Related Links
 

Internet resources on conventional and non-conventional mental health care

This page was last updated on 12/19/2007
 

top

Significant recent research findings

 

• Reiki: Learning to do it
  A spiritual psychology column by Bernard Starr for ReligionAndSpirituality.com
  February 8, 2007

   

• Reiki: A healing touch
  A spiritual psychology column by Bernard Starr for ReligionAndSpirituality.com.
  February 1, 2007

   

• Reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease with high folate intake
  [Read More...]

   

• Is docosahexaenoic acid, an n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid, required for development of normal brain function?
  [Read More...]

   

• Dietary fat intake is associated with psychosocial and cognitive functioning of school-aged children in the United States
  [Read More...]

top

Glossaries of terms used in mental health and non-conventional medicine

 

• Interactive Glossary of Mental Health and Disability Terms This site provides a list of frequently used health, mental health and disability terms that are defined in clear and simple everyday language.

   

• Alternative Medicine Terms This site provides a comprehensive list of terms, modalities and specific brands of non-conventional medical products and includes hypertext links to relevant phytochemical and ethnobotanical databases.

top

Clinical practice guidelines for the conventional treatment of mental health problems

 

• www.library.nhs.uk/mentalhealth This is the site of the National Electronic Library for Health of the U.K.'s National Health Service. This site is intended to provide comprehensive information on the range of conventional treatments for mental health problems. There is no fee. There are links to patient resources. The site includes guidelines and treatment appraisals, Cochrane systematic reviews, and a compendium of best practice articles (including Clinical Evidence chapters and WHO guidelines for mental health in primary care).

   

• http://www.guideline.gov/ This very useful site contains summaries of, and links to, over 50 different sets of practice guidelines covering a range of mental health diagnoses and issues.

   

• www.psychguides.com This site contains practical clinical recommendations for the conventional treatment of common mental health problems based on expert consensus. The Expert Consensus Guidelines present practical clinical recommendations based on a survey of expert opinions. The guidelines are based on both research and clinical expertise. While the guidelines are comprehensive they emphasize medications over psychotherapy and other conventional treatments.

   

• http://www.psych.org/psych_pract/treatg/pg/prac_guide.cfm This site is sponsored by the American Psychiatric Association and includes full text of many (but not all) of the practice guidelines developed by this organization. Topics include: Psychiatric Evaluation of Adults, Bipolar Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder in Adults, Eating Disorders, Substance Use Disorders (Alcohol, Cocaine, Opioids), Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias of Late Life, Schizophrenia, and Nicotine Dependence.

   

• http://www.mhmr.state.tx.us/centraloffice/medicaldirector/TMAPtoc.html This site is sponsored by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, contains detailed treatment recommendations ("The Texas Medication Algorithm Project " or TMAP) for each of three major disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder; and major depressive disorder).

   

• http://www.asam.org/publ/withdrawal.htm This site consists of a meta-analysis and evidence-based practice guideline developed by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Committee on Practice Guidelines, Working Group on Pharmacological Management of Alcohol Withdrawal.

   

• http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/clinical/port.htm This is the site of an article published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin which contains a comprehensive set of guidelines for the conventional biomedical treatment of schizophrenia. Development of these "Patient Outcomes Research Team" (PORT) guidelines was funded by NIMH. 18 of the recommendations address antipsychotic agents and other conventional drug treatments. The remaining 12 recommendations address other conventional treatments of schizophrenia including electroconvulsive therapy, psychological interventions, family interventions, vocational rehabilitation, and intensive case management.

top

General resources on non-conventional medicine

 

• Menopause: Doctor recommended herbal alternatives for prescription medication. 
• http://psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201804963.  This It is a link to the electronic version of Psychiatric Times in which an article on alternative therapies in schizophrenia describes my work in this area.
• http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/database.html. This is the Alternative Medicine Homepage, a project coordinated by the staff of the Falk Library of Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The site provides extensive links to reviewed websites on professional associations, centers of excellence where non-conventional medical care is available, and databases on many non-conventional treatments. The site includes links to professional e-bulletin boards and e-journals in many areas of non-conventional medicine.

   

• National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is 1 of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH is one of eight agencies under the Public Health Service (PHS) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). NCCAM is dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science, training complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) researchers, and disseminating authoritative information to the public and professionals. The NCCAM citation index contains over 200,000 citations of studies on all areas of non-conventional medicine indexed in the National Library of Medicine beginning in 1966. The four primary focus areas are research, career development, outreach, and integration non-conventional and conventional approaches.

   

• Search CAM on PubMed NCCAM and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) have partnered to create a subset of the National Library of Medicine's PubMed. A literature search from this website will automatically be limited to the subset of PubMed pertaining to non-conventional medicine. PubMed provides access to citations from the MEDLINE database and additional life science journals. It also includes links to many full-text articles at journal Web sites and other related Web resources

   

• CRISP - A Database of Biomedical Research Funded By the National Institutes of Health (NIH) CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects) is a searchable database of federally funded biomedical research projects conducted at universities, hospitals, and other research institutions, including research in many areas of non-conventional medicine. The database is maintained by the Office of Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health, and includes projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), and other federal agencies. The site can be used to search for scientific concepts, emerging trends and techniques, or to identify specific projects and/or investigators.

   

• Natural Standard, The Authority on Integrative Medicine is an excellent resource covering the range of non-conventional modalities. Natural Standard is an international research collaboration that aggregates and synthesizes data on non-conventional therapies. The goal of this collaboration is to provide objective, reliable information that aids clinicians, patients, and healthcare institutions in making more informed and safer therapeutic decisions.

   

• Embase This website is a gateway to biomedical and pharmacological information pertaining to both conventional and non-conventional treatments. The site includes but is not limited to MedLine entries. Approximately 2,000 records are added daily and 600,000 articles are added annually. It includes many search tools quick to facilitate rapid identification of relevant clinical or research information, and the user can generate table-of-content alerts to keep up to date with significant emerging findings.

   

• Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) includes five databases on non-conventional and integrative medicine that cover herbal medicines and supplements, clinical information on integrative approaches, patient education information, a database on herb-drug and supplement-drug interactions, and referenced monographs on herbal medicinals.

   

• The FACTs-Home is the website for the Friends of Alternative and Complementary Therapies Society. The goal of this society of healers and patients is to create "a repository of health information that is factual, accessible, credible and ethical." Information included in the website comes from different traditions of medicine and different cultures. FACT is an Associate Member of the Canadian Health Network.

   

• Trip Database Plus The TRIP (Turning Research into Practice) Database started in 1997 as a small search engine with a focus on evidence-based medicine. The goal of the TRIP Database is to allow health professionals to easily find the highest-quality material available on the web on a range of conventional and non-conventional medical practices. Typically 300-400 new articles are added monthly. The content of the TRIP Database is separated into a number of categories: evidence-based medicine; guidelines; query-answering; medical images; eTextbooks; patient information leaflets; and peer-reviewed journals.

   

• Alt HealthWatch provides a gateway to full-text searches of over 100 serials on all major non-conventional medical approaches. The list is maintained by EBSCO Publishing. EBSCO is a leading provider of popular secondary databases such as MLA International Bibliography, CINAHL® , PsycINFO® and others. Extensive use of linking enables users to access full text information from virtually all library holdings.

   

• www.rosenthal.hs.columbia.edu includes a link to the Directory of databases on CAM of the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine includes extensive links to reviewed databases on a range of non-conventional modalities. The site is a powerful gateway to numerous on-line databases covering six major areas: biomedical bibliographic information; complementary and alternative medicine; medical, pharmaceutical or scientific data; traditional medicine systems; therapy- or modality-specific; and clinical trials and research projects. Brief information on each linked site is included, together with type of literature covered, and whether the site is fee-based access or free.

   

• Osher Institute, Harvard Medical School, Division for research and education in complementary and integrative medicine The mission of the Harvard Osher Center and the website is to facilitate interdisciplinary and inter-institutional faculty collaboration for purposes of: research evaluation of complementary and integrative medical therapies; delivery of educational programs to the medical community and the public, and; investigation of the design of sustainable models of complementary and integrative care delivery in an academic setting.

   

• UCSF - Osher Center for Integrative Medicine The mission of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine is to search for the most effective treatments for patients by combining both conventional and alternative approaches that address all aspects of health and wellness - biological, psychological, social and spiritual. The Center is working to transform health care by conducting rigorous research on the medical outcomes of complementary and alternative healing practices; educating medical students, health professionals and the public about these practices; and creating new models of clinical care.

   

• Research Council for Complementary Medicine - RCCM The RCCM was founded in 1983 by practitioners and researchers from both orthodox and non-conventional systems of medicine. Their goal is to develop the evidence base for non-conventional medicine in order to provide both practitioners and patients with information about the effectiveness of individual therapies and the treatment of specific conditions. The School of Integrated Health at the University of Westminster hosts the website.

   

• Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies FACT is a quarterly review journal that aims to present the evidence on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in an analytical and impartial manner. With increasing interest and growing research into non-conventional medicine there are dozens of specific complementary medicine journals and thousands of general medical journals that present articles and research findings in this area. Realizing that it is impossible to scan all pertinent publications, Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies (FACT) systematically searches the world literature to uncover key articles in CAM research. The most important factual papers found worldwide are summarised and then critically appraised in FACT. They are followed by an expert commentary written by a member of FACT's international editorial board and include a reply from the author of the original paper. All FACT summaries and commentaries are evidence-based, reporting clinical trials, systematic reviews or meta-analyses, compiling, interpreting and disseminating the up-to-date evidence for or against complementary medicine.

   

• Log onto The Cochrane Library This website provides a gateway to The Cochrane Library, and the Cochrane Field on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The Cochrane CAM Field is coordinated by an international group of individuals dedicated to creating systematic reviews of randomized clinical trials in diverse areas of non-conventional medicine including acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, herbal medicine, homeopathy, mind-body therapy and other modalities. The Cochrane CAM Field was founded in 1996 and is coordinated by the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine.

   

• www.bl.uk/collections/health/amed.html Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) produced by the Medical Information Centre of the British Library, and contains over 100,000 references including 400 biomedical journals.

   

• Bandolier - Evidence based thinking about healthcare Bandolier is an independent journal about evidence-based healthcare written by Oxford University scientists. The journal first appeared in February 1994. It is directed at both healthcare professionals and patients. The e-journal provides information about evidence of effectiveness in bullit format based on critical analysis of systematic reviews, meta-analyses and single randomized controlled trials drawn from the Cochrane Library and PubMed. The electronic version of Bandolier now has over one million visitors each month from all over the world. Many visitors are healthcare professionals however Bandolier is also a source of useful information for patients.

   

• bmj.com Collected Resources : Complementary Medicine This site provides a searchable database of articles published in the British Medical Journal pertaining to complementary and alternative medicine. It is indexed and cross-referenced.

top

Resources for monitoring research in conventional and non-conventional treatments

 

• NCCAM Grantee Publications Database This database provides citations of publications by NCCAM grantees. It covers the results of NCCAM-funded research. Publications are continuously added to this database. Specific citations can be found by the principal investigator's last name, title of article, journal name, grant mechanism, or grant number. Searches can also be done by key word or phrase contained in the title of the article.

   

• www.clinicaltrials.gov This site includes mostly government-sponsored studies, and is the most comprehensive clinical trials directory on the internet. The site provides regularly updated information about federally funded and some privately supported human clinical trials that are currently in progress, and includes studies on non-conventional modalities. Data include the purpose of the study, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details.

   

• Oregon Center for Complementary and Alternative medicine in neurological disorders ORCCAMIND is a center without walls committed to research on non-conventional treatments of neurological disorders. The Center was created in 1999 through funding from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), of the National Institutes of Health. Initial studies have examined treatment approaches using anti-oxidants, yoga, acupuncture and chiropractic manipulation.

   

• www.centerwatch.com This site is an excellent resource for identifying studies sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry or private institutions. The site lists more than 41,000 active industry and government-sponsored clinical trials, as well as new drug therapies in research and those recently approved by the FDA. Patients interested in participating in clinical research can make enquiries about specific on-going trials.

top

Evaluating natural products and selecting brands

 

• www.naturaldatabase.com (subscription fee) This website is a valuable resource for both practitioners and patients. The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database was released in September 1999, and is updated daily. The mission of the research and editorial team at Therapeutic Research Center is to critically evaluate the literature to produce an objective, evidence-based resource designed for healthcare professionals. This Database provides a comprehensive listing of brand name natural product ingredients, and the ingredients of brand name products are linked to a monograph on the particular ingredient. Clinically relevant information is in a user-friendly format. Thousands of new references are added each year, and new interactions and safety concerns are added as soon as they are recognized. Effectiveness ratings are raised or lowered based on emerging research findings. There is an interface that permits identification of potential interactions between a specified natural product, other natural products, and conventional drugs. A new database and website have recently been created specifically for patients with the goal of providing patient-friendly wording on natural medicines. Sections of the patient database can be printed for patients during sessions.

   

• www.factsandcomparisons.com (subscription) Facts and Comparisons is an established information service on new drug research that has been in existence over five decades. Its mission is to compile unbiased, essential and appropriate drug information. Thousands of articles, drug package inserts, lectures, and other relevant data are culled and edited year round by a professional panel of pharmacists, physicians and nurses to provide the most current drug information. The company annually publishes an updated version of Drug Facts and Comparisons and many other information services as printed reports.

   

• http://www.consumerlab.com (subscription fee) ConsumerLab.com, LLC ("CL") provides independent test results and information to help consumers and healthcare professionals evaluate health, wellness, and nutrition products. It publishes results on its website and in published form in an annually updated book: ConsumerLab.com's Guide to Buying Vitamins and Supplements, and in technical reports covering a range of supplements. ConsumerLab is a certification company and enables companies of all sizes to have their products voluntarily tested for potential inclusion in its list of Approved Quality products and bear its seal of approval. In the past five years, CL has tested more than 1,200 products. Products tested and rated include: herbal products; vitamins and minerals; other natural product supplements sports and energy products; functional foods; foods and beverages; and personal hygiene products.

   

• http://www.nnfa.org The National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) was founded in 1936. Its mission is to promote the values and shared interests of retailers and suppliers in the natural nutritional foods and products industry, to safeguard retailers and suppliers of foods and natural products, and to create standards and procedures for self-regulation aimed at improving the quality and safety of natural foods, products, services, and labeling information.

   

• Http://www.usp.org The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is the official public standards-setting authority for all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, dietary supplements, and other healthcare products manufactured and sold in the United States. USP is an independent, science-based public health organization. USP sets standards for the quality of these products and works with healthcare providers to help them reach the standards. USP's standards are also recognized and used in many other countries outside the United States. Prescription and over-the-counter medicines available in the United States must, by federal law, meet USP's public standards, where such standards exist. USP disseminates its standards to pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacists, and other users through publications, official USP Reference Standards materials, and courses. USP also conducts verification programs for dietary supplement ingredients and products. These programs involve independent testing and review to verify ingredient and product integrity, purity, and potency for manufacturers who choose to participate.

   

• http://www.nsf.org NSF International is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization, devoted to standards development, product certification, education, and risk-management for public health and safety that has been in existence over 60 years and provides services for manufacturers in 80 countries. NSF provides third-party conformity assessment services. NSF has earned the Collaborating Center designation by the World Health Organization (WHO) for Food and Water Safety and Indoor Environment.

top

Identifying practitioners of non-conventional therapies

 

• http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/prac.html. This is a section of the Alternative Medicine Homepage (see above) that contains links to directories of practitioners in many areas of non-conventional medicine including Chinese medicine, naturopathy, homeopathy, mind-body practices, and others. The site can be used to help identify qualified non-conventional practitioners when referring patients.

   

• The ByRegion Network: The site lists registered practitioners by practice area and geographic region. This site is a useful tool for identifying practitioners who use a range of non-conventional approaches.

   

• http://www.naturopathic.org The official website of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. The site includes a search engine for identifying naturopathic physicians by specified geographic location or city.

   

• http://www.holisticmedicine.org The official website for the American Holistic Medicine Association (AHMA), the major organization for physicians who practice holistic medicine. The site includes a search engine for identifying AHMA members when looking for appropriate referrals in your area.

  Note that appropriate referrals to non-conventional practitioners can also be identified through many websites included in the following sections.

top

Biological therapies

 

• Bastyr University Library Resources Using CAM MEDLINE provides user-friendly gateway to medical subject hierarchy (MEsH) terms in Medline that facilitate effective searches on the range of non-conventional biological therapies including herbs and other natural products used as medicine, foods, aromatherapy and many others.

   

• Office of Dietary Supplements IBIDS Database (subscription fee) The International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) Database is the official website of the Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health. The IBIDS database provides access to bibliographic citations and abstracts from published, international, and scientific literature on the range of dietary supplements. Users can search the full IBIDS Database, a subset of Consumer Citations Only or Peer Reviewed Citations Only.

   

• Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases This site is the homepage of Dr. Jim Duke, noted ethnobotanist, and the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is a valuable clinical resource that includes links to many phytochemical and ethnobotanical, and nutritional databases, and is intended primarily for researchers. The site includes an on-line dictionary of ethnobotany.

   

• Phytotherapies.org (free service for registered users) Although this site is the product of an herbal company based in Australia, it is a valuable resource for herbal practitioners and conventionally trained medical practitioners interested in learning more about herbal medicine. The site is updated weekly and includes editorial content, articles and an extensive searchable and hyperlinked herbal database that includes monographs on current herbal therapeutics. On-line enquiries can be submitted to experienced herbalists

   

• The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) (subscription fee) The mission of the IFM is to improve patient outcomes through prevention, early assessment, and comprehensive management of complex, chronic disease through developing the functional medicine knowledge base as a bridge between research and clinical practice; teaching physicians and other healthcare providers the basic science and clinical applications of functional medicine; and working with policy makers, practitioners, educators, researchers, and the public to disseminate the functional medicine knowledge base more widely.

   

• Herbal Medicine Internet Resources The Alternative Medicine Homepage This is part of the Alternative Medicine Homepage (see above), and is valuable gateway to the official websites of numerous professional associations concerned with all aspects of herbal medicine

   

• HerbMed This website is an interactive, electronic herbal database and provides hyperlinked access to the scientific data underlying the use of herbs for the range of medical and mental health problems. It is an evidence-based information resource about herbal medicines provided by the Alternative Medicine Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. A limited free version of the database contains information on 75 common herbs, and a fee-based professional version, HerbMedPro™ uses hyperlinks to cross-reference an extensive bibliographic collection on all aspects of herbal medicine. The databases are updated on a regular basis. Subscribers can request searches on specific herbs or particular clinical applications. The website is linked to numerous medical, scientific and health-related web sites, including the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINEPlus, and TEK*PAD, a project of the American Association for the Advancement of Medicine, and the US Patent & Trademarks Office.

   

• Herb Research Foundation - Herbs and Herbal Medicine for Health (subscription fee) This site includes expert compilations on specific herbals that contain carefully selected articles, studies, and/or discussions by experts that are available as downloads or in print form. The work of the Herb Research Foundation is based on its dedicated holdings of more than 300,000 scientific articles on thousands of herbs.

   

• American Botanical Council - Herbal Medicine (subscription fee) Established in 1988, the American Botanical Council (ABC) is the leading independent, nonprofit, international member-based organization providing education using science-based and traditional information to promote the responsible use of herbal medicine. The site includes databases on safety, use conditions for specific herbals, and searchable monographs depending on the level of membership.

   

• NAPRALERT Database Summary Sheet (subscription fee) The NAPRALERT File (NAtural PRoducts ALERT) contains bibliographic and factual data on natural products, including information on the pharmacology, biological activity, taxonomic distribution, chemistry of plant, microbial, and animal (including marine) extracts as well as ethnomedicine use records. In addition, the database contains information on the chemistry and pharmacology of secondary metabolites that are derived from natural sources and that have known structure. NAPRALERT contains records from 1650 to the present however roughly half of the content comes from systematic literature reviews from 1975 to the present. Napralert is a valuable information research tool for practitioners interested in the history and basic science of natural product-derived medicines.

   

• International Journal of Aromatherapy This site is the home of The International Journal of Aromatherapy, which covers the uses of aromatherapy for mental, emotional or physical complaints. Subjects include the use of natural, aromatic plant oils and essential oils to massage and touch therapy.

top

Somatic and mind-body approaches

 

• F E D E R A T I O N _ M B S This is the website of the federation of massage, body work and somatic practice organizations, a non-profit membership organizations in the massage, bodywork and somatic practice field. The site is a gateway to other websites of organizations related to different somatic approaches including massage, rolfing, Feldenkrais, the Alexander technique and others.

   

• TRI Homepage The Touch Research Institutes are dedicated to studying the effects of touch therapy. The TRIs have researched the effects of massage therapy at all stages of life, from newborns to senior citizens. The site includes summaries of studies conducted through the TRI as well as abstracts of studies on Tai Chi, yoga and acupuncture.

   

• Manual Healing Internet Resources The Alternative Medicine Homepage This part of the Alternative Medicine Homepage (see above) provides valuable links to official websites of numerous professional associations concerned with a broad range of somatic therapies

   

• Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies The site provides access to the electronic version of Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies which covers therapeutic advances using bodywork including: Alexander technique, chiropractic, cranial therapy, dance, Feldenkrais, massage therapy, osteopathy, Shiatsu and Tuina massage, tai chi, qigong, and yoga.

   

• Mind Body Control The Alternative Medicine Homepage This part of the Alternative Medicine Homepage provides a valuable gateway to numerous websites pertaining to the range of mind-body practices. Note that this site also includes links to many websites on somatic approaches and therapies based on subtle energy.

   

• AMTA Foundation | Research Database This is the website of the Massage Therapy Foundation  and the Massage Therapy Research DatabaseSM. The mission of the Foundation is to chart an agenda for research on health benefits of massage therapy. The initial version of the database was compiled in 2000 and is updated quarterly. There are currently more than 4,700 citations of articles and books about massage therapy. A Citations are reviewed by committee of massage therapists, physicians, and researchers. There is no subscription fee and the Database is available only through the Foundation's web site.

top

Therapies based on forms of energy-information validated by current Western science

 

• American Music Therapy Association The mission of the American Music Therapy Association is to advance public awareness of the benefits of music therapy and increase access to quality music therapy services in a rapidly changing world.

   

• The Biofeedback Network provides extensive links to societies and research groups that study various applications of biofeedback

   

• Scientific Articles and Citations contains the research library for Applied Neuroscience Inc and contains research articles on clinical applications of QEEG and EEG biofeedback in mental healthcare.

   

• www.ambientintelligence.org/ This website is an excellent and comprehensive resource for research and web-based tools for virtual reality therapy. The site provides summaries of books and research papers on virtual reality-based therapy and includes links to the leading research centers and provides free downloads of development tools and programs to facilitate learning about clinical uses of virtual reality technologies.

   

• VR Therapy - The future of mental health treatment This site is an excellent resource for mental health practitioners who are considering using VR exposure therapy. The aim of the VR therapy Project is the promotion of information and use of Virtual Reality over the Internet. The mission of the site developers is to develop a accessible global knowledge base on emerging clinical applications of virtual reality.

top

Approaches based on forms of energy-information not validated by current Western science

 

• The Samueli Institute  This is the website of the Rockfeller-Samueli Center for Research in Mind-Body Energy, established in 2002. The goals of the program are to promote and support scientifically credible research on spiritual and energy healing. The purpose of the program is to test the impact of healing energy on patients, and explore mechanisms of healing energy in the laboratory. Development of objective and clinically relevant measures is a key focus of the program. These measurements include patients' quality of life, changes in health, effects on brain function, cell and gene changes and the overall risks, benefits and costs associated with delivery of spiritual and energy healing practices in healthcare.

   

• Wellcome Centre - Asia's Medical Systems and Traditions This site provides extensive links to websites on traditional Asian systems of medicine including Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Tibetan medicine, and others. Centre members edit a Wellcome series publishing fine editions of classical texts in their own language. This website aims to introduce key areas in history of Asian medicine and focuses on current Centre work in the field.

   

• Acubriefs.com - A Comprehensive Acupuncture Research resource Acubriefs was established by a grant from the Medical Acupuncture Research Foundation (MARF) and is supported through foundation grants. Its mission is to create a comprehensive online database of English languages references on acupuncture. The site plans to eventually incorporate non-English references depending on funding.

   

• British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) The British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) represents professional acupuncturists who have extensive training in acupuncture and the biomedical sciences. The Acupuncture Research Resource Centre has produced a valuable set of Briefing Papers reviewing the evidence of effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of specific medical and mental health conditions including addiction and substance abuse, anxiety and depression, stroke, menopause, migraine and others. The briefing papers are available as free downloads in PDF format.

   

• Welcome to TCM Online This resource is a gateway to over 20 on-line databases on Chinese medicine, most of which are in Chinese but some of which are in English. Databases cover Chinese herbal medicine, Tibetan medicine, clinical indications for Chinese medical treatments, services available in thousands of Chinese hospitals, newspaper articles on Chinese medicine (ie, in China) and others. This website is a valuable research tool for individuals interested in the practice of Chinese medicine and Tibetan medicine in Asian countries.

   

• Welcome to Acudetox This is the official website of the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA). The mission of the site is to promote improved understanding of the principles of both Chinese medicine and chemical dependency. The site includes NADA protocols that have been carefully developed and extensively tested. More than 500 clinical sites in the US, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean currently utilize these protocols for the management of detoxification in alcohol and drug abuse. The protocols are promoted through public education about acupuncture as a recovery tool, training and certification of professionals in use of the techniques, consultation with local organizations in setting up treatment sites, and the distribution of NADA-approved literature, audiotapes and videotapes.

   

• IAAM is the website for the International Association for Auricular Medicine whose mission is to provide an international non-biased forum for developing the science and practice of auricular acupuncture, based on the teachings of Paul Nogier. The International Association provides a forum for medical practitioners, dentists, physical therapists, acupuncturists and mental health practitioners who have a particular interest in auricular therapy and auricular medicine. Several chat rooms are available to facilitate discussion on various aspects of auricular therapy in order to contribute to the research knowledge clinical applications of auricular therapy.

   

• INDEX This is the website of Emory University's Center on Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Neurodegenerative Diseases whose mission is to rigorously study promising non-conventional interventions that preserve or enhance function and quality of life among individuals with neurodegenerative disorders. The Center was started in 2000 under a 5-year National Institutes on Health grant. On-going pilot studies include the investigation of non-conventional treatments of insomnia in patients with Parkinson's disease, the investigation of qigong and tai chi on movement symptoms in Parkinson's disease, the putative role of sex hormone therapy as neuroprotective agents in transgenic mice with Huntington's disease, and investigation of the effects of neuromuscular massage therapy in Parkinson's disease.

   

• Welcome to www.hom-inform.org (no fee) This website is the home of the British Homeopathic Library, an information service dedicated to the research and practice of homeopathy. Library services include a database of over 25,000 article and book references on homeopathy, and access to Hom-Inform, a search and query service on homeopathy. Both services are available free of charge.

   

• www.hpus.com. This is the official website of the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States. It has been in continuous publication since 1897 and includes information on homeopathic remedies that are regulated by the FDA and listed in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States. A series of loose-leaf binders providing comprehensive information about FDA-endorsed homeopathic remedies is available for purchase through the site.

   

• HEALING TOUCH INTERNATIONAL Home Page The mission of Healing Touch International is to disseminate information about Healing Touch while supporting member practitioners. The site is a gateway to three large professional organizations of Healing Touch practitioners: Healing Touch International; the Colorado Center for Healing Touch; and Healing Touch International Foundation. The site for Healing Touch International includes an extensive bibliography of studies on Healing Touch in all areas of medicine, and descriptions of on-going research.

   

• ISSSEEM ISSSEEM, the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, was established to explore the application of subtle energies to the experience of consciousness, healing, and human potential and is designed as a bridging organization for scientists, clinicians, therapists, healers, and laypeople. ISSSEEM encourages open-minded exploration of phenomena associated with the practice of energy healing. The site includes abstracts and contents of the Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine Journal. Links to conferences on subtle energy healing, Shamanic healing and consciousness research are provided.

   

• Center for Spirituality and Healing Established in 1995 at the University of Minnesota, the Center for Spirituality and Healing has the goal of integrating biomedical, complementary, cross-cultural, and spiritual care. The Center provides interdisciplinary education, clinical care and outreach while integrating evidence-based research to renew, enhance and transform health care practice, health sciences education and clinical care.

  Also see the TRI Homepage and the Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies (under "somatic and mind-body approaches")

top

Miscellaneous resources

 

• www.APACAM.org is the dedicated website of the Caucus on Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Approaches in Mental Health Care of the American Psychiatric Association. There is no subscription fee but you must be a psychiatrist to be a full member of the Caucus. The site is evolving rapidly and includes on-line forums that are useful for networking with other psychiatrists regarding a range of non-conventional treatments. The site includes a library and links to related sites reviewed by Caucus members.

   

• IHSM The Institute for Healing in Society and Medicine (IHSM) is dedicated to catalyzing the transformation of medicine from "the inside out" by reconnecting individual healthcare providers with the richness of their own inner lives, their authentic professional mission, and with the sacred roots of medicine. An essential premise of IHSM is that the future of medicine lies in the ground of being of those who create it. By promoting increased awareness in the lives of healthcare providers, IHSM strives to restore the primary focus of medicine in healing, enhance the quality of the doctor-patient relationship, increase the delivery of effective, low cost preventative therapies based on patient self care, and provide an impetus to adopt new educational and research models for better healthcare delivery. IHSM conducts research on patient care and healthcare provider education and uses findings to develop educational, training, and retreat opportunities for healthcare providers.