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The term “Alternative Medicine” encompasses many forms, and elicits at least as many opinions. This authoritative, objective set is in tune with the subjects that matter to students and researchers, presenting four volumes of current, unbiased information on alternative and complementary medical practices. Covering all aspects of the subject—Therapies, Conditions/Diseases, Herbs/Plants and People—the “Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine” identifies 150 types of alternative medicine being practiced today, including reflexology, acupressure, acupuncture, chelation therapy, kinesiology, yoga, chiropractic, Feldenkrais, polarity therapy, detoxification, naturopathy, Chinese medicine, biofeedback, Ayurveda and osteopathy. For the practitioner or interested patient, there are current training requirements, listings of organizations, as well as descriptions of treatments.

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This digital document is an article from Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed., brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2958 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The third edition of this authoritative, comprehensive, in-depth medical guide features information on medical topics in language accessible to adult laypersons. Disease/disorder articles typically cover definition; description; causes and symptoms; diagnosis; treatments; prevention; and more. Test/treatment articles typically cover definition; purposes; precautions; preparation; risks; normal and abnormal results; and much more. ... Read more

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The article is excerpted fromGale Encyclopedia of Medicine.

Consultthe second edition of this authoritative, comprehensive, in-depthmedical guide for information on more than 1,700 medical topics inlanguage accessible to adult laypersons. Presented in a singlealphabetical sequence, articles range in length from one or twoparagraphs for minor topics, to several pages or more for major topics.Disease/disorder articles typically cover definition; description;causes and symptoms; diagnosis; treatments; prevention; and more.Test/treatment articles typically cover definition; purposes;precautions; preparation; risks; normal and abnormal results; and muchmore. This second edition includes more than 200 new entries, 300updated entries, approximately 650 color images and illustrations, anda comprehensive subject index. New features include biographical andhistorical sidebars throughout the text.

Disease/disorder articles contain some or all of the following sections:

• Definitions -- brief dictionary-style definition of the disorder
• Descriptions -- overview of the disorder; who gets it and why
• Causes & symptoms -- process, substance or organism thatproduces the condition; any risk factors that increase susceptibilityto the condition; signs and symptoms of the disease
• Diagnosis -- overview of procedures and tests used todiagnose the condition; how the test is done; who should be tested andwhen; time required; cost; whether it's typically covered by insurance
• Treatments -- overview of conventional methods of care ormanagement of the condition, such as drugs, surgeries, physicaltherapy, etc.
• Alternative treatments -- overview of alternative/complementary therapies that may be used to treat the condition
• Prognosis -- probable outcome of the disease
• Preventions -- what actions can be taken to prevent the condition from occurring

Test/treatment articles contain some or all of the following sections:

• Definitions -- brief dictionary-style definition of the test/treatment
• Purposes -- why and when this test/treatment is prescribed
• Precautions -- when this test/treatment should not be prescribed
• Descriptions -- overview of the test/treatment including cost,length of time required, procedures followed, whether typically coveredby insurance
• Preparation -- pre-test treatment procedures, if any
• Aftercare -- post-test treatment procedures, if any
• Risks -- any complications/side effects commonly associated with the test/treatment
• Normal results -- for tests, describes the normal values; for treatments, describes the anticipated outcomes
• Abnormal results -- defines abnormal test values

Published/Released: December 2001

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The article is excerpted fromGale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine.
"Gale's products are known to be thorough, well-researched, and good reference tools.This item is no exception...
This is a valuable resource for readers who are seeking information oncomplementary medicine and herbal remedies. The scope of thisencyclopedia is comprehensive, but not definitive. Readers should usethis as a supplement,.to professional healthcare consultation. Thissource has been a long-awaited product for the consolidation of generalalternative medicine information."
-- ARBA (2002)

Informationon recommended therapies for specific disorders and diseases, medicinaluses for plants and herbs are balanced by conclusions of studies onefficacy and analysis of current levels of acceptance by traditionalscientists and doctors. Biographies of pioneers in the field --including Deepak Chopra, Edward Bach and David Palmer --appear assidebars through the text. Included are 39 sidebars. Each volumecontains a color photo insert containing images of herbs. There aremore than 275 disease/condition entries, 300 herb/remedy entries, and150 therapies. ... Read more

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In this unique exploration of Nietzsche's life and behavior, Dr. Richard Schain challenges the widely held view that this important philosopher's actions and erratic writings were due to general paresis, or syphilis of the brain. The author offers a detailed biography of Nietzsche's life, at each major turning point offering his own thoughts regarding why the diagnosis of syphilis is unsatisfactory to explain Nietszche's behavioral and thought patterns. With an accessible writing style and close attention to detail, Schain offers important reasons for one to reevaluate the claims made regarding Nietzsche's mental illness and deterioration. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Thorough, Thoughtful, Probably Wrong
This concise and well written book is a critical discussion of the widely accepted idea that Nietzsche died from neurosyphilis.The basic facts are known well.In his late 40s, Nietzsche had a psychotic episode from which he never recovered.Following a period of institutionalization, he was cared for by his family until his premature death.His psychiatric problems appear to have fluctuated some in the early phases of his illness but his later course was characterized by a progressive decline until he was profoundly demented and immobile.Schain, drawing to a large extent on the helpful compilation and publication of many relevant documents by the German physician Pia Volz, nicely surveys Nietzsche's medical history and the prior literature on this topic. Schain is appropriately critical of the neurosyphilis hypothesis.While this idea was apparently accepted widely by Nietzsche's physicians, including individuals such as the noted neuropsychiatrist and neuropathologist Otto Binswanger who were very knowledgeable about this topic, Schain shows well the defects of this conclusion.For example, Nietzsche's anisocoria was regarded as evidence of neurosyphilis but Schain provides evidence that it was actually a congenital phenomenon.Nietzsche probably contracted gonorrhea as a young man but had no clear history of primary or secondary syphilis.As Schain points out, only clinical diagnosis of neurosyphilis was possible in Nietzsche's time and neurosyphilis was clearly used as a 'waste basket' categorization of a variety of entities.Nietzsche never underwent neuropathologic evaluation and so this issue can never be settled definitively.

Schain's alternative diagnosis is schizophrenia and he makes a reasonable case for this diagnosis.There are, however, several problems with Schain's conclusions.Like others who have written on this topic, Schain is pursuing 'pathography', the idea that knowledge of illness can cast light on the life and work of the sufferer.Schain's conception of schizophrenia has a strong psychodynamic flavor.He sees Nietzsche's breakdown as the result of a conflict between Nietzsche's profoundly unconventional ideals and the realities of late Victorian society superimposed on a unstable personality structure.The latter idea is not defined well.Schain sees Nietzsche's illness as an organic extension of his critique and criticism of the Victorian world.

Schain's conception of schizophrenia, however, is inaccurate.Schizophrenia is not really a psychodynamice problem.It is, as suspected by 19th century German neuropsychiatrists, a brain disease, probably one resulting from abnormal brain development.Crucial features of Nietzsche's illness are not consistent with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.As Schain acknowledges, onset of psychosis and schizophrenia in the late 40s, while not unheard of, is definitely unusual.Schizophrenia does not account for Nietzche's subsequent decline and eventual death, which is more consistent with a neurodegenerative process than schizophrenia. This fact militates against other possible psychiatric diagnoses such as bipolar disorder or major depression with psychotic features, the latter being more common in the middle aged than new onset schizophrenia.

It seems most likely that Nietzsche suffered from some neurodegenerative disorder that presented with psychiatric illness.There are a lot of possibilities.None of them are common in the middle-aged.A number of very rare disorders, like prion diseases or Wilson's disease, are possible. Frontotemporal dementias, which are now appreciated as uncommon as opposed to rare, typcially have prominent behavioral features at onset and they do present at younger ages than more common dementias such as Alzheimer disease.

On statistical grounds, however, one cause would have to be favored.In a middle-aged Victorian man with a history of venereal disase presenting with psychosis followed by a progressive dementing disorder, neurosyphilis would be the most likely cause. ... Read more

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Publisher: Philadelphia, London : J. B. Lippincott companySubjects: NeurosyphilisNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more