Homeopathic Medicine

From reflexology and rolfing to shiatsu and dream work, we are confronted today by a welter of alternative medical therapies. But as James Whorton shows in Nature Cures, the recent explosion in alternative medicine actually reflects two centuries of competition and conflict between mainstream medicine and numerous unorthodox systems. This is the first comprehensive history of alternative medicine in America, examining the major systems that have emerged from 1800 to the present. Writing with wit and with fairness to all sides, Whorton offers a fascinating look at alternative health systems such as homeopathy, water cures, Mesmerism, Christian Science, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, and acupuncture. He highlights the birth and growth of each system (including European roots where appropriate) and vividly describes both the theories and the therapies developed within each system, including such dubious practices as hour-long walks barefoot in snow or Samuel Thompson's "puking and steaming" regimen. In particular, Whorton illuminates the philosophy of "natural healing" that has been espoused by alternative practitioners throughout history and the distinctive interpretations of "nature cure" developed by the different systems. Though he doesn't hesitate to point out the failings of these systems, he also shows that some "cult medicines" have eventually won recognition from practitioners of mainstream medicine. Throughout, Whorton writes with a light touch and quotes from contemporary humorists such as Mark Twain. His book is an engaging and authoritative history that highlights the course of alternative medicine in the U.S., providing valuable background to the wide range of therapies available today.

This "how-to" book outlines and explores the clinical method by which homeopathic prescriptions are chosen and their effects, appropriately assessed. It provides a broad foundation of understanding in homeopathy and clearly defines principles to apply when working through complex clinical decisions. Offers challenging insights into our understanding of disease and disease processes.

A unique, comprehensive compilation of information on homeopathic medicine This new book provides an introduction to classical homeopathic medicine. This includes an understanding of its unique view of health and disease, its place (current and ideal) within the health-care system and a taste of homeopathic clinical practice. This text has been written from the perspective that patient well-being is paramount and homeopathic medicine is an effective means of achieving that goal.

Homeopathy, as a medical system, presented a significant institutional and economic challenge to conventional medicine in the nineteenth century. Although contemporary critics portrayed homeopathic physicians as part of a sect whose treatment of disease was beyond the pale of acceptable medical practice, homeopathy was in many ways similar to established medicine. Anne Taylor Kirschmann explores the strategic choices and consequences for women practitioners. Not only were female homeopaths respected within their communities, they also enjoyed considerable professional advantages not available to women within regular medicine. A Vital Force: Women in American Homeopathy offers a new interpretation of women's roles in modern medicine. Kirschmann strengthens and clarifies the history of homeopathic women physicians and creates a framework of comparison to "regular, " or orthodox, physicians. Women medical practitioners chose homeopathy in dramatic numbers from the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries, although the reasons for this preference varied over time. Linked to social reform movements in the nineteenth century, anti-modernism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth, and countercultural ideals of the 1960s and 1970s, women's advocacy of homeopathy has been intertwined with broad social and cultural issues in American society.

More than a third of Americans have already begun to explore alternative techniques such as yoga, meditation, nutritional therapies, massage, acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, herbalism, and prayer, but we don't know which approaches to trust, or what accounts for their effectiveness, and our doctors are not able to tell us. We want an authoritative guide to separate what's truly worthwhile from what's simply well promoted, to help us to see what's right for each of us. James S. Gordon is that guide, and Manifesto for a New Medicine is that guidebook. For the last twenty-five years, Dr. Gordon has pioneered an approach to healing that synthesizes the best of modern, scientific medicine with the best of the alternative techniques. Here he leads us step by step through convincing and absorbing case studies of the successful use of these alternatives, presenting clearly and simply the scientific bases for them. He also shows us how each of us can incorporate alternative therapies as an integralpart of our health care and our daily lives.

In a time of dazzling scientific progress, how can we separate genuine breakthroughs from the noisy gaggle of false claims? From Deepak Chopra's "quantum alternative to growing old" to unwarranted hype surrounding the International Space Station, Robert Park leads us down the back alleys of fringe science, through the gleaming corridors of Washington power and even into our evolutionary past to search out the origins of voodoo science. Along the way, he offers simple and engaging science lessons, proving that you don't have to be a scientist to spot the fraudulent science that swirls around us. While remaining highly humorous, this hard-hitting account also tallies the cost: the billions spent on worthless therapies, the tax dollars squandered on government projects that are doomed to fail, the investors bilked by schemes that violate the most fundamental laws of nature. But the greatest cost is human: fear of imaginary dangers, reliance on magical cures, and above all, a mistaken view of how the world works. To expose the forces that sustain voodoo science, Park examines the role of the media, the courts, bureaucrats and politicians, as well as the scientific community. Scientists argue that the cure is to raise general scientific literacy. But what exactly should a scientifically literate society know? Park argues that the public does not need a specific knowledge of science so much as a scientific world view--an understanding that we live in an orderly universe governed by natural laws that cannot be circumvented.

This book provides a comprehensive review of medical education in the 20th century. It takes the themes articulated in the Flexner Report of 1910 and traces their development. Those themes, many of which have not been discussed in other books, include the basic sciences, the clinical curriculum, women in medicine, black medical education, and sectarian medical education. Also covered are the evolution of the health care delivery system, trends in financing medical education, the use of outpatient settings for clinical education, the current status of the medical curriculum and needed changes, and health manpower needs. The final chapter discusses the current proposals for changes and how they relate to the problems and reforms of the Flexner era.