When I started my deep dive into all things ‘woo’, I, like many of you, wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about. I LOVE all of the positive affirmations, shamanic drumming circles, Gong Baths, etc., etc., of the woo wellness world. There is an argument to be made for the sense of community and belonging, of a connection to something ancient and bigger than yourself, of taking some power and control back over the course and direction of your life rather than have it be dictated to you in a cold, sterile environment where everyone seems harassed and stressed out and no one has time to actually listen to you.
The Wellness World is warm and friendly, smells good, and I mean, come on, healing crystal grids? Yes please! They’re so pretty!
Yes, yes, maybe some of the health claims are a bit bogus, but whatever. It’s not like they’re hurting anyone, right?
Ha! How naive and wrong I was.
I’m beginning a series of posts designed around the culmination of over 5 years of research into the world of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies. It’s taken me well over a decade to really get a grasp on the Wellness World - CAM therapies, Integrative Medicine, Lifestyle Medicine, Sports Medicine, etc., etc.. It is a veritable wild west of unregulated predatory charlatans, a patchwork of genuine efforts to properly regulate various aspects to protect people, and a whole bunch of confusion.
This isn’t a series where I am going to crap all over everything either, for the record. There are some great treatment designs and awesome fun to be had by incorporating and respecting peoples’ individual preferences for how they want to be cared for during rehabilitation and recovery. If a belief in Reiki allows someone to feel connected and cared for, by all means let’s sit down and have a great conversation about the benefits and limits of what Reiki can do for you. But be prepared that I am also going to discuss what it can’t do and what other treatments and therapies you should also be incorporating into your recovery plan.
Wellness medicine, lifestyle medicine, integrative medicine, etc., when done right, aim to add a missing component of patient care and respect for individual beliefs that many feel has been slowly removed from the traditional healthcare system. At its heart, it tries to work towards a preventative model of disease care that focuses on getting you to your best self. Unfortunately, this can be taken WAY too far and actually become dangerous. Think of it like the difference between going on a diet to lose a few pounds of pandemic weight versus crossing over into an eating disorder. There is a mental health aspect involved in the wellness world where the focus on ‘wellness’ crosses over into something unhealthy and dangerous. This is the world where people fall prey to predatory practices and con artists who make A LOT of money making you and keeping you very unwell.
So before people pick up the pitchforks - I’m not going to take away your Tapping exercises or your foam rollers (legit though, go easy on those, eh?). I want to make sure that everyone gets to explore this world safely and free of predation. So let’s have a conversation about how to do that!
First up, let’s start with some definitions and discussions about what falls where:
Complementary therapies are treatments and therapies that are in addition to your normal healthcare routine. So, think like adding in a mindfulness or meditation practice during chemotherapy. Massage therapy is also an excellent example of a complementary therapy. It is usually done in addition to getting certain medical conditions ruled out to make sure that it is safe for you to have massage therapy. Luckily, in Canada, there is already excellent work being done to regulate this practice and ensure its safety, so I will often refer to it as a wonderful model for the work that needs to be done in some of the other professions. Complementary therapies are the safest ones to add in to your healthcare and rehabilitation routines. They tend to want regulation and research their practices as well as hold their practitioners to safety standards, etc., so that they can be properly incorporated into treatment plans. Some other great examples of complementary therapies are yoga, Qi Gong, acupuncture, acupressure, healing touch, Reiki - they aren’t trying to replace your traditional care, just add to it.
Alternative therapies are those done instead of traditional medical care. Often these are thought of as things like traditional Chinese medicine, naturopathy, Ayurvedic medicine, etc.. However, in my experience there is actually a line in these professions where it is how the practitioner chooses to practice that determines whether or not they are complementary or alternative. This is where patient choice comes in - in my last post I used the example of a pro-life versus pro-choice Obstetrician. Both of those can be fine and there is room for each to have a full practice. The problem comes in when a pro-choice patient is being treated by a pro-life doctor who refuses appropriate medical care based on their individual religious beliefs. That’s the area where stuff gets a bit dicey and where, to have proper informed consent, the beliefs of the practitioner must be made available to the public so that patients can decide for themselves which to see. It also requires proper oversight so that a pro-life doctor isn’t going to unnecessarily risk the life of both baby and mother by refusing to do a medical procedure, etc., etc.. The same is true for the alternative medicine world. The way that these practitioners choose to operate should be made publicly available so that patients can make proper informed consent on which one they are going to see, and proper oversight needs to be there to make sure that patient safety is still priority #1.
Why this is important: The medical model allows for this oversight based on the way the system itself is structured. The alternative medicine world does not have that same oversight structure. This is where it can get a bit dicey and where some predatory practitioners thrive. A practitioner who does not want oversight into how they are practicing is usually doing something sketchy. And given the chance for serious negative health consequences with these therapies, oversight is important. An excellent example is a traditional Chinese medicine that actually causes heavy metal poisoning because the herbal preparation isn’t subject to the same regulatory oversight.
So, now, this is the world I thought I was getting myself into. This is the surface discussion around CAM therapies - the mostly or almost regulated world that everyone sees and thinks ‘what’s the big deal’? This is the fight that the actually predatory practitioners want you to stay focused on. They use it as a smoke screen for their dangerous cons. Think of it like the marijuana of the holistic therapy world. If everyone’s super focused on the ‘dangers’ of a drug that most people think of as a mostly benign issue, drug lords can distract you from the super seedy drug world underbelly of the cocaine or heroin trade etc. Everyone argues about overblown prison sentences and regulation and meanwhile fentanyl overdoses are steadily on the rise.
I’m talking going on shamanic retreats in other countries where people pay thousands of dollars for the experience of being fed poisonous substances and risking dying of dehydration. Or ones that young women have been rescued from after investigations reveal that some of these ‘retreats’ actually feed human trafficking rings. These predators use the smoke screen of the mostly harmless bunk world of wellness as a cover for some very dangerous things. So while everyone focuses on arguing over whether or not the Wellness World should be regulated, some very dangerous people are getting away with some very terrible things.
Let’s start there. That’s why regulation should be brought in. It’s not to take away your access to a personal informed consent choice to choose Ayurvedic medicine over traditional care. It’s to stop very serious and dangerous criminals from using it as a smokescreen for genuinely criminal activities.
So, are you ready for a deep dive into all things woo? Let’s talk…