Integrative medicine’s (IM) whole-person approach -- designed to treat the person, not just the disease, has appeal to a growing audience.
IM depends on a partnership between the patient and the doctor, where the goal is to treat the mind, body, and spirit, simultaneously.
While some of the therapies used may be nonconventional, a guiding principle within IM is to use evidence-based treatments. IM "cherry picks" the best, scientifically validated therapies from both conventional and complementary and alternative systems.
According to Dr. Andrew Weil, integrative medicine encompasses the following principles:
- 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 community, and diet
- 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
- Training of practitioners to be models of health and healing, committed to the process of self-exploration and self-development
The Hormone Center calls upon different treatment modalities with the patient as our primary focus. We offer hope to those who have been mistreated by the traditional medical community. And we have many arrows in our quiver!