Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Mental Health Care

A concise, practical reference that reviews the many CAM approaches used to treat - or self-treat - mental health problems, and the history and rationale for a variety of CAM treatments, including the risks and benefits of their integration into mainstream mental health care. Two dozen contributors present current information about safe, effective mental health treatments. The widespread use of nonconventional treatments, or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and the increasing evidence supporting their therapeutic benefits call for a concerted scientific effort to integrate modalities with demonstrated efficacy into mainstream medicine. Answering that call is the groundbreaking Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Mental Health Care, a concise, practical reference that reviews the history of and rationale for the many CAM approaches used in North America and Europe to treat—and self-treat—mental health problems, including the risks and benefits of their integration into mainstream mental health care. Two dozen experts present current information on safe, effective mental health treatments—including herbals, stress management, homeopathy, Ayurveda, and traditional Chinese medicine—that have not yet been fully examined or endorsed by the institutions of conventional biomedicine. Chapters on specific CAM treatments conclude with brief case vignettes illustrating their appropriate uses. Written for both conventionally and nonconventionally trained mental health care professionals, Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Mental Health Care provides both an ideal reference for clinicians whose patients inquire about CAM therapies and a critical, balanced review of the nonconventional modalities most widely used in Western countries to treat mental or emotional problems.