Touch TherapiesWho Uses Alternative Medicine?

In a recent quote I received from Donna Bingenheimer, R.N. Education Specialist at Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point, New Jersey stated that, "Statistics compiled by the National Institute of Heath (NIH) as recent as 2008 in the United States found that approximately 38% of adults,  4 in 10,  and 12% of children, 1 in 9, are using some form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM).  The delivery of patient centered care obliges health care providers and practitioners alike to know, understand, appreciate and support patient choices about their care related to complementary/ integrative therapies.  Hospitals are offering touch therapies such as reflexology, Reiki and gentle massage to help with relaxation, pain management and symptom relief".  

A 2002 survey of US adults 18 years and older conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (CDC) and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine indicated,

    • 74.6% had used some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
    • 62.1% had done so within the preceding twelve months.
    • When prayer specifically for health reasons is excluded, these figures fall to 49.8% and 36.0%, respectively.
    • 45.2% had in the last twelve months used prayer for health reasons, either through praying for their own health or through others praying for them.
    • 54.9% used CAM in conjunction with conventional medicine.
    • 14.8% "sought care from a licensed or certified" practitioner, suggesting that "most individuals who use CAM prefer to treat themselves."
    • Most people used CAM to treat and/or prevent musculoskeletal conditions or other conditions associated with chronic or recurring pain.
    • "Women were more likely than men to use CAM. The largest sex differential is seen in the use of mind-body therapies including prayer specifically for health reasons".
    • "Except for the groups of therapies that included prayer specifically for health reasons, use of CAM increased as education levels increased".
    • The most common CAM therapies used in the US in 2002 were prayer (45.2%), herbalism (18.9%), breathing meditation (11.6%), meditation (7.6%), chiropractic medicine (7.5%), yoga (5.1%), body work (5.0%), diet-based therapy (3.5%), progressive relaxation (3.0%), mega-vitamin therapy (2.8%) and Visualization (2.1%)

In 2004, a survey of nearly 1,400 U.S. hospitals found that more than one in four offered alternative and complementary therapies such as acupuncture, homeopathy, and massage therapy.

Why are people turning to Alternative Medicine?
 
 In the CDC report noted above, respondents were asked why they utilized alternative treatments. Fifty percent said they thought CAM “would be interesting to try.” Such a response is indicative of the postmodern attitude that there is no truth, so anything goes. There are, however, other reasons people turn to alternative medicine. First, many are unsatisfied with conventional health care for various reasons, such as the bureaucratic mess it often becomes and the rising costs.

Second, some are discouraged by the lack of solutions offered by conventional medicine for chronic conditions, such as arthritis, fatigue, cancer, and AIDS.

Third, conventional medicine is viewed as primarily offering two limited options: drugs and surgery. In a world where “natural” remedies are often considered to be better than conventional remedies, these options seem severe. Alternative health-care practitioners, on the other hand, are generally known for spending more time with patients than do conventional doctors, viewing patients as whole persons, and in many instances offering “just the right thing” for the condition in question.

People are happy to have such optimistic assurances regarding their health, especially when such solutions are presented as “natural.” Many Christians, not surprisingly, find alternative approaches appealing because they offer natural (i.e., “God-made” rather than “man-made”) solutions and because alternative practitioners sometimes attend to the spiritual dimension — an area too often neglected by the scientific naturalism (i.e., the view that matter is all that exists) that permeates much of conventional health care.

Let me emphasize that not all Alternative medicine is based in non-Christian practices. Many use God-given ways to help those who are sick. Nevertheless. The touch therapies discussed in my book "The Occult Invasion of Health Care" are anything but benign - they are spiritually dangerous. The problem is that the public and even may Christians are unaware of the occult implications of touch therapies. My intention is to educate Christians and Christian medical workers concerning the sinister side of Alternative Medicine and Touch Therapies.