Customer Reviews

Essentials of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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This is an excellent book for the health care professional who is interested in learning about different Complementary and Alternative systems. Each chapter is written by a leader in the reviewed field and is quite comprehensive. I am an Osteopathic Pediatrician, and I found the description of Osteopathic Medicine one of the best that I have ever read. If you are looking for a book that includes specific treatments, however, this is not the book for you. It includes excellent chapters on History of CAM, ethics, how to evaluate the safety/efficacy of particular types of CAM, and overviews many types of CAM including Native American Medicine< Traditional Chinese Medicine, Naturopathy, Massage Therapy, Qigong, Orthomolecular Medicine, Meditation, Ayurveda, etc. There is also an appendix which includes suggested readings, organizations, an indications and precautions chart with clinical trials, and a glossary (which might be the shortcoming of the book - apitherapy is not defined, even though it is mentioned several times throughout the book, for example). All in all, a very comprehensive overview, and recommended.

This book is a good introduction to the field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). I like that Dr. Jonas presents both the common features and differences between allopathic medicine and CAM. It's fascinating to see that healers have been effectively using CAM for thousands of years. The organization of the book is into three main parts is very good. The portion about safety is excellent. So many of our patients today use CAM, so it is important to know the affects. The chapter, "How to Practice Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine" addressed many of these ideas. The overview of 20 specific disciplines of CAM was very informative and will be a good resource for medical students and practicing health professionals. The chapters on Ayurvedic Medicine and Medicinal Acupuncture where especially enjoyable.

This book will be appeal to anyone interested in all the alternative treatments available other than the traditional Western Medicine. It is written in simple, easy to understand language with tons of research references explaining each treatments and evidence for its effectiveness. It covers a diverse rang of alternative treatment options, including Bio-Feedback, Hypnosis, Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Homeopathy and Nutritional biotherapy.
Ali Hashemian, Ph.D.

I do not have a review, however I do have a comment on the person who reviwed this book. How can Amazon not check on a person's credentials?
How can you call a person "DR." without checking to see if he is a doctor or if he has some mail order degree as this person does, and even if he does have a mail order degree what that mail order degree is in.
If you knew the spin this person puts on himself you would be ashamed to have his name associated with Amazon.
In fact, I am contacting the authors of this book to let them know that their book is being associated with someone who is in no way a clinician or have any clinical background.
Shame on Amazon.