Dr Rakel and his colleagues have created an authoritative, credible, and user-friendly introduction to the "new" field of integrative medicine. Of course, those of us with some gray in our hair will recognize that integrative medicine is hardly new, merely harder and harder to implement. To quote from the first chapter of the book (coauthored by Rakel and Andrew Weil, MD):
The philosophy of health based on a balance of mind, body, and spirit is not new or unique to integrative medicine. This understanding has been around since the time of Aristotle. What we call it is not important but the underlying concepts are. It is time that the pendulum swings back to the middle where technology is used in the context of healing and focus is given to the complexity of the whole mind and body. . . Integrative medicine will provide the balance needed to create the best possible medicine for both the doctor and the patient. We will know when we are near this balance when the medicine of the future no longer needs the term integrative and is seen as simply "good medicine."