This information has been prepared to help you understand more about complementary therapies, which may offer you physical, emotional and spiritual support during and after treatment for cancer.
Finding out about complementary therapies may help you make decisions about your overall treatment plan for cancer. However, it is important that you weigh up the pros and cons of using them based on your individual case. It's important to think about your own needs and what might help to address them, as well as the evidence about a therapy’s effectiveness and safety.
Cancer Council cannot advise you on whether to use complementary therapies or not, nor which therapy would be most suitable for you, but we hope that this information will answer some of your questions and help you think about the questions you want to ask your doctors or other health carers.
If you come across a word you don't understand, see the section What does this word mean? for definitions of some common medical and complementary therapy terms.
How is cancer treated?
Complementary therapies - common questions
Mind-body techniques
Body-based practices
Biological-based therapies
Other therapies
Using complementary therapies
Personal stories
Useful websites
Download
Request a booklet
For a free printed copy of Understanding Complementary Therapies please call the Cancer Council Helpline on 13 11 20
Editorial Policy
Read the editorial policy for the Understanding Cancer series.
Content published December 2009.
 |
These pages can be viewed in Acrobat Reader. You can download Acrobat Reader from the Adobe site FREE of charge. |
