What is the Integrative Medicine Model?

Dr. Kathi Kemper from Harvard University created the Integrative Medicine Model, which takes the form of a wheel of therapies, with the patient at the center and different therapies at the rim (Fig. 1).

Specific therapies are grouped into one of four categories, based on the proposed mechanism of action: biochemical, lifestyle/mind-body, biomechanical, and bioenergetics.

Biochemical Therapies
Biochemical therapies act at the level of biochemistry and are perhaps the most familiar and readily understood by physicians. Among the most common biochemical therapies are medications, herbal remedies, vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements.

Lifestyle/Mind-Body Therapies
These interventions are often common-sense therapies all of us incorporate into our daily lives, including exercise, nutrition, rest, stress management,  environmental changes (heat, ice, music, vibration, and light therapies, magnets, clean environment, air filters), social support,and mind-body techniques such as (hypnosis, meditation, journaling, guided imagery, psychotherapy, nlp and biofeedback among others). Mind-body therapies are geared toward invoking the mind’s ability to influence body function and symptoms. The key principle is that thoughts or emotions (”stresses”) have an important impact on health. By improving awareness of one’s own bodily systems, one develops a sense of self-efficacy and control and is more able to move from a state of internal disorder to one of homeostasis.

Biomechanical Therapies
These therapies stimulate, align, move, or remove larger tissues and organs. Therapies such as, massage, bodywork, spinal manipulation (including chiropractic and osteopathic adjustments) and surgery are in this category.

Bioenergetic Therapies
The underlying principle of bioenergetic interventions is that they restore the harmonious balance of an invisible energy or spirit that surrounds and flows through the body. Bioenergetic therapies include acupuncture, radiation therapy, conscious breathing, homeopathy, magnets, Reiki, Brennan Healing Science, healing touch, prayer, qi gong, and homeopathy.

(Kemper, Vohra, Walls, & Task Force on Complementary and Alternative Medicine the Provisional Section on Complementary, Holistic, and Integrative Medicine, 2008).

Retrieved from http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/155/4/449

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine  http://nccam.nih.gov/

Dr. Kathi Kemper is recognized internationally as the leading authority on integrative medicine for children. Media including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, ABC News, and USA Today, frequently consults her. She serves as a faculty for Yale, Harvard University, among others.

She founded the Council on Bioenergetic Healing, the Council on Mind-Body Medicine, the Committee for Holistic and Integrative Medical Education, at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She also serves as Senior Research Associate at the Mind-Body Medical Institute at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts,

kemper_k@al.tch.harvard.edu

Integrative Medicine Model