Holistic Health Stats
& CAM Data
Prove the Time Is Now!
In December 2008, holistic health statistics and CAM data regarding Americans' participation and interest were released by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine National Center and the National Center for Health Statistics (part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). A 2007 in-person survey of Americans asked about their health- and illness-related experiences. The CAM section gathered information on 23,393 adults aged 18 years or older and 9,417 children aged 17 years and under. (No other demographic breakdown of participants was provided but may appear on the CDC National Centers websites.) A similar CAM section was included in the 2002 survey, providing the opportunity to examine trends in CAM use over time. The charts give an overview of the results.
Source: Barnes PM,
Bloom B, Nahin, R.
CDC National Health
Statistics Report #12.
US, 2007. December 2008.
According to Message Scent News (8/09, p.7), more than 45 percent of Americans today are seeking natural methods to recapture their health. Also last year, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported a 47.3% increase in total visits to alternative practitioners. It found that people turn to alternative medicine consultants mostly because natural healthcare more closely mirrors their own values, beliefs, and philosophical orientations towards life. In 1990, a different survey concluded that 34 percent of Americans said they used at least one alternative therapy. This means that over the past 20 years, there has been an 11% increase in people seeking or using natural and alternative methods. People spent nearly $14 billion a year for this treatment beginning in the 1990s; now this figure is way up and projected to be close to $100 billion soon.
The budget for the National Center for CAM went from $2 million in 1993 to $50 million in 1999, and is growing rapidly, according to HolisticPsychologySchool.com. It is estimated that holistic wellness in the next ten years will become a trillion dollar industry, impacting just about every aspect of our lives. Most expenditures for holistic health treatments and CAM came out of the patients' own pocket. The therapies most in demand are meditation, touch therapy (such as Reiki), guided imagery, spiritual healing, chiropractic, hypnosis, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal cures, and folk remedies. (source: http://www.reiki.org/ReikiPractice/PracticeHomepage.htm) Take our own
holistic health stats survey
to submit your views on the subject.
|
