A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine

14 Jan

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – An excerpt from my book “A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why – Foreword by Dr. Bernie Siegel

Mel Borins M.D. A Doctor's Guide to Alternative Medicine, Medical Writing 0

My son Larry Borins who is a psychotherapist and social worker is offering a new Mindfulness workshop that combines Mindfulness and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) . There is only a few spots left. For more info, please visit THE MINDFUL WAY.

You can order ‘A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine’ from melborins.com or Indigo.ca.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a program founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 in the Department of Behavioural Medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Patients were taught to develop non-judgemental, moment-to-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations through a number of mind-body practices. Many subsequent programs have been modeled on this one, and a number of research studies have shown the approach useful for many divergent conditions.

02 Nov

Problems With Herbs – from my book “A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why – Foreword by Dr. Bernie Siegel”

Mel Borins M.D. A Doctor's Guide to Alternative Medicine, Medical Writing 1

Herbs have stood the test of time and for the most part herbs are quite safe, but they can cause problems if used inappropriately. In addition, many have side effects that people are not aware of.

04 Sep

Exercise For Depression – from my book “A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why – Foreword by Dr. Bernie Siegel”

Mel Borins M.D. A Doctor's Guide to Alternative Medicine, Medical Writing 0

You can order ‘A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine’ from melborins.com or Indigo.ca.

Depression is one of the most common problems I treat in clinical practice. Even though drug therapy and psychotherapy is effective at alleviating symptoms much depression remains undiagnosed and inadequately treated. Sometimes patients refuse to take medications. Oftentimes combining psychotherapy, medication and other treatment modalities give better results.

27 Nov

Laughter is the Jest Medicine – from my book “A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why – Foreword by Dr. Bernie Siegel”

Mel Borins M.D. A Doctor's Guide to Alternative Medicine, Medical Writing, News 1

You can order “A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine” from melborins.com or Indigo.ca.

Humour is a powerful tool to improve communication and put people at ease. Victor Borge, the famous comedian once said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” Not only is laughter therapeutic, but laughter can be a way of uniting and uplifting us as human beings.

07 Nov

Echinacea: Is it Useful for the Prevention of Upper Respiratory Infections? An excerpt from my book “A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why – Foreword by Dr. Bernie Siegel

Mel Borins M.D. A Doctor's Guide to Alternative Medicine, Medical Writing 2

You can order ‘A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine’ from melborins.com or Indigo.ca.

Echinacea is one of the most commonly used herbs in North America. There are 9 known native species. Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea angustifolia, and Echinacea pallida are commonly used. The plant also goes by the name of purple coneflower, coneflower and American coneflower. The aboveground parts of the plant and roots are used fresh or dried to make teas and can be squeezed (expressed) to make extracts. Anecdotally, many of my patients rave about its ability to decrease or stop the symptoms of upper respiratory infections (URI’s).