Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Older Adults: A Guide to Holistic Approaches to Healthy Aging

The field of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is expected to grow tremendously in the next few years. In addition to an increase in the general population, the baby-boomer generation is quickly entering retirement and will likely take advantage of CAM increasingly as it ages. Although CAM research as applied to aging is just beginning and health professionals receive no special training in CAM and aging, the United States population still continues to employ it. For diagnoses that accompany aging such as cancer, neurological diseases, psychiatric disorders, and physical disabilities, CAM has often been used in addition to or in place of unsuccessful conventional methods of treatment. This new and up-to-the-minute compendium of reliable and authoritative information on complementary and alternative therapies seeks to provide information that older adults may use as they seek to improve their health and quality of life. Covering dietary means; physical, mental, and spiritual methods of treatment; and various types of therapies, this handbook is the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on complementary and alternative medicine available today. Each chapter or article includes:Brief definition of modality Anecdotal reports of usefulness Discussion of scientific evidence for and against modality List of resources that reader can use to find further information Examples of therapies covered include:Art&Music Massage Acupuncture Meditation Homeopathy Ayurveda Aromatherapy

About the Author

Elizabeth R. Mackenzie (PhD), currently teaches courses on humanistic medicine in the School of Arts and Sciences at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania, where she is a Senior Fellow in the Writing Center, a Lecturer in the History and Sociology of Science department, and an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Aging. Birgit Rakel, MD, is on the faculty of the Jefferson Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.