used to modify these three basic life forces (doshas).
B
Belief systems - The belief or faith that the patient holds as his innermost cultural, spiritual, and psychological resources for healing. For modern man the healer may be a physician or priest. For American Indians and Mexicans it is the curandero or shaman. For Alaskan Eskimos it is an angakok and so forth. Each concept has its own specific practices that help the person with faith to be healed. The key to faith healing is belief. All healers must understand the patient-belief system in order to achieve success in treating most disorders.
Bioenergetics - A combination of psychotherapy with bodywork (a wide range of message-like therapies). It involves deep breathing, talk therapy, bioenergetic exercise and massage to relieve tension and release confined emotions.
C
Chiropractic - A system of therapies based upon the theory that disease is caused by abnormal function of the nervous system. It attempts to restore normal function by manipulation of the spinal column.
Colonic irrigation - Flushing of the intestines with water or soapy solutions via a rectal enema for therapeutic, diagnostic or nutritive purpose.
Complementary medicine - This term often is used synonymously with alternative medicine. However, this name suggests that the procedures complement those considered to be conventional.
Faith healing - The system or practice of treating disease by religious faith and prayer.
Folk medicine - Therapy based on different cultures (e.g., Indian folk medicine). It usually involves specific cultures, beliefs in chosen cures and remedies based on plants, charms, and rituals unique to the specific folk culture.
H
Health foods - Foods purported to be produced without the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides sprays and sold without the addition of chemical additives (preservatives, filters, article flavoring or coloring agents). Many are claimed to be natural (i.e., not containing added chemicals) and purported to be healthier than the usual foods.
Herbs - Plants used for their medicinal, flavor, odor or nutritive principles.
Holistic medicine - Therapies that treat the whole person's mind and body, as opposed to just the part of the body where symptoms occur.
Homeopathy - A therapeutic method developed in the early 19th century. The system is based on the idea that substances that produce symptoms of sickness in healthy people will have a curative effect when given in very dilute quantities to sick people who exhibit those same symptoms. Homeopathic remedies are believed to stimulate the body's own healing processes. Homeopaths use the term "allopathy," or "different than disease," to describe the use of drugs used in conventional medicine to oppose or counteract the symptom being treated.
Homeovitics - A contemporary approach to homeopathy. It uses complex, pluralistic formulations in treating chronic disease associated with toxicities by cleaning, detox, and support.
Homeostasis - The maintenance of steady states (well or healthy states) in the organism by coordinated physiological processes.
Hypnosis - A state of altered consciousness, sleep or trance, induced artificially in a subject by means of verbal suggestion by the hypnotist or by the subjects concentrating upon some object. The degree of hypnotic state may vary from mild, increased suggestibility to that comparable to surgical anesthesia.
I
Informed skepticism - Hesitancy to believe in a new idea or approach until it is proven scientifically.
Iridology - A diagnostic tool that purports to correlate changes in the color and texture of the iris with mental and physical disorders.
M
Microbiotics - A branch of Zen philosophy that advocates a diet that balances Yin (negative) and Yang (positive) foods to overcome disease and keep in good health. From the Greek roots makros (long) and bios (life). Certain foods are considered yin (e.g., sugar or honey), while others are yang (e.g., eggs and meat). Brown rice and other grains are in the middle, and diets are planned around these grains with a balance of yin and yang foods accompanying it. Some food faddists, taking macrobiotics to an extreme, have eliminated all foods except brown rice and, thereby, suffered nutritional deficiencies.
Mind-body connection - Currently taken to refer to psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), the study of the connections between the brain, and endocrine and immune neural pathway connections.
N
Naturopathy - Healing by the exclusive use of natural remedies (e.g., light, heat, cold, water, vegetables and fruits). No drugs or surgery are used.
Nutraceutical - Foods to which are added a substance to promote health. Examples are margarines with added sterolesters to lower cholesterol and cereals with added vitamins.
Natural - A method of healing or a product from natural sources used in medical treatment. A difficult term to define because it can mean different things to different people. See Organic.
O
Orthomolecular medicine - The treatment or prevention of disease by the use of large amounts of normally occurring substances, most often vitamins.
Organic or natural - In alternative medicine these terms usually mean materials obtained from nature without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
Osteopathy - A school of healing that teaches that the body is a vital mechanical organism whose structural and functional integrity are coordinated and interdependent, the abnormality of either constituting disease. It uses manipulation, but also medicine, surgery, and other modes of treatment.
P
Placebo effect - The effect caused by taking an inactive drug. Placebos are used in clinical trials to distinguish between the effects of an active medicine and the power of suggestion.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) - The newly emerging field of study that focuses on the series of neural pathways interconnecting the brain, and endocrine and immune systems. These pathways are felt to constitute a communication network between the mind and body that enables them to influence each other.
Q
Quackery - The practice of medicine by someone unqualified in medical skills. Also referred to as a medical charlatan or quack.
R
Reflexology
(reflexotherapy) - Treatment by irritation of an area of the body distant from a lesion. It usually consists of using the hands to apply gentle pressure to the feet in order to ease pain, relieve tension, and restore energy. The term can also be applied to applying pressure to specific points on the hands and ears.
Risk/benefit ratio - Weighing the good effects of a drug or treatment against its adverse side effects.
S
Shamanism - In its potential medical applications, this term has been used to describe a way of achieving a kind of spiritual or emotional healing through the practice of ancient rituals (chanting, visualizing, drumming). It has been used to treat pain, stress, and anxiety.
Shiatsu - A Japanese term for finger pressure or manual message and pressure to stimulate and free energy pathways within the body.
T
Teas or tisanes - Any vegetable infusion or decoction used as a beverage.
Therapeutic massage/touch - A healing technique that combines traditional laying of the hands with certain Eastern theories of energy flow. It is based on the concept of unblocking "fields of energy" in the body to relieve pain and disease (backache, tension, headache).
Traditional medicine - A term generally used to describe the native therapies of a certain region (e.g., the traditional medicine of China) or the medical traditions of a particular culture.
W
Wellness - The concept of practicing all the things that keep one well. It involves maintaining good nutrition, exercise, stress-control, and good personal and familial social relationships.
This article was reviewed April 2004, by Dennis C. Policastro, M.D., FACP, FACEP, Residency Program Director, Internal Medicine, Pennsylvania Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
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