Over 30 percent of adults and about 12 percent of children—use health care approaches that are not typically part of conventional medical care or that may have beginnings outside of usual Western practice, according to a 2012 national survey. When describing these approaches, people often use “alternative” and “complementary” to mean the same, but the two terms refer to different concepts. If a non-mainstream approach is used in conjunction with conventional medicine, it’s called “complementary.” If a non-mainstream approach is used instead of conventional medicine, it’s considered “alternative.” Many who use non-mainstream approaches also use conventional health care.

Functional medicine is similar to complementary or alternative. “This term sometimes refers to a concept similar to integrative health, but it may also refer to an approach that more closely resembles naturopathy (a medical system that has evolved from a combination of traditional practices and health care approaches popular in Europe during the 19th century).” (Falvo, 2011). Rather than just treating disease, whole person health refers to helping individuals improve and restore their health in multiple interrelated domains—biological, behavioral, social, environmental. Research on whole person health means broadening the understanding of various aspects of health, including organs and body systems.

Complementary approaches can be classified by their primary input. Approaches include: nutritional (e.g., special diets, dietary supplements, herbs, probiotics, and microbial-based therapies), psychological (e.g., meditation, hypnosis, music therapies, relaxation therapies), physical (e.g., acupuncture, massage, spinal manipulation), and combinations such as psychological and physical (e.g., yoga, tai chi, dance therapies, some forms of art therapy) or psychological and nutritional (e.g., mindful eating).

Nutritional approaches include what NCCIH previously considered to be natural products, whereas psychological and/or physical approaches include what was referred to as mind and body practice.

The mission of NCCIH is to determine, through thorough scientific investigation, the fundamental science, usefulness, and safety of complementary and integrative health approaches and their benefits in improving health and health care.

Falvo, D. (2011). Effective Patient Education. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://bibliu.com/app/#/view/books/9780763796181/epub/OPS/xhtml/chapter06.html#page_147.