Mental and Holistic Health Some International Perspectives

The search for optimal medications to support health has been part of human history since early times. One concept that was learned in early human civilisations was that medications can be harmful as well as potentially beneficial. Folklore and anecdotal information dominated human knowledge for more than 50,000 years until the work of the Chinese emperor, Shen-Nung (2737 BCE), who became a pristine, official, and erudite classifier of medicinal herbs. Pharmacologic management of human disease is clearly part of the 21st century medical armamentarium. Adolescents of the second decade of the 21st century and those adolescents soon to come will determine the outcome of our planet and life into the 22nd century. Pharmacology will remain an ever-growing part of clinicians' efforts to improve their patients' mental and medical health, but in this book, the authors' have taken a holistic approach, which they hope will please and interest the reader.