From Publishers Weekly
What do you do when the conventional treatment your physician has prescribed just isn't working? What unusual treatments do doctors apply to themselves when they're ill? To answer these questions, Janiger, a California psychiatrist, and Goldberg, a writer, decided to conduct a study of 250 physicians who use alternative medicine, including acupuncture, homeopathy, biofeedback, herbs, folk remedies and traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, in their practices. They show both the scope of remaining possibilities and the slowly evolving acceptability of alternative medicine, presenting much of their information in anecdotes and case histories. And the authors, who do not include the names of any respondents, are quick to point out that their comments are more impressionistic than scientific. Provocative ideas abound, and some lie in a gray area of medicine--neither patently right nor wrong, but largely unproven. Many of the doctors cited continue to use conventional therapy, largely. And though some claim to be psychics and spiritualists, and several suggested treatments that border on the bizarre, the physician-respondents stressed that treatment plans must be individualized for patients. Fortunately, Janiger is old-fashioned enough to stress the importance of starting out with a traditional physician for diagnosis, keeping an open mind and watching out for fanatics and medical fads.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
