As practitioners and in our daily lives, we are all influenced by our training orientation and experience. With the same eczema patient, hypnotherapists or NLP practitioners may use hypnosis or relaxation approaches for treatment. Practitioners of energy medicine such as Chinese medicine or Reiki or healing may look for and attempt to correct energy blockages, whereas homoeopaths could determine the constitutional type and prescribe remedies which fit the picture. Although the treatment approaches by each of these practitioners could not be more different, there is a very good chance that each type of therapy could be successful with the patient's eczema. I would be most surprised to hear a Chinese herbalist recommend aromatherapy or homoeopathic treatment for arthritis, although I suspect that all three approaches could have successful clinical outcomes.
Complementary medicine continues to move significantly into mainstream medical practice.
This transformation of increased respectability of complementary medicine is similarly reflected in the increased circulation and distribution of Positive Health, which from this issue will be sold at major newsagents including WH Smith and John Menzies. It is vital for all of us to remember that as individuals we don't hold a monopoly upon the truth, and that frequently we can learn from the wisdom and experiences of other colleagues and therapies in order to better serve our patients. I look forward to the day when all complementary therapies receive the respect due them from practitioners from all the wide diversity of disciplines, including the wider medical and allied professions. We take this opportunity to thank him for his contributions to Positive Health and wish him well in his continuing endeavours.