Taking It Further: Books & Courses
Take advice
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Medical clicks
To find out more about health on Open2.net, or alternative medicine, and for a list of umbrella organisations regulating CAM, try our weblinks.
Books
There are numerous books available on complementary and alternative medicine - trying to gather all the titles available on a trip to your local bookstore could leave you in need of some serious back massage!
Amongst the titles you might want to consider as starting points:
The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine
James Lefanu, Little,Brown
Anatomy and Physiology for Holistic Therapists
Francesa Gould, Nelson Thornes
Holistic Therapies: An Introductory Guide
Helen McGuinness, Hodder Arnold
Understanding Complementary Medicine
George Lewith, Family Doctor Publications
Understanding the Placebo Effect in Complementary Medicine
David Peters, Churchill Livingstone
There are also a number of books written from a sceptical perspective, which can help you make up your own mind:
Trick Or Treatment: Alternative Medicines On Trial
Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst, Bantam Press
Courses
If you'd like to consider CAM in more depth, the Open University offers a course which may be of interest to you:
Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine
This course provides an accessible but rigorous introduction to complementary and alternative approaches to health. It aims to stimulate lively debates about this controversial and topical subject and to equip you with information and analytical frameworks with which to enter the debates. You will explore key aspects, and contextualise CAM in terms of a political, historical and ethical framework. You’ll then move on to analyse critical issues including ‘What do people want?’, ‘Integration within mainstream services’ and ‘What evidence is there that CAMs are effective?’
This is a level two course; if you're new to studying health issues at this level, you might like to try this introductory course first:
Understanding Health and Social Care
A broad foundation in health and social care. We are all at some time in the position of being cared for, and most of us also have experience of caring for others. This course builds on such personal experiences to open up debates and discussions about how health and social care is, or should be, provided. It gives the basics of the knowledge, skills and understanding required in caring work of all kinds – paid or unpaid, voluntary or professional – and also explores the perspective of users of care services. At the same time it prepares you for further study towards a diploma or degree.
This page was updated in October 2008 to include details of the Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst book
Content last updated: 20/10/2008
