Complementary and alternative medicine and psychiatry: opinions of patients and psychiatrists

All over the world people are becoming increasingly interested in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Some would like CAM to be integrated into conventional medicine, others are strongly opposed to its integration. We distributed printed questionnaires in order to discover the views of patients and psychiatrists on CAM and to obtain information about the extent to which people actually use CAM. Patients often turn to CAM and are generally satisfied with the results and many support integration. Psychiatrists underestimate the number of times that patients use CAM. They are reluctant to support the integration of alternative medicine but are less opposed to the integration of complementary medicine. Patients and psychiatrists want more information about CAM. Asking the patients whether they use CAM seems desirable.