Anyone dealing with a disease, addiction included, knows that even a quick look online is going to tell you about the two main types of therapies: the traditional and the alternative methods. The letter includes all sorts of natural processes, and the holistic approach to disease is fundamental.
For the unconventional therapies, addiction is a sign of poor balance within your body, mind, and soul. Healing develops on all levels when dealing with addiction (or any other type of disease for that matter).
Even if there is plenty of reliable information on alternative therapies, there are plenty of misconceptions too. Scroll down to clear things out once and for all.
Alternative medicine isn’t a big deal
One of the most common misconceptions is that alternative medicine is struggling on the financial level. When you’re talking about an alternative method, many think of a subtle office next to a yoga studio. Anyone practicing holistic medicine isn’t in for the money, but the good of healing or humanity. You couldn’t be more wrong.
It may come as a shock to you, but alternative medicine is a 33.9 billion dollar industry. Indeed, the alternative-medicine best sellers don’t stand out with the scientific proof of the efficiency of products or services. It’s because it’s difficult to measure how one feels different after enrolling in a program healing the body, mind, and spirit.
The name doesn’t do it justice
Truth be told, the name “alternative” sends you to the “otherness” so that you can only have the conventional or the “alternative” therapy.
Many consider that the name “complementary” therapies would be the better fit. a holistic treatment can complete or work along with a conventional program. We should remind you, for instance, that acupuncture is an alternative therapy also used within a traditional rehab program.
There are plenty of clinicians willing to recommend massage and chiropractor once expensive surgical choices have been eliminated from the picture. Nurse-midwives also encourage women to look into non-pharmaceutical products for dealing with pain. Doula support, guided imagery, acupuncture, and acupressure are some of the alternative methods to name.
Education is essential, and maybe it’s better to talk about medicine that presents results for the efficiency and methods that are rather tricky to investigate on the ability.
Mind-body-spirit is a rare approach
Thinking that the mind-body-spirit approach is rather extraordinary is one of the most common misconceptions. Many agree that the “alternative care” approach is becoming old news as we speak. Many professionals talk about integrative medicine, which highlights the connection between the practitioner and the patient, concentrating on the entire person.
Within a holistic program, you will experience a protocol that is 100% natural. According to this site, the main goal is to heal and fix the brain’s degeneration. It’s how one can overcome addiction. In the case of holistic programs, there’s no such thing as the quick fix. It’s instead a more sophisticated approach of the disease, addiction included.
It’s no secret that traditional medicine focuses exclusively on the drugs, diagnostic tools, and methods, ignoring the mind and spirit levels. It takes almost two decades to adopt new practices (with evidence), and even then, there is a plateau at 55% of use. Nobody should be surprised that the natural therapies and holistic methods have overcome the gap.
Natural methods are always safe
Unfortunately, people often believe that natural processes can actually replace conventional Western medicine.
Even if there is evidence that alternative therapies can help, we have to remind you that the alternative medicine industry isn’t very well regulated nor firmly tested like Western medicine. Therefore, you should always see alternative methods as completing and not replacing traditional Western medicine.
Don’t forget that not all things that “natural” are also safe or healthy. As a matter of fact, nature is filled with substances that are harmful (mushrooms are a good example). Arsenic is naturally found in water supplies, but it has been proven to cause cancer. Even if we can tolerate naturally occurring substances in tiny doses, they can be dangerous when taken in higher amounts.
The FDA doesn’t stop using whatever tools it needs to decide which medicines are safe and efficient. In the case of “natural” products, there is no similar process for protecting the customers.
You can only try conventional or alternative medicine
For whatever reason, many customers think that you can only try the traditional or alternative therapies. However, alternative/natural/holistic methods can work together with traditional treatments. As long as you’re doing it right, it would help if you benefited from both types of treatments, regardless of your disease.
Natural products are always safe
Many customers believe that natural-herbal supplements are certified in terms of purity and safety by governmental agencies before marketing.
It couldn’t be much further than the truth, as the majority of herbal-product ingredients are imported. Moreover, the FDA doesn’t require typical checks for the source factories. When the products get to the USA, they can be re-packaged and sold without the FDA’s inspection. Not until something goes wrong, anyway.
During a purity-testing study of 44 herbal products, it was revealed that one-third of the products present substitution with fillers. The DNA barcoding (it’s top technology) was used for the testing. Try your best to be an informed consumer and go to ConsumerLab.com for checking the purity results for particular herbal brands. Drug interactions, human toxicity, and optimal does need to be identified for almost 30,000 herbal products out there at the moment.
Keep in mind that “capsules don’t grow on trees,” so one should ask if the contamination comes from nature or it’s the nature of man creating it instead.
What’s the takeaway?
Not being able to analyze your condition and decide for yourself is the main mistake. It’s pretty standard for people to go with hopeful “truths” that are entirely faux. However, it’s a misconception that applies to both conventional and alternative medicine.
At the end of the day, there are reliable alternative methods to try that are just as efficient (and even more efficient at times) than the Western therapies. Many false promises cost you money and time. Like it or lump it, you should always take with a grain of salt either of the methods you’re using. Finding the best balance is ideal, so go in an alternative way without ever distancing yourself from conventional therapy too.
