Glossary: Integrative Medicine & Nutrition
Cranial-Sacral Therapy
A hands-on bodywork modality that works on the cranial-sacral rhythm to improve central nervous system function.
Cross-Cultural Diagnosis
Diagnostic criteria across cultures and the ability of a clinician from one culture to make a diagnosis for a patient from another culture.
Cultural Reductionism
A form of ethnocentrism that reduces behaviors to their cultural influence and may include idealization or denigration of culture-specific behaviors.
Demeter
In Greek mythology, the mother of Persephone and the goddess of the harvest.
Demulcent
A soothing herb taken to allay inflammation from dry, irritated tissue. Usually used for irritating and dry respiratory conditions, as well to soothe discomfort in conditions such as urinary tract infection. Common demulcent herbs include Cornsilk (Zea Mays L.), Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis L.) and Slippery elm bark (Ulmus rubra Muhl.).
Derealization
The sense of the external world not being real or seen through a fog or a curtained window.
Detoxification
The physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver.
Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD)
Trauma beginning in childhood that is often prolonged and inescapable that can lead to lifelong physical and emootional challenges as well as psychological resilience. (See Complex Trauma).
Dietary fiber
Edible parts of plants or other carbohydrates that are resistant to digestion and absorption in the small intestine; fermentation, complete or partial in the large intestine.
Dissociation
A symptom of PTSD characterized by a sense of discontinuity between a person’s memories, thoughts, feelings, and sense of self. Experiences of dissociation range from absorption and imagination to dissociative amnesia, and may include symptoms of depersonalization and derealization.
DMT
N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a serotonin/melatonin analog. It is endogenous in the human brain and also found in plants around the world. Well-known as one of the components of the shamanic vision-producing “spirit vine” brew, “ayahuasca,” used ritually by indigenous peoples of South America and more recently by seekers of healing from the addictions.
Dysphoria
A psychological condition characterized by feelings of intense depression.
Endocannabinoid
Naturally occurring, lipid-based neurotransmitters. Endocannabinoids and their receptors occur in the brain and throughout the body, affecting mood, pain, and behavior as modulators of the ANS and the immune system. Endocannabinoids, also called endogenous cannabinoids, are similar to cannabinoids found in cannabis but they are made within the body.
Endogenous
Caused by factors inside the organism or system, as in an endogenous psychic depression.
Entrainment
A state in which two or more of the body’s oscillatory systems, such as respiration and heart-rhythm patterns, become synchronous and operate at the same frequency.
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