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The Scientific Basis of Integrative Medicine

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Wisneski L., Anderson L. The Scientific Basis of Integrative Medicine. CRC Press. 2005

We have a lot of books published on the principles of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Every book of this kind helps in our understanding of the intrinsic principles of this new developing branch of medicine. At the same time some books occupy a special place at our bookshelves. These are special books which you need in your everyday work. The book of M.D. Leonard Wisneski and Lucy Anderson belongs to this category.

First of all it is written by professionals. Leonard Wisneski is M.D., F.A.C.P.: Clinical Professor of Medicine at George Washington University and Adjunct Clinical Professor of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. Past President of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, past member of the Board of Trustees of the American Holistic Medical Association and founding member of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine division of the Georgetown University Medical School Curriculum Planning Committee, he has maintained a Fellowship position in the American College of Physicians, the American College of Nutrition and the American Institute of Stress. A U.C.L.A. trained acupuncturist, Dr. Wisneski is widely acknowledged as an early pioneer in exploring the clinical efficacy of integrative medicine for use into his clinical practice. As a medical director for American Whole Health, he led a 24 practitioner Integrative Medicine Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland. As a Corporate Medical Director for Marriott International, his fifteen year old wellness program earned the C. Everett Koop Award for Excellence. As a Director of Medical Education at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, he was honored on three separate occasions as an Outstanding Faculty Member as well as Teacher of the Year. Building upon his expertise in the field of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, Dr. Wisneski's 25 years of experience in the field of medicine has enabled him to develop expertise in clinical practice, medical education, corporate medicine, health care delivery and academic medicine and positioned him uniquely to help guide innovative initiatives in CAM.

Lucy Anderson is a medical author, editor and journalist. After many years of publishing in the leading medical journals she has the ability to make any complicated professional text readable even for non-professionals.

Together they have created a book that may be useful for CAM professionals and interesting for lay people and students.

Book has 8 Chapters and they lead reader step-by-step from classical medicine through the new ideas in psychoneuroimmunology and finely to Energy and Soul Medicine. This is a real integration of somatic, psyche and spiritual approaches to understanding Human Nature. Integration based on very serious scientific background of modern ideas. This is amazing how authors may deal with several thousands references both from books and journals. To some extend this book may serve as an excellent reference-guide on unlimited CAM publications. I would not e surprised meeting in Internet a CAM Database based on this book. Let us hope they would not charge money for using this database...

At the same time this is not an ordinary textbook. Authors propose several ideas groundbreaking for CAM practice and development. First of all together with they pay attention to the existence of Enteric Nervous System (ENS): the third division of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) together with sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. This is a nervous system of the gut and it has activity independent from other parts of ANS. Acceptance of this premise has opened the way to research and discoveries on treatment for a lot of gastrointestinal diseases.

Another important topic is relatively new definition of two independent systems of our organism: the Stress System and the Relaxation System. Nowadays we came to common agreement that stress is an important factor of our life, but in this book you may find description of stress from medical point of view, from its impact on health, illness and memory. Of course, we all know about stress and its impact on our life, but after this book this knowledge acquired the real scientific background related to most delicate mechanisms of metabolic activity. Short chapter on Therapeutic Modalities related to the Relaxation System of our organism may serve as a brief overview and reference guide of different techniques organized in accordance with a type of active operating modalities: Mechanical, Chemical, Light, Sound, Bioelectromagnetic, Thermal, Nonthermal, Psychological. Very useful review if you need to make a first choice for your own practice.

The last three chapters of the book are dedicated to establishing scientific background of the new emerging field of a Subtle Energy Medicine. Acupuncture, QiGong, Reiki and other types of subtle modalities are being attracted more and more attention between professionals at the same time suffer from the lack of serious scientific foundations. We do not really understand the principles of their operation and hence unable to predict the outcome of healing efforts. Plus in all these cases we have the direct interaction between the active force of a doctor and receptive energy of a patient, while in classical medicine doctors serves as a source of prescriptions based on symptoms and analysis.

One of the most impressive in the book is a chapter entitled: "The Pineal Gland: Psychology Meets Energy". Based on the most modern scientific findings authors demonstrate that the pineal gland may be the factor responsible for the reactions of our organism to a lot of subtle influences from electromagnetic waves to the circadian rhythms. 13 pages of references make this material really impressive and important for everybody involved in the field. For several years we may refer to this source in all discussions concerning subtle healing modalities. Their overview in the book creates the useful classification of different practices being more and more widely accepted.

And, finally, the brief discussion of "Soul Medicine: Crossing the Border". This part looks rather as an introduction to the next book, as the topic is controversial and only few researchers have courage to cross the shaky boundaries. The authors offer the idea of "Integral Psychology: Integration of the Body, Mind/Emotions and Spirit". Without any doubts this line would attract attention of the XXI century researchers and several pages of this book will be a helpful resource. Let us hope that in the nearest future Leonard Wisneski and Lucy Anderson present us a book totally dedicated to the Soul Medicine.

As you see from this short description the book "The Scientific Basis of Integrative Medicine" should be an active tool for every doctor, researcher and practitioner involved in CAM practice. Together with scientific lessons written in a very friendly style you will get a lot of pleasure from numerous examples from practice and life experience of Dr. Len Wisneski - one of the leaders of modern Integrative Medicine.

Dr. Konstantin Korotkov

Professor of Physics

St. Petersburg State Technical University

Russia

The Scientific Basis of Integrative Medicine by Leonard Wisneski, MD, and Lucy Anderson is a profoundly important, well-researched book that helps consumers and medical professionals understand the way in which the body works and provides much needed guidance on how to reverse the negative effects of stress.

In a clear and logical fashion, the authors review the physiological systems of the body (the nervous system, the endocrine system, the stress system and the immune system) that are responsible for the mind/body connection and explain how these systems interact with one another to communicate vital information. The authors then detail the interactions between the stress system and other classic body systems, and explain the way in which stress can lead to specific illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.

The authors then move beyond the traditional understanding of body systems, and posit the existence of an endogenous relaxation system that, amongst other things, counterbalances the stress response. After presenting a theoretical basis for the relaxation system, the authors review a variety of healing modalities (including osteopathy, sound and bioelectromagnetic techniques) that can reverse the effects of stress. Finally, the authors look beyond the mind-body connection to examine the relationship between spirituality and health.

This is an easy to read and understand textbook for healthcare practitioners. It is filled with insightful references which provide some evidence for the claims made regarding many of the more popular nontraditional medical practices in the world.

Phenomenal read. Well documented. Full of provocative ideas and theories that provide a substantive scientific framework from which to explore the esoteric landscape of mind-matter-spirit and physiology.