LO: Understand complementary therapies that can be used by users of health and
social care services.
P1: Explain the term ‘complementary therapies’.
Complementary therapies are a range of different products and health care
practices, they are used to help patients recover and improve their quality of life,
depending on individual needs depends on which complementary therapy is
recommended. Some complementary therapies are often used alongside
mainstream medication. Therapy is designed to improve an individual’s emotional
and physical health or relieve symptoms and side effects they could be experiencing.
Physical therapies:
Physical therapy is a type of medicine and rehabilitation that aims to improve quality
or life in the form of physical exercise. It can also be known as physiotherapy.
Yoga – yoga aims to improve an individual’s flexibility and fitness and to reduce their
stress levels. It involves the patient pushing their body into difficult positions in order
to relax, strengthen and loosen their muscles. Whilst their body is in these difficult
positions, the patient will also learn to control their breathing. For this complementary
therapy to work the individual must do it on a regular basis. For example, someone
with a sporting injury might do yoga to help them relax and stretch their muscles.
Aromatherapy – this includes using essential oils in a diffuser. Sometimes the oils
can be from plants such as lavender and eucalyptus. The use of oils helps to alter
and improve an individual’s mood, cognitive, physiological, or physical wellbeing. It is
often used to reduce stress, insomnia, and depression. Some patients would choose
to use these oils in the bath (sometimes in bath salt form) or through a massage.
Acupuncture – this is when needles are pierced into the skin at certain acupuncture
points. It is most used to treat pain however, since becoming more popular it is also
being used for overall wellness including stress management. Once the needles are
inserted into the skin they can be left for anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour
depending on the type of acupuncture being received. Once they are removed, they
should relieve the pain resulting in the individual feeling more relaxed.
Massage – this form of complementary therapy involves a qualified masseuse using
pressure from their own body and applying it onto the body of an individual.
Massages aim to release muscle tension, increase flexibility leaving the individuals
feeling relaxed and sleeping better after the aching and pains of the body being
tense have been massaged out. Pressure is most commonly applied using the
hands but can also be applied using fingers, elbows, forearms or a massaging
device, using various techniques on muscular structure and soft tissues of the body.
, Reflexology – a form of therapy that targets different points on the feet, lower leg,
face, ears or hands. It became a type of therapy after a theory that specific parts of
the body correlate to other specific parts of the body. This therapy works when
pressure is applied to certain parts of the body resulting in relaxing and rebalancing
the areas of the body in which these areas correspond to. Reflexologists work
holistically with patients and aim to work alongside conventional medicines to
promote better health and wellbeing of individuals.
Cognitive therapies:
Cognitive therapies are neuro-linguistic programming, hypnotherapy and cognitive
behavioural therapy. They focus on a wide range of psychological problems, which
can affect an individual’s health. This includes mental illnesses such as anxiety,
depression and eating disorders as well as aiming to recover from substance or
alcohol use.
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) – it is a form of therapy used to influence brain
behaviour using language and behavioural patterns. It is a cognitive alternative to
communication, personal development and psychotherapy. Richard Bandler and
John Grinder in California founded it and claimed that it would be able to treat
cognitive problems such as phobias, depression, habit and learning disorders and
allergies.
Hypnotherapy – hypnotherapy is a complementary therapy that uses hypnosis,
which is when the body is in and out of consciousness. It is used with the aim of
changing the individual’s responses, thoughts, attitudes behaviours or feelings,
therefore breaking habits. This relies on the placebo effect, which is about the power
of the mind to influence the body. Hypnotherapy has been used in the past and
worked for IBS, losing weight and quitting smoking, skin conditions, anxiety,
pregnancy and childbirth. However, although it has worked in the past there is no
evidence strong enough to show this approach works as it depends on the individual
and the extent of their health.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – CBT is a form of psychotherapy that aims to
help people manage the way they think and behave. This form of therapy is most
used by the individuals who may be dealing with anxiety and depression as it helps
to change the way the brain thinks, it can also be useful for other physical and
mental health illnesses. CBT claims to solve psychological problems by breaking
down the overwhelming or traumatic issues the individual has into smaller parts and
showing them there is a way to break away from the negative cycle.
Medicine based therapies:
Homeotherapy – homeotherapy is a different type of medicine, which practitioners
claim help the body to heal itself with no additional help. A principle of the therapy is
that a substance that causes certain symptoms, may also help to remove the
