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What is integrated healthcare?

In 1975, Dr Robert Ader, the Director of Behavioural and Psychosocial Medicine at New York’s University of Rochester, coined the name PsychoNeuroImmunology (PNI). Basically, the name reflects the belief that the mind and body are connected, so that what the mind thinks and feels can have a physical effect upon the body, and PsychoNeuroImmunology is the scientific study investigating this link. Dr Ader and others have conducted much research in this area since the 1970s, and the findings of this research are now being put into practice in various fields of healthcare.

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 integrated healthcare in this area. 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 in the approach is Hypnotherapy, using techniques that can help people to cope with both living with a health problem and in supporting you in the treatment you receive for that health problem.

The research behind this has evolved into a science in its own right and is starting to impact healthcare (more details about the science and research are below).  Other indicators of the changes in healthcare include the introduction of the School of Integrated Health at the University of Westminster, the formation of the Prince of Wales’s Foundation for Integrated Health, and the success of the integrated approach being used at the Bristol Cancer Help Centre.

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.

There are lots of people who are living with, or recovering from a health problem who 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-relaxation techniques. The effects of bad health can also cause us to become very negative about ourselves and the situation that we find ourselves 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.

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.