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Integrative Medicine

Integrative medicine is an approach to care that puts the patient at the center and addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences that affect a person's health.

Integrative medicine is healing-oriented rather than disease-focused. It promotes the combination of mind, body and spirit to regain the body's natural equilibrium to achieve health. ...

Being healing-oriented ...

  • Focus on the mind, body and spirit
  • Emphasizing the therapeutic relationship
  • Personalized medicine

Dr. John Tor Agbidye is one of the leading specialists in Integrative Medicine, a philosophy that is considerably different from a blanket endorsement of alternative medicine. As defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, Integrative Medicine “combines mainstream medical therapies and complimentary & alternative medicine therapies for which there is high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.”

In other words, Integrative Medicine “cherry picks” the very best, scientifically validated therapies from both conventional and complimentary & alternative medicine systems. So this is a basic definition of Integrative Medicine. What follows is the complete one, which serves to guide both In-Country Medicare’s work and that of Integrative Medicine physicians and teachers around the world:

Body Massage

Integrative medicine is a healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative.

The principles of Integrative Medicine:

  • 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, wellbeing and disease, including mind, spirit and community as well as the body
  • 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