1. Contemporary Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. Editor. Churchill-Livingstone/Elsevier, 2002.

"As an overview of Chinese medicine today, and as an introduction to the subject, this book outstrips anything that has yet been published." *

"As more patients turn to acupuncture and Chinese medicine to meet part of their health care needs, increasing numbers of biomedical providers are caring for patients who are also seeing acupuncturists, usually with little understanding of what an acupuncturist does… There has long been a need for a volume that describes acupuncture and Chinese medicine to the biomedical provider. Claire Cassidy's [book] provides…a clear and concise review of Chinese medicine and acupuncture." **

This text—one in the respected series of Medical Guides to Complementary and Alternative Medicine, edited by Marc Micozzi MD—is aimed at biomedical readers, and got rave reviews on publication. It offers first an overview of Chinese medicine theory, followed by chapters on the practice of acupuncture medicine. The latter include case studies, and autobiographical pieces by acupuncturist practitioners.  The largest part of the text is devoted to reviewing research data on acupuncture, topic by topic. Included are chapters on physiology, patient perceptions of care and epidemiology of use, pain, addictions, respiratory disease, digestive disorder, women's reproductive health, depression and mental illness, and neurological dysfunction including stroke. Each chapter is written by a leader in the field. The last chapter offers guidance on referral both for potential patients and for other clinicians. Order your copy from me, from Elsevier, or find your copy and reader reviews on amazon.com!

*J of Chinese Med 2003
**Steven Given, J Altern Complement Med 2002

2. "Social and Cultural Factors" , Chapter 4 in: M Micozzi, ed, Fundamentals of Complementary and Integrative Medicine , 3rd ed, Saunders/Elsevier, 2006.  

This book offers a huge amount of information and perspective on alternative medicine. My chapter explores differing medical explanatory models and their impact on perception, treatment and research. It will be of particular interest to those who want to understand the philosophical task of creating an 'integrated' medicine. Some topics discussed include the cultural concept of a health care system, the many layers of meaning and practice within just one such system, and the problematics of communicating across systems. Sometimes I liken this to playing ball games. Everyone shares the concept of 'ballgame' but we also understand that each 'game' has its own logic, set of rules, and forms of expertise. We (ordinarily) would not think to ask baseball players to play by the rules of football or tennis. But when we set out to compare medical systems, we often do exactly this. That is because one system—called biomedicine or allopathy—has come to be viewed by many as so uniquely 'real' and powerful, that all others are commonly set apart as 'alternative.' Furthermore, the other Medicines are often asked to 'prove' themselves by applying biomedical rules of research. Once we become aware of this surprising state of affairs, we can apply neutral observation and analysis to each system, learn its explanatory model, follow its logic, and develop ways to fairly compare the different practices. I believe success in this task is fundamental to developing a truly integrated medicine.

3. "Chinese Medicine Users in the United States," J Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Part I: Utilization, Satisfaction, Medical Plurality—4(1): 17-28, 1998
Part II: Preferred Aspects of Care—4(2): 189-202, 1998

In 1995 I led the first US survey of acupuncture patients—to find who was using acupuncture care, for what complaints, and with what success and satisfaction. The method used was a mixed qualitative-quantitative written questionnaire. These two articles summarize the huge amounts of data gathered from 575 respondents at 6 clinics in 5 states. The first article focuses on statistics, the second on what patients actually said. The top three reasons for seeing an acupuncturist were for mood care, musculoskeletal pain, and health maintenance or wellness care. The heaviest users were middle-aged women. Satisfaction was extremely high and the top three reasons for such satisfaction were relief of symptoms, feeling cared for by their practitioner, and a range of 'non-specific' improvements indicating improved physiological homeostasis such as 'more focused', 'more energy', 'fewer lost work days' and 'get along better with others.' Based on analysis of some 460 handwritten experiential reports, qualitative analysis identified 5 'themes' that patients claimed described their Chinese medical care. These five themes were: "relieves symptoms and improves function;" improves physiological coping or adaptive ability', improves psychosocial coping or adaptive ability,' involves a close-patient-practitioner relationship,' and 'treats the whole person.' Subsequent research by other researchers have largely supported these early data.

4. "Qualitative Research Methods for Oriental Medicine", Chapter 9 in: Gabriel Stux and Richard Hammerschlag, eds., C linical Acupuncture, Scientific Basis, Springer-Verlag, 2001.

This chapter offers an overview of why and how to do qualitative research on issues in acupuncture. To my knowledge it is as yet the only chapter that focuses specifically on acupuncture in describing how to do qualitative research. Brief and pithy, in a book full of rich material for those interested in developing a bioscientific basis for acupuncture care.

5. "Unraveling the Ball of String: Reality, Paradigms, and the Study of Alternative Medicine," Advances, the Journal of Mind-Body Health , 10(1): 5-31, Winter 1994.

This was the lead article in an issue on 'How Paradigms Affect Medicine', and (I am told) has subsequently become viewed as a 'classic' article in the field. This article contrasts reductionistic and holistic approaches to doing scientific research, and offers a third integrated position, the 'partnership' paradigm. It then discusses the advantages of flexibility in doing research on systems that do not resemble the familiar biomedicine, discussing the limitations of the pharmaceutical RCT, and proposing appropriate models to apply when the treatment environment is complex, as it is in many integrative medical practices.