Integrative Medicine

Integrative medicine is healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit). It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of both conventional and alternative ways of healing.

The principles of integrative medicine:

• A partnership between patient and practitioner in the healing process
• Appropriate use of conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body’s innate healing response
• Consideration of all factors that influence health, wellness and disease, including mind, spirit and community
• A philosophy that neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically
• Recognition that good medicine should be based in good science, be inquiry driven, and be open to new paradigms
• Use of natural, effective, less-invasive interventions whenever possible
• Use of the broader concepts of promotion of health and the prevention of illness as well as the treatment of disease