2008 Woodie Awards
Unconventional, but valuable
Catherine Roberts
Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: News
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Complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) is making an increasingly pronounced emergence in American culture as Americans search for better ways to become mentally and physically healthy, according to Dr. Adam Perlman, Internist and Director of Integrative Medicine for Saint Barnabus Health Care System. Perlman was one of three featured speakers for the Idaho Conference on Health Care at ISU Oct. 24-26.
Americans, Perlman said, are looking to take an active role in maximizing their health, especially while living with an illness. In addition to conventional medicine, CAM permits individuals to take some responsibility for their own healing process and promotes feelings of wellbeing and personal control.
Perlman focused his comments on the many alternative ways people can improve their mental state and physical health outside of the conventional realm of medicine and said that, "the American Medical Association was founded to fight off alternative medicine."
"I think the biomedical model has long controlled medicine to the exclusion of untraditional therapies which might be just as effective," graduate student Guy Price agreed.
CAM, however, is now becoming more accepted and recognized by the general American public.
Perlman stressed that it is not always in someone's best interest to completely abandon a medical cure. Concerning depression he said he wouldn't recommend, "taking St. John's Wort instead of Prozac."
He said that the complementary and alternative approach does, however, aid in healing, and that healing is a process rather than a state. In his practice, Perlman stresses the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient focusing on the whole person.
Using breast cancer patients as an example, Perlman emphasized the physical and emotional rewards exercise, spirituality and stress management offer these patients and how it helps them cope. For example, many cancer patients experience fatigue. Exercise helps combats fatigue and personalized forms of meditation, such as visualization, reduce stress.
Americans, Perlman said, are looking to take an active role in maximizing their health, especially while living with an illness. In addition to conventional medicine, CAM permits individuals to take some responsibility for their own healing process and promotes feelings of wellbeing and personal control.
Perlman focused his comments on the many alternative ways people can improve their mental state and physical health outside of the conventional realm of medicine and said that, "the American Medical Association was founded to fight off alternative medicine."
"I think the biomedical model has long controlled medicine to the exclusion of untraditional therapies which might be just as effective," graduate student Guy Price agreed.
CAM, however, is now becoming more accepted and recognized by the general American public.
Perlman stressed that it is not always in someone's best interest to completely abandon a medical cure. Concerning depression he said he wouldn't recommend, "taking St. John's Wort instead of Prozac."
He said that the complementary and alternative approach does, however, aid in healing, and that healing is a process rather than a state. In his practice, Perlman stresses the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient focusing on the whole person.
Using breast cancer patients as an example, Perlman emphasized the physical and emotional rewards exercise, spirituality and stress management offer these patients and how it helps them cope. For example, many cancer patients experience fatigue. Exercise helps combats fatigue and personalized forms of meditation, such as visualization, reduce stress.
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