CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine)
Since ancient times, people have been looking for ways to quickly cure diseases. And today three main methods are used: modern, traditional and non-standard. Sick patients first of all turn to a specialist to prescribe a prescription and explain the treatment regimen for a particular disease. But with herbs, they often resort to the proven methods of "grandmothers": they soak chamomile, soak their feet, and eat loganberries and honey. And, having tried all the methods, they turn to healers with the belief that they can help where medicines do not work medicine is powerless.
Traditional medicine has a long history. It is the sum total of the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.
According to surveys, about a quarter of the world's population resorted to the services of alternative medicine, referring to homeopaths, herbalists, acupuncture specialists, etc. Especially effective results are observed in the treatment of diseases associated with the psychoemotional sphere. For example, in South Korea, where traditional medicine is traditionally used, a study was conducted on the use of alternative medicine among stroke patients. Of the 304 stroke survivors, 164 (54%) used alternative medicine (CAM), of which 66% started taking CAM products on the recommendation of family members and other relatives. Of the 57% of users who thought CAM was effective, 84% believed it improved stroke symptoms, and 16% believed it was effective for achieving psychological relaxation [1].
Currently, several problems can be noted that the use of traditional medicine is facing. These are:
- legal recognition of the methods of traditional medicine, elimination in society of ideas about the backwardness of traditional medicine in comparison with traditional;
- systematization of accumulated traditions and knowledge and the formation of an independent scientific direction;
- search for a common point of view on the functioning of the human body with modern medicine.
At present, there are all the prerequisites for traditional medicine, as a branch of knowledge and a component of national culture, to form an independent scientific direction lying at the junction of such sciences as physiology and ecology, taking into account knowledge of the peculiarities of the formation of national cultures.
It should be noted that there is no common view of traditional medicine among the doctors themselves. Opponents of traditional medicine argue that there is no, and cannot be, such medicine as there is no folk physics, folk chemistry. Another part of them considers traditional medical knowledge and methods of healing, which were born in the mists of time. From this position, traditional medicine is also traditional.
The use of an aggressive marketing strategy for medical centers often misleads patients. The term "natural" used is not synonymous with "safe", and many natural preparations can have quite unpleasant side effects.
But it should be borne in mind that there is such a category of people who are really capable, due to their data and abilities, to help people. They derive their abilities from centuries-old teachings, many of which were used in the formation of traditional medicine.
With regard to the use of non-traditional methods of treatment, there is no consensus about its feasibility. Meanwhile, in many European countries, homeopathy and other "non-standard" methods of treatment are used quite officially. And in the United States, more than half of educational medical institutions include courses in alternative medicine in their curriculum, and the American government allocates significant funds for research in this area [2].
Traditional medicine is an amazing gift that nature has for the treatment of our body. Unfortunately, we are not always ready to take advantage of this gift of nature. The healing properties of traditional medicine possessed by medicinal plants are truly inexhaustible, and they preserve in themselves a lot of things that we do not yet know, but which will be even more effective in treating diseases, supporting traditional medicine. As a method of treatment, traditional medicine is actively used today. It is believed that there is not a single plant that does not have any effect on the human body.
Scientists have proven that medicinal preparations based on medicinal herbs and folk recipes are safer than modern chemical preparations, they are better absorbed by the body without causing side effects. It is believed that traditional medicine heals the entire body as a whole [3].
Traditional medicine recipes were passed from mouth to mouth; there were medical books and various collections. Each family has its own methods of treating diseases based on the traditions of traditional medicine.
Using the experience of traditional medicine, it is possible to carry out not only the prevention of diseases, but also to carry out treatment. Currently, doctors are actively studying the healing properties of plants, the experience of traditional medicine, accumulated over the centuries.
The lack of regulatory support for this area should be compensated for by the development of a normative act that would contain clauses, indicating information about what is needed in order to engage in folk activities, what is prohibited in folk medicine and what is allowed. Accordingly, it must be secured at the state level.
Literature:
- Balandin K. Traditional medicine ethnic healing: [Electronic resource] / Balandin K. - Electron. Art. - Access mode to the station: http // www.prosa.ru
- Sokolov I.I., Stepanov V.V. Traditional medicine and science (excerpts from the brochure) [Electronic resource] / Web Center "Omega" http://prostotitunet.ru/narodnaya_med/sokolov_stepanov/problemy.html.
- Ткаченко В.С. Основы социальной медицины: Учебное пособие. – М.: ИНФРА – М, 2004. С.5.