Currently, integrative medicine is a specialty of medicine that requires a physician to learn about these alternative forms of healing- and then blend that knowledge with their traditional training. However, as these training programs become more robust, the divide between 'eastern' and 'western' medicine will merge. We won't have to delineate 'eastern' evidenced-based, proven therapies as 'alternative,' but rather they will be incorporated into all medical schools around the world and just be seen as healthcare.
So you can think of integrative medicine as blending together all forms of healing from around the world. Beyond that, this truly is a patient-centered approach to healthcare. Practitioners have a deep understanding that everything in a person's life can impact their health including the interaction of all the different body systems, the lifestyle of the patient, all of the social determinants of health, the community the patient is living in and so much more. It takes the focus away from focusing just on life expectancy and puts an emphasis on quality of life and what is important to each individual patient.
integrative medicine
incorporating the philosophy
Because integrative medicine is truly a philosophy more than anything else, all specialties of medicine can adopt an integrative approach. Neurologists, gastroenterologists, cardiologists and more are choosing to pursue further training in integrative medicine to simply expand the tools they have in their toolbox. However, given the nature of the training, primary care specialties like internal medicine and family medicine work very well with an integrative approach. You may see primary care providers adopting integrative approaches, and with board certification, these doctors can also offer speciality integrative medicine consultations. This means that you can see an integrative medicine physician specifically to dive deeper into your health and accompany the treatments that your primary care provider or oncologist/etc. may be offering you.
Integrative medicine is a relatively new field of medicine that blends evidenced-based 'alternative' medicine with what we traditionally think of mainstream 'western' medicine. Rather than only subscribing to one view or the other, integrative medicine blends practices from around the world that have been proven to work. More than just incorporating these traditionally eastern practices, integrative medicine focuses on the whole person including mind, body and spirit. The focus is put back into the patient and getting to the root cause rather than focusing on one specific disease and the symptoms of that disease.
Traditionally, 'western' medicine, that originated in ancient Greece with Hippocrates (the 'Father of Western Medicine'), focuses on the body systems and treating ailments and symptoms of disease. For example, treating hypertension with a blood pressure medication rather than truly digging deeper to find out why a patient is having hypertension. Eastern medicine, on the other hand, dates back much earlier and refers to a range of practices originating throughout Asia like Traditional Chinese Medicine or Ayurvedic Medicine. These practices subscribe to a deep understanding that everything in the body is connected, and getting to the root cause of disease will relieve the patient of ailments. Integrative medicine integrates these two models and ultimately adopts the philosophy that there are many different things that one can do to treat the body, mind and spirit.