Complementary & Alternative Therapies for Mental Health

As a Naturopathic Psychotherapist, I have devoted my career to learning about complementary and alternative therapies that improve emotional health. My book, Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Mental Health provides a comprehensive overview of such treatments.

Since receiving my Doctorate in Naturopathy, I continued my education in alternative medicine in mental health. Towards this effort, I earned a Masters in Counseling Psychology and Holistic Studies. I am currently in the dissertation process of my second doctorate degree, a Ph.D in Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Additionally, I have training and experience in other complementary and alternative methods, including:

  • Clinical Hypnosis
  • Guided Imagery
  • Biofeedback
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
  • Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
  • Herbology
  • Nutritional Therapy
  • Auditory Processing Therapy
  • Music Therapy
  • Dance Therapy
  • Tuning Fork Therapy
  • Hakomi Therapy (Body-centered, somatic psychotherapy)
  • Color Therapy
  • Detoxification
  • Fasting
  • Aromatherapy
  • Massage Therapy
  • Kinesiology
  • Reflexology
  • Cold Laser Therapy
  • Ozone Therapy
  • Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
  • Tui-Na (Acupressure)
  • Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan
  • Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga

Exactly What are Complementary and Alternative Therapies?

Because of the increasing popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (nearly 40 percent of U.S. adults report using it) more and more people have become curious about it. When using the term "alternative medicine," it refers to practices not typically used in conventional Western medicine. Exactly what's considered alternative medicine changes constantly as more treatments undergo study and move into the mainstream. When an alternative medicine therapy is used in addition to (not instead of) conventional therapy, it's called "complementary." When you use a complementary therapy in addition to a conventional one, it's called integrative medicine.

Examples of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

To make sense of the many therapies available, it helps to look at how they are classified by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the lead agency that funds for scientific research on CAM in the United States. The NCCAM categories are:

  • Whole medical systems
  • Mind-body medicine
  • Biologically based practices
  • Manipulative and body-based practices
  • Energy medicine
The distinctions between therapies aren't always clear-cut, and some systems use techniques from more than one category. A whole system isn't just a single practice or remedy, such as massage, but many practices that center on a philosophy, such as the power of nature or the presence of energy in your body. Examples of whole systems include:
  • Ancient healing systems. These healing systems arose long before conventional Western medicine and include Ayurveda from India and traditional Chinese medicine.
  • Homeopathy. This approach uses minute doses of a substance that causes symptoms to stimulate the body's self-healing response.
  • Naturopathy. This approach focuses on noninvasive treatments to help your body do its own healing and uses a variety of practices, such as massage, acupuncture, herbal remedies, exercise, and lifestyle counseling.
In addition to these systems, there are specific therapeutic approaches. The following represents the primary areas:
  • Mind-body techniques strengthen the communication between your mind and your body. Complementary and alternative medicine practitioners say these two systems must be in harmony for you to stay healthy. Examples of mind-body connection techniques include meditation, prayer, and relaxation and art therapies.
  • Biologically based practices include dietary supplements and herbal remedies. These treatments use ingredients found in nature. Examples of herbs include ginseng, ginkgo, and St. John's wort, while examples of other dietary supplements include amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Herbs and supplements can be taken as teas, oils, syrups, powders, tablets, or capsules.
  • Manipulation and body-based practices use human touch to move or manipulate a specific part of your body. They include chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation and massage.
  • Energy medicine practitioners believe an invisible energy force flows through your body, and when this energy flow is blocked or unbalanced you can become sick. Different traditions call this energy by different names, such as chi, prana, and life force. The goal of these therapies is to unblock or re-balance your energy force. Energy therapies include qi gong, therapeutic touch, reiki, and magnet therapy.
Many conventional psychotherapists and doctors practicing today have received little or no training in CAM therapies, so they are not qualified to make recommendations and address questions in this area. With the increasing popularity of CAM therapies, many practitioners are trying to play catch-up, so it is important to ask what education and training each practitioner has. I have devoted my career to receiving extensive education, training, and experience in this area, and have the following qualifications in the area of Complementary and Alternative Medicine:
  • Doctorate in Naturopathy (The study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies)
  • Masters in Counseling Psychology in Holistics Studies (Transpersonal Psychology and Somatic Psychotherapies)
  • Ph.D Candidate in the field of Transpersonal Psychology
Because of my training, I can usually help you to find a pracitioner specializing in the methods you are interested in. For more information about how I can combine CAM and psychotherapy to help you, please call (408) 315-0645 or contact me online.




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Randi Fredricks' book
Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Mental Health
Your Complete Guide
to Natural Methods for
Optimal and Vibrant
Emotional Health.

Click here to
learn more about this exciting book!
To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.
~ Abraham Maslow
Man arrives as a novice at each age of his life.
~ Nicolas de Chamfort
Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.
~ Denis Waitley
We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
~ Aristotle
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with
new eyes.
~ Marcel Proust
Work like you don’t need money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one’s watching.
~ Anonymous
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just
sit there.
~ Will Rogers

Randi Fredricks, LMFT, CHT, RAS, CCN, CCH    ♦     1711 Hamilton Ave Suite A, San Jose, California, 95125     ♦     408-315-0645

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This site does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and is intended for informational purposes only. No therapeutic relationship is established
by the use of this site. Randi Fredricks is a Psychotherapist and Licensed as a Marriage Family Therapist MFC 47803 and not licensed with the California
Medical Board or the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine. © 2001-2010 Randi Fredricks. All rights reserved. Medical Disclaimer and Copyright

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