In contrast, there are things about complementary and alternative medicine that people find attractive. There are, of course, media reports of dramatic results. There is the belief, that I’ll come back to, that these treatments are natural and, therefore, not only effective but are safer for you.

These approaches empower patients. This is a good thing. Our patients have responsibilities for their own care and making their own decisions, and CAM approaches emphasize not only the biochemical and physiological aspects of illness, it focuses as well on the spiritual and emotional consequences of that illness.

Summing a lot of these things up, CAM therapists also pride themselves in the three Ts: touch, talk and time. Now, I’d have to say as a physician who’s practiced for 23 years in this building, I have to admit that I somewhat bristle at the idea that it’s only CAM practitioners who could spend time with their patients and care about the whole patient. It’s something that we are privileged to do on a daily basis here in the NIH clinical center.