%0 Journal Article %T Terapias, pr¨¢cticas y acciones en la b¨²squeda de un mejor estado de salud-enfermedad %A Ar¨¦valo de Andrade %A Mercedes %A Weng Huang %A Nien Tzu %A Jim¨¦nez Herrera %A Luis %J Revista Costarricense de Salud P¨²blica %D 2011 %I Asociaci¨®n Costarricense de Salud P¨²blica %X around the world and throughout history, people have done, and will continue doing activities, actions, practices and therapies, in their eagerness to have a better health condition. materials and methods: scientific articles were sought mainly in the databases available in the university library system at the university of costa rica, and other sources of information, and then the analysis was structured for a communication which includes three main sections: conceptual, categories therapeutic and other related aspects. results: of the most important highlights that no single concept that encompasses the diversity of options used by people, available to the population there are more than 160 therapeutic categories, which vary according to the social, cultural, geographic, political, economic and ideological context in which they develop. conclusion: greater consensus is needed for and participation of the entities involved in the issue, in order to systematically develop further scientific evidence that demonstrates the potential of all therapeutic arsenal is efficient, effective, safe and quality. we need more regulation, formal education and information to different stakeholders in the use of different therapeutic options in order to safeguard the common good %K complementary therapies %K medicine %K traditional %K holistic health. %U http://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1409-14292011000200011&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en