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Surely you take complementary and alternative medicines?

Professor of Psychiatry and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, University of Leicester, Section of Social and Epidemiological Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Brandon Mental Health Unit, Leicester General Hospital, Gwendolen Road, Leicester LE5 4PW, UK, e-mail: tsb{at}le.ac.uk

Hagen Rampes

Professor, West London Mental Health NHS Trust, Middlesex, London

Rachel Jenkins

Consultant Psychiatrist, WHO Collaborating Centre, London

Declaration of interest

Some observations expressed here [sic] were included in a presentation to the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Edinburgh, July 2003.

Abstract

A substantial proportion of our patients use or consider using complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) and other coping strategies. It is important that we acknowledge this, know something about the subject and are aware of current or potential developments in the field. These remedies might be harmless, beneficial or harmful and their side-effects might alter and confuse clinical presentations. We need to be vigilant of the potential for significant drug interactions between complementary and orthodox treatments. There is a substantial growth in complementary and alternative medical research in the USA, now beginning to follow in the UK. This will hopefully bring useful future progress.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				U. WERNEKE, T. TURNER, and S. PRIEBE Complementary medicines in psychiatry: Review of effectiveness and safety The British Journal of Psychiatry, February 1, 2006; 188(2): 109 - 121. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]