Natural Healing – The Health Care Movement of the 21st Century

In the West, medical schools usually do not teach Natural Healing methods. Doctors who express an interest in Natural Healing have to make an effort to research on such methods on their own. But a groundbreaking study done by Harvard Medical School physicians shows that, in the dawn of the 21st century, Americans consult alternative medicine practitioners 37 million times more than conventional doctors. This means there are more people in the US patronizing unconventional therapies than was previously known.

Natural Healing is definitely becoming more accepted into mainstream medical practice. Consider that (starting 1992), the Office of Alternative Medicine – which was set up by the National Institutes of Health in the US – has seen its budget increase by over four times during its first five years of existence. A group at the National Institutes of Health revealed in 1995 that different alternative practices (namely, relaxation techniques like yoga and controlled breathing; cognitive behavior therapy, biofeedback, hypnosis, and meditation) satisfactorily treated insomnia and chronic pain. In addition, the World Health Organization revealed that over 70% of people throughout the globe patronize health care methods perceived by Western doctors to belong to alternative healing.

Different kinds of alternative medicine are now being studied in some of the most respected university medical schools in America. Stanford University, Columbia University (of New York), Tufts University (of Boston), Georgetown University (of Washington, DC), Yale, and Harvard University are just some of these institutions which have begun to offer these studies in their curricula. Naturopathy (a field of medicine that advocates prescribing vitamin and mineral therapy, as well as other alternative therapies such as acupuncture) is currently the focus of three medical schools in the US – these would be the National College of Naturopathic Medicine (located in Portland, Oregon); the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences (found in Tempe, Arizona); and Bastyr University of Naturopathic Medicine (based in Seattle, Washington.)

Natural Healing is especially attractive to women because of its philosophy of preventing illness in the first place (rather than curing disease.) The former head of field investigations of the Office of Alternative Medicine (housed at the National Institutes of Health) – Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D. – commented that women have conventionally been the managers of their family’s health which explains why they are drawn to Natural Healing methods. In addition, since Natural Healing espouses gentle practices that are safe to use, women feel comfortable using such practices.

So don’t be surprised if Natural Healing becomes more popular in the near future – as we progress further into the 21st Century.