Know the Facts with the most up-to-date medical information written by Benjamin Goldberg Foundation’s medical advisor, Dr. Sheetal Ajmani.
Five Types of Mind-Body Therapies for Children
Mind-body therapies are among the top 10 most frequently used complementary modalities of healing by adults and children, according to the 2007-2012 National Health Interview Survey. Among children, 3.7% between the ages of 4- and 17-years use mind-body therapies. In this article, you’ll learn what mind-body therapies are and why they are among the topmost frequently used complementary therapies.
What is mind-body therapy?
Mind-body approaches involve specific techniques to engage the mind in ways that positively affect body awareness and regulation of physiological responses to improve health outcomes.
Prescriptions To Promote Health: The New Wave Of Social Prescribing
Doctors around the world are now giving their patients a new type of prescription. Instead of a drug or medication, they’re prescribing that their patients go to a museum, listen to a concert, or spend time in nature.
Complementary and Integrative Medicine – The What, Why, and How – Part 2
In Part 2, you’ll get an overview of the many complementary and integrative healing modalities currently in practice.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, categorizes complementary therapies into 2 main groups – natural products and mind-body practices. A third category, whole medical systems, will also be discussed here.
Complementary and Integrative Medicine – The What, Why, and How – Part 1
More than 1 out of every 10 children use complementary therapies in addition to conventional allopathic medicine. This number drastically increases in children with chronic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, migraine headaches, epilepsy, asthma, and cystic fibrosis, where up to 50% of children affected with these conditions have used complementary therapies. The numbers of adults are even higher where 1 in 3 adults use complementary therapies.
These statistics are from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey that looked at complementary therapy use in the preceding year. At the time of writing this article, 13 years after that initial survey, interest in and acceptance of integrative and complementary modalities of healing have only grown.
It’s Not Just For Kids! Art Therapy Is Good For Parents Too
While their parents feeling better and more relaxed is not going to change a child's diagnosis or heal them from their chronic condition, it can certainly improve their quality of life.
Art therapy is a master’s level profession that uses the creative arts to improve a person’s emotional, mental, and physical well-being.
Parent caregivers of children with chronic health conditions experience high degrees of emotional distress. While care and attention is being given to the children, parent caregivers also need a path to healing and well-being. This small pilot study shows the role art therapy can play in addressing the emotional needs of parent caregivers.