Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is an emerging and increasingly popular group of treatments, therapies and philosophies of health and wellbeing. It is a fascinating and fast-changing area of social life, which also poses an interesting challenge to current healthcare delivery and policy making. This reader presents a lively and engaging collection of classic, controversial and new readings on CAM and covers issues including: changes in the way CAM is developing and being delivered holism and what this concept means to CAM practice changes in consumption and the health consumer that have lead to increased interest in CAM the safety and effectiveness of CAM treatments how integration is being achieved in contemporary society. The text provides insight into many of the current and complex issues surrounding CAM, and will appeal to everyone who is concerned with, or who has an interest in, complementary and alternative healthcare. The book will be essential reading for students of CAM, health studies, nursing, medicine and allied health subjects, as well as medical sociology and modern health policy.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a fascinating and fast-changing area of medicine. This book explores the challenging issues associated with CAM in the context of the social, political and cultural influences that shape people's health.
The book provides an overview of social change, consumption and debates arising from the increased public interest in CAM, arguing for and against different classifications. It discusses how CAM developed in a political and historical context, critically assessing the importance of ethics and values to CAM practice and how these inform what practitioners do. The book continues by analyzing the question of what people want, the changing contested nature of health, and the nature of personal and social factors associated with the use of CAM. Examining the diversity of settings in which CAM takes place the book explores the social, political and economic milieu in which CAM is provided and used.
The book is one of three core texts for the forthcoming Open University course K221 Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (first presented in February 2005).