Popular Health

Clinical Acupuncture and Ancient Chinese Medicine provides health care professionals interested in learning or practicing acupuncture the essential theoretical foundation of Chinese medicine on which an effective acupuncture therapy must be based. It describes in detail the human energetic anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, and etiology for both mental and physical functions of children, men, women, and the elderly. It offers a step-by-step algorithm for diagnosing physical or mental ailments with diagnostic techniques and formulation processes and treating them with effective strategies, plans, and acupuncture techniques. Clinical Acupuncture and Ancient Chinese Medicine also presents acupuncture as an energy medicine, in contrast to modern medicine, which is a more biochemically and structurally based medicine. Both are integral parts in the spectrum of human medicine, more complementary than alternative to each other. This book helps readers to study and practice acupuncture as part of their continued medical education (CME) and as a natural expansion of their practice to provide additional care for their patients at the energetic level at which a majority of ailments lay. The content is organized in a way that parallels modern medicine so readers can more easily relate and understand concepts that may be otherwise foreign to them. This book describes human health with the belief that a human being is essentially an energetic being and that the interaction of human energy with the energy of nature and the universe is critical to maintaining a healthy life. It provides useful contents for self-care and the ancient practice of life cultivation.Less

This book is intended to target a broad audience of clinicians, clinical researchers, students in geriatrics and gerontology fields, and family caregivers of older adults interested in complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine. It provides an update on recent research in integrative medicine used for the treatment and prevention of mental, cognitive, and physical disorders of aging. The content of this book will increase clinicians’ familiarity with recent research findings in the field of integrative medicine, and will broaden their understanding of the use of these interventions in clinical practice. The discussion of the data is provided in textbook format, covering different fields of integrative medicine and written by an international group of opinion leaders and researchers in their respective areas of expertise; thus this work can be used for training by students of integrative medicine and gerontology. Individual chapters can be used as references on a particular topic for interested individuals and can be obtained online. Clinicians and researchers who are dedicated to the treatment and study of older adults might consider this volume an essential part of their library.Less

Integrative Addiction and Recovery is a book discussing the epidemic of addiction that is consuming our friends, family, and community nationwide. In 2016, there were 64,000 drug overdoses, and addiction became the top cause of accidental death in America in 2015. We are in a crisis and in need of a robust and integrated solution. We begin with the definition of addiction, neurobiology of addiction, and the epidemiology of varying substances of abuse and treatment guidelines. Section II reviews different types of addiction such as food, alcohol, sedative-hypnotics, cannabis, stimulants (such as cocaine and methamphetamine), opiates (including prescription and illicit opiates), and tobacco, and evidence-based approaches for their treatment using psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, as well as holistic treatments including acupuncture, nutraceuticals, exercise, yoga, and meditation. We also have chapters on behavioral addictions and hallucinogens. Section III reviews co-occurring disorders and their evidence-based integrative treatment and also overviews the holistic therapeutic techniques such as acupuncture and TCM, Ayurveda, homeopathy, nutrition, nutraceuticals, art and aroma therapy, and equine therapy as tools for recovery. We have unique chapters on shamanism and ibogaine, as well as spirituality and group support (12 steps included). The final section deals with challenges facing recovery such as trauma, acute/chronic pain, and post acute withdrawal. Integrative Addiction and Recovery is an innovative and progressive textbook, navigating this complex disease with the most comprehensive approach.Less

Integrative Environmental Medicine looks at the history and changing landscape of environmental issues in the United States, including water supply, air quality, extensive plastic pollution, harmful chemicals in cleaning and personal care products, radiofrequency radiation, food additives, pesticides, and medications. The unique properties of compounds such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals are explored along with their ability to disturb the body’s normal signaling pathways, genetic profile, and gut microbiome. Resulting molecular derangements promote thyroid and other autoimmune diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and influence developmental problems in children. Analysis of current research identifies ways to reduce exposures and health risks, improve regulations and appropriate testing for chemicals, remediate environmental pollution, and design healthier products for the future. Best practices are considered for clinicians to ascertain exposure history, test for toxins, and teach patients how to avoid harmful exposures. Patients will be prepared and empowered with information about healthier food choices and cooking practices, appropriate supplement use, water filtration, cleaning and personal care product selection, improved sleep, stress reduction, sauna, fasting, chelation, safe cell phone use, and other means of reducing harmful environmental exposures. Solutions at every level require interdisciplinary collaboration to advance assessment, design, stewardship, and regulation of chemicals to promote environmental and human health.Less

This book is a detailed, evidence-based reference on the field of integrative geriatric medicine. It is intended for all healthcare providers and advocates who work with the geriatric population—in outpatient settings and nursing homes, assisted and independent living facilities, and senior community centers. In addition, it will provide valuable information for leaders and politicians who are involved with implementing policies and procedures for the care of elderly patients and who are looking for safer, less costly, and more patient-centered approaches. Integrative geriatrics is a new field of medicine that advocates for a whole-person, patient-centered, primarily non-pharmacological approach to medical care of the elderly. Most current geriatric practices overprescribe medications and procedures and underutilize non-pharmacological, low-cost, high-touch methods. Patients, however, often show reluctance toward these standard practices because they often involve invasive interventions. The practice of integrative geriatrics is rooted in lifestyle interventions, such as nutrition, movement therapies, and mind-body and spirituality approaches, that allow patients to take a different path to their health, one that utilizes pharmaceuticals and invasive procedures only when safer integrative approaches are not available or not effective.Less

This resource provides an evidence-based perspective on the health problems that affect men and the ways in which such problems may be prevented or treated utilizing a broad range of approaches. It covers how integrative treatments are becoming more popular with men whose healthcare providers understand that most of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in men, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, urologic disease, and sexual dysfunction, can be ameliorated using an integrative approach, with more emphasis on the patient-provider relationship, lifestyle change, and the use of proven complementary modalities in conjunction with conventional tools. All chapters take into consideration of all the factors that influence men's health including body, mind, and spirit in a way that neither rejects alternative approaches nor accepts any of them uncritically.Less

Integrative Pain Management takes a practical, patient-centered approach to integrative pain management, equipping clinicians to better understand the rationale for incorporation of integrative care options. It provides practical examples from leading integrative pain centers on how to optimally coordinate integrative options to optimize pain care. The goal of this volume is to introduce clinicians to a model of pain care which has the promise of improving quality of life while improving safety, satisfaction, and cost associated with care.Less

As the preventable disease and economic burden continues to mount for the United States and the world, it is becoming apparent that embracing prevention strategies is essential. Simply continuing on the same course and infrastructure will not suffice. The future we will leave our children is unsustainable without change. Amid all the partisan political chaos, integrative preventive medicine (IPM) practices are strongly entering the public consciousness, as many are dissatisfied with their traditional health (sick) care delivery systems and the scientific validity of IPM is increasing rapidly. This IPM textbook brings together the science of IPM so that health practitioners have a ready reference containing practices that can delay or prevent disease, decrease cost of care. and improve the quality of life. It is divided into three sections, “Public Health and Evolving Science in IPM,” “Multidisciplinary Nature of IPM.” and “The IPM Approach of Selected Clinical Problems,” providing a continuum of IPM from basic science to clinical science to practical application.Less

Integrative Sexual Health explores beyond the standard topics in men’s and women’s health, drawing on a very rich and diverse research literature. Books on sexuality typically are for the clinical specialist and cite only focally relevant research, or are geared to lay knowledge and cite almost no research. Integrative Sexual Health provides an overview of sexual biology and sexual dysfunction, diverse lifespan, lifestyle, and environmental impacts on sexual function, applies complementary and integrative medicine solutions to sexual problems, and offers traditional Eastern and Western treatment approaches to resolving sexual difficulties. Written by diverse integratively trained experts in sexuality, psychology, psychiatry, and other medical specialties. Integrative Sexual Health includes clinical vignettes, detailed treatment strategies for mitigating the side effects of medications, and sexual dysfunction associated with medical illness and poor lifestyle habits, as well as citing extensive research and further resources. Integrative treatment modalities not typically consulted in mainstream sexual medicine, such as traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, aromatherapy, and botanical medicine are presented with the best available evidence, in a clinically relevant manner. This volume in the Weil Integrative Medicine Library will be valuable to the specialist and non-specialist alike, who seek to understand and treat sexual problems using an integrative medicine approach, and acquire tools to help patients maintain lifetime optimal general health and vitality that supports healthy sexuality.Less

Integrative Women’s Health is an in-depth, broad-based reference on integrative women’s health written for health professionals. It helps providers address not only women’s reproductive health but also conditions that manifest differently in women than in men, including cardiovascular disease, arthritis, HIV, depression, and cancer. The text presents the best evidence, in a clinically relevant manner, for the safe and effective use of herbs, vitamins, diet, and mind-body strategies alongside conventional medical treatments. This volume is a resource for clinicians on implementing their recommendations in practice, going beyond practical care to examine how to motivate patients, enhance a health history, and understand the spiritual dimensions of healing. In managing the patient, alternative therapies are never seen as substitutes for mainstream medical care, but always “integrated” into the overall regimen, and always subjected to the best available evidence. New to this second edition are chapters on environmental medicine and women’s reproduction, thyroid health, and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender health.Less

Effective health care requires physicians tailor care to patients' individual life contexts, including their financial situation, social support, competing responsibilities, and cognitive abilities. Physicians, however, are poorly prepared to consider patients' lives when planning their care. The result is measurably harmful to individuals and costly to society. Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care covers ten years of empirical research based on hundreds of recorded doctor visits by patients and undercover actors alike, which revealed a widespread disregard of patients’ individual circumstances and needs resulting in inappropriate care. These medical errors have been largely undocumented and unaddressed by the American health care system. This book tells the stories of patients whose care was compromised by inattention to individual context, and introduces novel methods for assessing the magnitude of the problem. It describes how these errors, termed “contextual errors,” can be minimized through changes in how doctors are trained, how medicine is practiced and quality measured, and in the ways patients assert their needs during visits. The aim of this book is to open a dialog between patients, physicians, policy makers, and medical educators, about a serious quality problem that has been overlooked and understudied. Less

Teaching Health Humanities expands our understanding of what health humanities teaching currently does and what it could do. Its contributors describe the variety of degree programs where they teach, the politics and perspectives that inform how they teach, and methods for incorporating newer digital and multimodal technologies into their teaching practices. Each individual chapter lays out the theory that drives contributors’ teaching, then describes how it happens in practice at the broad level of such matters as syllabus design and at the finer level of lesson plans, class exercises, and/or textual analyses. In the middle section, contributors focus on how they integrate critical race, feminist, queer, disability, class, and age studies in their courses, with essays that exemplify intersectional approaches to these axes of difference and oppression. The last section includes chapters that illuminate how to teach about digital technologies to reveal the often obscured politics in their design, as well as descriptions of courses that bridge bioethics and music, medical humanities and podcasts, health humanities filmmaking, and visual arts in end-of-life care.Less