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So what does integrated healthcare mean in practice?
The example of cancer care is a good one, because much work has been done to implement this approach in cancer care. Typically, a person with cancer is getting medical treatment, and an integrated approach is supporting that person with self-help techniques, and giving physical and emotional support using complementary therapies. Often, specialist nutritional advice may be given too. Maintaining a positive approach is often a key part of this support. One of the main complementary therapies used is Hypnotherapy, using techniques that can help to cope with living with a health problem and supporting the medical treatment received.
Many people living with, or recovering from a health problem can be offered the support of an integrated approach. Many of us will be stressed during times of bad health, and Hypnotherapy offers help to relax and to learn self-help techniques. The effects of bad health can also cause us to become very negative about ourselves and the situation that we are in, often giving us a feeling of a loss of control. Hypnotherapy offers help to promote a positive attitude to living with, and recovering from, illness. Hypnotherapy also offers help to reduce feelings of physical pain and some of the other effects of illness or drugs (such as nausea).
This type of support is offered to a wide range of conditions, including people recovering from strokes, people living with cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS), heart conditions, parkinson’s disease, myasthenia gravis, and many others.
No, of course it isn’t - but an integrated approach to health offers help by supporting you with practical techniques to help manage living with and in recovering from a health problem - and the positive potential is clearly shown and backed up by scientific research.
Healthcare in the UK is in a period of change. One of the changes is what is called ‘integrated healthcare’, which is the integration of mainstream medical care and complementary health care. This change is partly being driven by the increasing recognition that there is a powerful connection between the mind and the body, and what we think and feel can actually have a physical effect upon our body.
PNI; the science of mind-body connections
Is integrated healthcare a miracle cure?
Who can be helped with this approach?