Handbook of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Mental Health

Book excerpt: Scott Shannon is an MD, president elect of the American Holistic Medical Association, and considered a national expert on holistic psychiatry. In this book he brings together a comprehensive overview of CAM treatments, with information on their effectiveness and safety for specific patient populations and for use in treating specific disorders. Modalities covered include Acupuncture, Nutritional Medicine, Herbal Medicine, Meditation, Biofeedback, Aromatherapy and others. Coverage also includes chapters on the best CAM modalities for treatment of Anxiety and PTSD, Depression, ADD, and Addictions. Each chapter will be in a similar template, beginning with a description of the treatment, its safety, compatibility with conventional treatments and/or contrindications, scientific documentation of its efficacy, discussion of which disorders it is best used for, and references. Most comprehensive overview of rapidly expanding field Includes chapters by 24 leading psychiatric/psychological experts in these fields Documents and rates the research base in each area Offers practical clinical approaches for four common mental health concerns—depression, anxiety, ADHD, and addictions Areas not yet covered in professional training Practices commonly employed by the public (40-50% of the American public use complementary or alternative approaches) No previous book of this nature or scope