ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an increasingly common neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood. It is usually first diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood. Children with ADHD have trouble paying attention, focusing,… Read more »
Anxiety Disorders: An Integrative Approach
Anxiety disorders are the most common, and frequently occurring, mental disorders. Anxiety is manifested by disturbances of mood, as well as of thinking, behavior, and physiological activity. The five major types of anxiety disorders include generali… Read more »
Are Your Air and Water Safe? How Air and Water Quality Affect Health
The quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink is essential to our overall well-being, our economic prosperity, and the environment. Clean air and water play an important role in maintaining our health, and contaminants in either one or bot… Read more »
Aromatherapy: The Healing Power Of Scent
Aromatherapy is a complementary and alternative, holistic, and integrative therapy that uses essential oils to promote both physical and psychological health. It is often used in conjunction with massage, meditation, and other therapies to achieve he… Read more »
Ayurvedic Medicine: Ancient Foundations of Health Care
Ayurvedic medicine is a highly sophisticated religion, philosophy, and system of medicine that has been practiced in India for over 2,500 years. As with other forms of complementary and alternative medicine, it focuses on the whole individual and one… Read more »
Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adolescents: An Integrative Approach
It is sometimes difficult to determine if a child or adolescent is going through a “phase” or showing signs of a more serious psychiatric challenge such as bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder causes unusual shifts in moods and energy. These shifts are… Read more »
Centenarians: Keys to Longevity
Living to be 100 years old was once considered a rare occurrence, but with advancements in medicine and lifestyle changes, living to be 100 is not so improbable today. As a group, there are more centenarians worldwide than ever before, with the large… Read more »
Characteristics of Spirituality
While theorists and researchers have yet to agree on a single, universally accepted theory or definition of spirituality, few would deny its existence or impact on health and healing. In the past, spirituality was synonymous with religion. Although s… Read more »
Choosing the Business Structure for your Health and Wellness Business
Innovations in health care directed toward improved health outcomes, the utilization of more varied diagnostic and holistic treatment options, and the increasing diversity of patient populations supports healthcare providers and other interested indi… Read more »
Chronic Pain: An Integrative Approach to Effective Pain Management
Pain interferes with the enjoyment of life. It makes it difficult to work, socialize with friends and family, sleep, and accomplish activities of daily living. It may reduce productivity and create financial hardships in terms of lost work and high m… Read more »
Color and Health–Exploring the Connection
The use of color in healing has a long history. A fundamental aspect of environmental design, color has also been linked to physical, psychological, and social reactions in all of its uses. Color’s characteristics can influence how it is used in heal… Read more »
Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare
With the advent of astounding scientific and technological advances in every area of health care, today’s healthcare environment is increasingly fraught with complex patient care issues. Healthcare professionals often have varying views on legal and… Read more »
Cultural Competence in Health Care
The culturally diverse health care populations in the United States provide health care professionals with tremendous opportunities to bridge cultural gaps, incorporate new treatments and disease prevention strategies into their practices, and learn… Read more »
Depression: An Integrative Approach
Depression is one of the most serious and costly health care problems facing the United States today. It is one of the most common types of mental disorders. Depression interferes with an individual’s daily life, normal functioning, and may cause emo… Read more »
Energy Medicine Therapies: Therapeutic Touch, Healing Touch, Reiki, Reflexology, and Craniosacral Therapy
The concept that energy systems are part of the human interactive environment and a powerful part of therapeutic healing techniques has been part of many cultures for centuries. Energy medicine therapies use gentle techniques thought to help balance… Read more »
Ethical Foundations in Healthcare
Healthcare professionals face ethical dilemmas every day of their professional lives. Ethical decision-making is an important part of the care they provide to their patients and clients. A sound understanding of key ethical issues helps healthcare pr… Read more »
Healing Elements of Meditation
Although there are many ways to meditate and many different forms of meditation, they all share the characteristic of intentionally training a person’s attention and concentration. Meditation practices are used by diverse cultures, are rooted in the… Read more »
Health Effects of Meditation
Meditation is a mind-body practice with many methods and variations that are all grounded in the silence and stillness of present-moment awareness. Evidence of meditation’s health effects has been well documented: the practice offers improvement in t… Read more »
HIPAA and Patient Privacy
Personal health information is protected under federal law. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provides for the protection and security of personal health information. Both healthcare professionals and consumers must unde… Read more »
Human Health and Climate Change—Is There a Connection?
Numerous independent researchers and scientists all across the world know that Earth is warming and human activity is the primary cause. How much climate change we will experience in the future is dependent on the choices we all make as global citize… Read more »
Is Your Home Hazardous to Your Health?
While most of us consider our home a place of safety, the products we use every day and the communities in which we live can be causing our health to suffer. Common everyday items and medications can prove toxic to ourselves, our families, our pets,… Read more »
Legal Issues in Healthcare
Healthcare professionals today are acutely aware of the need to understand the legal environment in which they practice. Ever-shrinking resources, shorter lengths of stay, high-acuity patients, availability of more complex information, diverse patien… Read more »
Meditation and Brain Health
Meditation is a mind-body practice with many methods and variations that are all based on the silence and stillness of present-moment awareness. Exciting research is showing that a regular practice of meditation causes physical changes in the brain t… Read more »
Meditation and Religious Traditions
Although there are many ways to meditate and many different forms of meditation, they all share a unifying characteristic: each one focuses on intentionally training a person’s attention and concentration. Meditation practices are used by diverse cul… Read more »
Meditation for Health and Energy
Meditation is a mind-body practice with many methods and variations that are all grounded in the silence and stillness of present-moment awareness. The regular practice of meditation not only calms and helps focus the mind, it is also an effective pr… Read more »
Meditation Types and Practices
There are many types of meditation. Some types appeal to people of an intellectual nature, while other types appeal to those who prefer the path of love and surrender. Individuals with an active approach to life may prefer meditation techniques invol… Read more »
Mindfulness Meditation
Widely accepted, used, and studied within mainstream medicine, mindfulness meditation involves paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgment. The health benefits of mindfulness meditation include improvements in dealing wit… Read more »
Music and the Brain
Most of what we know about music and the brain has been discovered in the last 20 years. Music is universal across all cultures and, like other arts, is a function of specific social and cultural influences. Listening to or playing music can provide… Read more »
Music Therapy and Alzheimer’s Disease
Music therapy influences an individual’s physical, emotional, cognitive, and social well-being and is especially exciting as a modality that can improve the quality of life for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The type of therapy used in in… Read more »
Music Therapy for End of Life Care
Music therapy for end-of-life care involves playing music on a variety of instruments, singing, listening to music, and performing music based on the patient’s preferences. The goal is to enhance the person’s quality of life by relieving or easing a… Read more »
Music Therapy: Inspiring Health and Wellness
Music therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. At a time when people are increasingly turning to holistic methods… Read more »
Place and Space: Healing Environments
Every individual has the capacity to enhance his or her healing process (or the healing process of clients) through the creation of healing environments – spaces that support the individual’s inner healer and utilize the environment to maximize its h… Read more »
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
When individuals experience a traumatic, terrifying, life-changing event or series of events, with a real or threatened risk of death, they may experience a variety of symptoms known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although this condition h… Read more »
Psychology of Stress
Events, people, and circumstances fill our normal daily lives along with a certain amount of stress. Some of us experience psychological effects from this stress, while others seem to be unaffected or even thrive when challenged. Why do we react diff… Read more »
Sacred Spaces, Healing Places
Modern nursing was founded on the concepts of healing environments. Florence Nightingale was one of the first to realize the importance of nature, light, noise, and sensory stimulation in healing. Today, it is well known that healing environments emp… Read more »
Social Media and Healthcare
Social media has many characteristics and has become part of the very fabric of today’s society. It can be immediate, irreverent, and incredibly powerful. The use of social media in all areas of life, especially health care, is growing exponentially…. Read more »
Sound Healing: Vibrational Therapy
Sound healing is the process by which participants play or listen to live or recorded sounds in order to have a positive healing experience. Those experiencing sound healing may feel healing on a physical, emotional, energetic, and/or spiritual level… Read more »
Starting Your Own Business in Holistic and Integrative Health: Preparing for the Change
Starting your own business in health and healing provides many exciting options for creating a way to live and work that allows you to express your deepest core values and explore your own health and well-being more fully. Determining how to start yo… Read more »
The Biofield (Human Energy Field): Foundation for Energy Medicine
Energy is everything, and everything in the universe is in motion, even a rock at an atomic and subatomic level. Science is increasingly showing that human beings are comprised of an energy system that is highly integrated with the physical body, emo… Read more »
The Global Health Impacts of Overpopulation
The term “overpopulation” is not a common topic of conversation between citizens or among politicians. Yet, overpopulation is now considered to be the biggest threat to the future of the planet. Because the world’s population is growing at an alarmin… Read more »
Workplace Violence in Healthcare
Workplace violence is an increasing problem in organizations today and is especially challenging in the healthcare industry. Considered a human rights issue, workplace violence affects the dignity of millions of people worldwide and is a major source… Read more »