OP/ED: Making choices between treatments or practitioners without solid comparative information. Using products of unknown quality, safety and efficacy from Internet websites or local drug sellers. These are some of the many challenges we face as consumers of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM). I recently participated in a WHO workshop in Macao SAR, China, on consumer education and TCAM. Read more 
After integrative care for pain at the anthroposophical hospital Vidarkliniken in Sweden, prescriptions for pain medications could be halved. Patients in conventional care however, purchased twice as many analgesics as before treatment. These are some results of a unique comparative study published in the high impact journal PLOS One. Physician Hans Johansson, Södertälje Hospital (not involved with the study), says that it is interesting and important. Read more
In reference to the recent articles in the Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen criticizing certain CAM therapies, the Swedish Minister of Health Göran Hägglund emphasized the need for reliable information, a critical approach and training of health care staff. Associate Professor Torkel Falkenberg, Head of IC, welcomes critical journalism but emphasizes that the newspaper erroneously lumps all CAM therapies together as if they were the same Read more
Contemporary Sweden is a multicultural and multireligious society. Whether we like it or not. That is the message of the anthology "Holy Health", writes Göran Ståhle, a senior lecturer in the Psychology of Religion at Södertörn University in Stockholm, who is one of the editors of the book. After his article, journalist David Finer provides a description of the contents. Read more
- From a patient perspective, it is of course encouraging that a usage which has been made an exception for decades now will be accepted, Johanna Hök, pharmacist, PhD and I C researcher comments on the decision by the Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA) to approve mistletoe preparations for injection. Read more
Scientists are confused about the concept of mindfulness, and overlook its social and existential dimensions. Mindfulness has become commercialized mindlessness and lost its soul. So says Håkan Nilsson at University of Gothenburg, Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion in Sweden. Håkan Nilsson is a lecturer in social psychology and the author of the […] Read more
Research NewsSoftly stroking the skin at body temperature at the speed of five centimeters (roughly two inches) per second. That’s the recipe for an optimal caress according to research from Gothenburg University, Sweden. It is not wild guess that most people experience tender touching positively. In fact, sensitive, respectful touching is not only pleasant, it is […] Read more
- Ignorance and fear are at the heart of the resistance to our proposals. Sweden is at least ten years behind in the field of diet and health. Our politicians must be bold enough to allocate more resources, says Dr. David Stenholtz, President of the recently formed NGO Physicians for the Future in this interview. Read more
In the future, we need to secure access to health care, which safely and effectively integrates traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TM/CAM). It is a human right. So says the World Health Organization, whose Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan recently signed a new strategy to this effect. Read more
Polarized thinking about complementary, alternative and integrative care is negative, well, downright dangerous. It undermines the health care encounter and harms individuals and nations. This can be read in an opinion piece in the journal European Journal of Integrative Medicine, written by researchers at I C. Read more
