Discusses the reasons cancer patients may seek unconventional treatments, as well as the following issues: the terminology of unconventional cancer treatments; legal issues involved; current mainstream treatments for cancer; controversies in mainstream cancer treatment; practitioners of unconventional cancer treatments; the information network for unconventional cancer treatments; patients who use unconventional cancer treatments; costs and insurance coverage of unconventional cancer treatments; evaluating unconventional cancer treatments; options available, etc.

At least half a million American cancer patients are using complementary and alternative medicine therapies such as dietary programmes, supplements, imagery and herbs, but little has been done to evaluate these therapies or to provide information about them to the public. As North American cancer rates in recent decades have risen so that a person's lifetime risk is now over one in three, the questions that patients and clinicians have about alternative treatments have continued to grow. How can patients and clinicians make sense of the various options?

We have lost the war on cancer. At the beginning of the last century, one person in twenty would get cancer. In the 1940s it was one out of every sixteen people. In the 1970s it was one person out of ten. Today one person out of three gets cancer in the course of their life. The cancer industry is probably the most prosperous business in the United States. In 2014, there will be an estimated 1,665,540 new cancer cases diagnosed and 585,720 cancer deaths in the US. $6 billion of tax-payer funds are cycled through various federal agencies for cancer research, such as the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The NCI states that the medical costs of cancer care are $125 billion, with a projected 39 percent increase to $173 billion by 2020. The simple fact is that the cancer industry employs too many people and produces too much income to allow a cure to be found. All of the current research on cancer drugs is based on the premise that the cancer market will grow, not shrink. John Thomas explains to us why the current cancer industry prospers while treating cancer, but cannot afford to cure it in Part I. In Part II, he surveys the various alternative cancer therapies that have been proven effective, but that are not approved by the FDA.

This is a text book for all doctors but especially GPs, appraisers and registrars. It is written by a 40 year plus front line NHS doctor who for most of his career worked twice to three times the current doctors’ Working Time Directive limited week. Chris Heath has been a Paediatric Lecturer in a teaching hospital, an Anaesthetist, various junior specialists and a GP over 30 years in 3 different practices. He has been a GP Trainer and Appraiser and has seen politics and political correctness harm patients’ interests constantly over the last half of his career. From the way it selects young doctors to the way they are educated and assessed, the best interests of the patient are largely ignored. This is a text book but it also contains home truths, insights and a warts and all appraisal of how to be a good doctor as well as an unbiased assessment of what is wrong with today’s NHS. It also explains why today’s politicians, medical schools and doctors will resist the changes that are needed to put the patients’ needs first again.

For some time now, the professional and general public in the Czech Republic have been receiving incomplete and often biased information on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Leading European and world authorities – the World Health Organization (WHO), the Council of Europe, European research CAMbrella funded by the European Commission, European network EUROCAM, are all entirely in favour of CAM, and without exception recommend CAM research and integration into the routine care. The contradiction between 'here and there' is literally explosive. The 'world' is entirely elsewhere. Respective details are given in the information publication 'Alternative Medicine (CAM) in the World', published by the Professional Chamber Sanator – the Union of Biotronicists of Josef Zezulka. Our Professional Chamber has recently become a member of ANME – Association for Natural Medicine in Europe, EUAA – European Ayurveda Association and joined the European Commission’s EU Health Policy Platform. We hope that our activities will contribute to the education of the professional public in the realm of CAM. Tomáš Pfeiffer Director of the Professional Chamber Sanator – the Union of Biotronicists of Josef Zezulka www.sanator.cz/en

The book includes suggestions for further reading, including the latest material available online.

"Summaries of papers" contained in the journal accompany each issue, 19--

Textbook of Integrative Mental Health Care presents a comprehensive framework of conceptual information and clinical guidelines for the integrative assessment and treatment of common mental illnesses. Extensive evidence tables and easy-to-follow algorithms guide the practitioner step-by-step from initial assessment to treatment planning.

This popular, evidence-based overview of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) emphasizes clinical research, analyzes the effectiveness of each therapy, and presents practical information on how these therapies can be used to treat health conditions and diseases. It not only acquaints the reader with information about CAM, but provides evidence for the effectiveness of various therapies used to treat medical conditions ranging from allergies to psychiatric conditions - in all populations relevant to CAM including children, women and the elderly. Summary tables embedded throughout highlight clinical data, statistics, and major research findings. More thorough documentation in this edition is achieved through new tables and added commentary on the quality of studies, making research findings more relevant and useful. Chapters are grouped according to condition and special populations rather than treatment, so readers can easily compare all possible treatments for a specific condition. Up-to-date tables allow the reader to see what studies have been done for a certain condition, and what the findings are. Extensive references and suggested reading lists refer the reader to the most up-to-date or historically relevant sources. An emphasis on research and clinical studies gives the book a comprehensive focus on CAM treatments and results. The evidenced-based approach clearly details which therapies are most effective and safe. Up-to-date tables focusing on critical needs related to demographics, safety, and areas of clinical pain allow summary information to be quickly referenced. Comprehensive, reliable content presents an unbiased account of CAM that allows the reader to follow the data without excessive commentary from the authors. A focus on major medical conditions for which there is the most detailed and up-to-date information available allows the reader to learn about the major critical issues of CAM. The ways in which research methodology can be used to practice evidence-based medicine is reviewed in several chapters. A focus on special populations, including women, children, and the elderly, presents important CAM considerations for these groups. A new chapter on Legal and Ethical Issues addresses important professional considerations for practice related to CAM, including physician liability, malpractice issues, patient responsibility, and accreditation and licensing of CAM providers. A new chapter on Integration of Clinical Practice and Medical Training with Complimentary and Alternative and Evidence-Based Medicine evaluating use of the case history approach; information and evidence in clinical practice and a model for integration of CAM used at the University of Arizona School of Medicine. Significant content updates are provided for timely issues such as the use of herbs for depression, the use of massage for anxiety, CAM in pediatric and nursing care situations, and multi-modal therapies for pain. Each table throughout the book has been extensively updated with the latest facts and information. A final summary chapter at the end of the book presents emerging CAM treatments and suggests goals for CAM studies. Much more attention has been paid in this edition to evaluating the quality of research, which allows for concrete and valid conclusions that are supported by science. Appendices have been updated with much more information on research databases, listings, and organizations.