One of the first problems a healthcare consumer encounters when considering some type of non-traditional medical treatment is that of language. Many people regard the term “alternative medicine” as too narrow or misleading and are concerned that the term does not encompass a full understanding of traditional healing practices. It would be more helpful for a common language to be developed without people being captive to it.

For consistency's sake, this guide will use the terms conventional medicine or biomedicine to describe standard Western medical practices and the terms alternative medicine or complementary medicine to describe the other healing practices that are this guide's focus.

However, there are no universally accepted terms. For example, the term alternative medicine is used more in the United States while complementary medicine is used in Europe, but do they really mean the same thing? And, should Western medicine be called Western medicine when it's practiced in the modern hospitals of India and Singapore? Confusion over the very terms used lies at the heart of much of the confusion about alternative medicine as a whole, especially as more and more information, often contradictory, becomes available to the consumer.

Hopefully, this guide will help you organize and evaluate the information you have and discover, and allow you to make informed and considered decisions about your approach to maintaining and enhancing your health.

The line between conventional and alternative medicine is imprecise and frequently changing. For example, is the use of megavitamins or diet regimes to treat disease considered medicine, a lifestyle change, or both?

Can having your pain lessened bymassage be considered a medical therapy? How should spiritual healing and prayer—some of the oldest, most widely used, and least studied traditional approaches be classified? Although the terms alternative or complementary are frequently used, in some instances they represent the primary treatment for an individual. Thus, conventional medicine sometimes assumes a secondary role and actually
becomes a complement to the primary treatment plan.

Alternative medicine is an umbrella term for hundreds of therapies drawn from all over the world. Many forms are based on the medical systems of older cultures, including Egyptian, Chinese, Asian Indian, Greek, and Native American, and have been handed down over thousands of years, both orally and as written records. Other therapies, such as osteopathy and naturopathy, have evolved in the United States over the past two centuries.

Still others, such as some of the mind-body and bioelectromagnetic
approaches, are on the frontier of scientific knowledge and understanding.
Although they represent diverse approaches, alternative therapies share certain attributes. They are based on the paradigm of whole systems, and the belief that people are more than physical bodies with fixable and replaceable parts.

Mental,emotional, and spiritual components of well-being are considered to play a crucial and equal role in a person's state of health. Since body, mind, and spirit are one unified reality, illness is considered to affect, and be affected by, both body and mind.

Even Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, espoused a holistic orientation when he taught doctors to observe their patients' life circumstances and emotionalstates.

Socrates agreed, declaring, “Curing the soul; that is the first thing.” In alternative medicine, symptoms are believed to be an expression of the body's wisdom as it reacts to cure its own imbalance or disease. Other threads or concepts common to most forms of alternative medicine include the following:
--An internal self-healing process exists within each person.
--People are responsible for making their own decisions regarding their health care.
-- Nature, time, and patience are the great healer.