43rd National Congress of the Italian Psychiatric Association—Consensus Conference: ‘Non‐Conventional Medicines’

The Italian Republic protects health as a fundamental right of the individual, safeguards the principle of scientific pluralism and ensures the freedom of choice of treatments by individuals and the professional qualification of health operators, with special focus on the independence of doctors as regards the The right of choice that every person is acknowledged as having as a focal point of every modern consideration of the respect of the will of individuals for their own state of health and sickness has already been explicitly expressed and has taken on concrete shape through increasingly larger sections of the population resorting to a number of treatments and therapeutic practices known under the common overall name of 'medicine non convenzionali—non-conventional medi-cines' (MNC–NCM): acupuncture, homeopathy, phytotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine, anthroposophical medicine, homotoxicology, ayurvedic medicine, chiropractic and osteopathy ('Guidelines for non-conventional medicines', FNOMCeO, Terni, May 18, 2002). It is generally agreed that no therapeutic and health-restoring methods can disregard the need for a preliminary clinical diagnosis, the responsibility for which appertains only to a doctor with specific competence, who is entitled to use such methods as an integral part of medicine according to science, conscience, competence and skill. Definitions The attribute 'non-conventional', despite its being currently the commonest expression used in Italy, would seem to place these treatment methods in contrast with academic medicine, which is considered to be conventional. It should be remembered in this respect that in the English-speaking world the term CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) is used, and it is crucial to underline the complementary nature of the different possible diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that fall within this field in order to emphasize the integration under way in the health system and the possibility of the practical use of all the information provided by the patient. Also of crucial importance is the search for, finding and adoption of a common language that, by defining single methodological characteristics in a clear-cut way, favors the exchange of as much information as possible between health operators and researchers, above all in academic spheres. The goal is to appreciate the advantages and limits of each method and to better identify, among a broad range of therapies and treatments and on the basis of the available evidence, which is the most appropriate for the sick patient. The ethics of the therapeutic integration provided by these methods of treatment having been acknowledged, it is a good …