Also known as complementary medicine, alternative medicine covers a wide range of treatments that people use all over the world to deal with their symptoms and to seek cures for their conditions. Although it lies outside the orbit of conventional, western medical science, certain alternative therapies are gaining ground in some hospitals. In places where western medicine is restricted or unavailable, alternative medicine is still the mainstay of healthcare for many people. Although some people are quite happy to accept two different medicinal frameworks, others deride alternative remedies as nothing more than quackery.
The term holistic medicine relates to a wide number of therapies that are designed to treat the whole of a person, both their body and mind. It is often, therefore, seen in contrast to the drug therapies offered by big pharmaceutical companies – and surgery, for that matter – as a means of dealing with all ailments rather than focusing on 'cures' for specific pathogens or treating individual symptoms. Some, therefore, argue that holistic medicine frames conventional Western medicine as one that is narrow in its approach and ultimately unnatural. Holistic medicine is consequently considered an alternative therapy or, more accurately, a combination of alternative therapies. Today, some doctors combine the principals behind holistic therapies with conventional ones. However, this is not yet routine in the West.
A method for resolving disputes between two or more parties, mediation makes use of a neutral party who acts as an intermediary by allowing a channel for communications to occur. A typical example of mediation in action would be where a dispute has arisen between two neighbours who – both having become upset at one another and who no longer talk to each another. A mediator can be called upon in such circumstances to speak to each aggrieved neighbour to relay messages back and forth to try and resolve, either partially or fully, the cause of the issue. However, mediation is not merely a communications process. A good mediator will use a variety of techniques to promote potentially positive outcomes, often negotiating a revised position from one party that they then present to the other, asking for concessions in return. By improving dialogue, complaint resolutions through mediation become more likely, usually by asking each party to try and empathise with the other. Many professional mediators are trained and have qualifications in dispute resolution.
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