What is the historical evolution of CAM?
· What is the difference between complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine? How does each type of medicine relate to conventional health care in the United States?
· What are the major categories of CAM and the underlying concepts of each? How do they differ?
· What are the current trends in the use of CAM in the United States? Is CAM increasing or decreasing in popularity? Why?
· How do the principles of CAM differ from conventional or Western medicine?
· Why are consumers increasingly interested in nonallopathic medicine and various CAM modalities?
· Why are there few scientific studies on the various types of CAM treatments?
· What is the purpose and role of NCCAM? What information is available to the public from NCCAM?
· What are the concepts, views of health/illness, and diagnostic and therapeutic methods of the major alternative medical systems?
· Conventional prescription drugs must demonstrate in clinical trials that they produce the desired response more frequently than placebos. Because 30% of subjects receiving placebos demonstrate the desired response, such as decreased blood pressure, decreased pain, and faster healing time, what does this say about the power of the placebo? Is a placebo response a bad thing? What does a placebo response indicate about the power of the mind and the mind-body interaction?
· How does the placebo effect relate to alternative medicine? Does it support or refute CAM as an effective therapy?
· What role do scientific studies and clinical trials play in determining efficacy and safety of CAM treatments?