Complementary Therapies Are Not Always Harmless
Description
This article is from the Health Articles series.
Complementary Therapies Are Not Always Harmless
It is important to know that complementary therapies are not by definition harmless. They run the gamut in terms of their potential for harm, though many do tend to be quite benign. If you choose to use complementary medicine, it is a good idea to consider using one or more therapies that are considered to be intrinsically health promoting regardless of whether one is ill or not. These "lifestyle therapies" can give you a sense of taking charge of your own health and often enable you to better tolerate difficult therapeutic regimes.
The spiritual and mind-body approaches are primary among lifestyle therapies. Prayer, meditation, psychological therapy, imagery and support can, at the very least, bring about a transformation in the way you view illness and your own body. These approaches can also affect the way pain is perceived, and there is evidence they may actually affect the course of the illness itself in some cases. Nutritional approaches (if not carried to extremes) and physical approaches, like massage, exercise and yoga, are also generally health promoting.
At the other end of the spectrum are some of the unconventional pharmacological, herbal and vitamin supplementation approaches where overdoses and other toxicities are possible, as well as interactions with prescription drugs. Extreme dietary approaches can also lead to unhealthy weight loss and nutritional imbalances.
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