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Alternative medicine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Holistic health)

See also: Quackery, Pseudoscience, and Pseudomedicine


Alternative medicine
Complementary & alternative medicine (CAM), complementary medicine,
heterodox medicine, integrative medicine, new-age medicine,
unconventional medicine, unorthodox medicine

"They told me if I took 1000 pills at night I should be quite another thing in the morning", an early
19th-century satire on Morison's Vegetable Pills, an alternative medicine supplement.
This article is part of a series on
Alternative and pseudo-medicine
General information[hide]
Alternative medicine
Quackery
History of alternative medicine
Rise of modern medicine
Pseudoscience
Pseudomedicine
Antiscience
Skepticism
Skeptical movement
Fringe medicine and science[hide]
Anthroposophic medicine
Chiropractic
Homeopathy
Acupuncture
Humorism
Mesmerism
Naturopathy
Orgone
Osteopathy
Parapsychology
Phrenology
Radionics
Scientific racism
Conspiracy theories[hide]
Anti-fluoridation movement
Anti-vaccine movement
Vaccines causing autism
Chemtrails
GMO conspiracy theories
HIV/AIDS origins
NCCIH classifications[hide]
Alternative medical systems
Mindbody intervention
Biologically-based therapy
Manipulative methods
Energy therapy
Traditional medicine[hide]
Apitherapy
Ayurveda
African
Greek
Roman
European
Faith healing
Japanese
Shamanism
Siddha
Chinese
Korean
Mongolian
Tibetan
Unani
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Alternative medicine or fringe medicine includes practices claimed to have
the healingeffects of medicine but which are disproven, unproven, impossible to prove, or are
excessively harmful in relation to their effect; and where the scientific consensus is that the
therapy does not, or cannot, work because the known laws of nature are violated by its basic
claims; or where it is considered so much worse than conventional treatment that it would
be unethical to offer as treatment. Alternative therapies or diagnoses are not part
of medicine or science-basedhealthcare systems. Alternative medicine consists of a wide
variety of practices, products, and therapies ranging from those that are biologically
plausible but not well tested, to those with known harmful and toxic effects. Contrary to
popular belief, significant expense is paid to test alternative medicine, including over $2.5
billion spent by the United States government. [1]Almost none show any effect beyond that
of false treatment. Perceived effects of alternative medicine may be caused by placebo;
decreased effect of functional treatment (and therefore potentially decreased side effects);
and regression toward the mean where improvement that would have occurred anyway
is credited to alternative therapies; or any combination of the above. Alternative treatments
are not the same as experimental medicine or traditional medicine, although much of the
latter is alternative when used today.
Alternative medicine has grown in popularity and is used by a significant percentage of the
population in many countries. While it has extensively rebranded itself: from quackery to
complementary or integrative medicine it promotes essentially the same practices. Newer
proponents often suggest alternative medicine be used together with functional medical
treatment, in a belief that it "complements" (improves the effect of, or mitigates the side
effects of) the treatment. There is no evidence showing they do so, and significant drug
interactionscaused by alternative therapies may instead negatively influence treatments,
making them less effective, notably cancer therapy. Despite being illegal to market alternative
therapies for cancer treatment in most of the developed world, many cancer patients use
them.

Alternative medical diagnoses and treatments are not taught as part of science-based
curricula in medical schools, and are not used in any practice where treatment is based on
scientific knowledge or proven experience. Alternative therapies are often based on religion,
tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural energies, pseudoscience, errors in reasoning,
propaganda, fraud, or lies. Regulation and licensing of alternative medicine and health care
providers varies between and within countries.

Alternative medicine is criticized for being based on misleading


statements, quackery, pseudoscience, antiscience, fraud, or poor scientific methodology.
Promoting alternative medicine has been called dangerous and unethical. Testing alternative
medicine that has no scientific basis has been called a waste of scarce research resources.
Critics state "there is really no such thing as alternative medicine, just medicine that works
and medicine that doesn't", and the problem with the idea of "alternative" treatments in this
sense is that the "underlying logic is magical, childish or downright absurd". It has been
strongly suggested that the very idea of any alternative treatment that works is paradoxical,
as any treatment proven to work is by definition "medicine".

Contents

[hide]

1Appeal
1.1Marketing
1.2A failure of mainstream medicine
1.3Social factors
2Definitions and terminology
2.1Alternative medicine
2.2Complementary/integrative medicine
2.3Allopathic medicine
2.4CAM
2.5Traditional medicine
2.6Problems with definition
2.7Different types of definitions
2.8NCCIH classification
3Types
3.1Unscientific belief systems
3.2Traditional ethnic systems
3.3Supernatural energies
3.4Holistic therapy
3.5Herbal remedies and other substances used
3.6Religion, faith healing, and prayer
4History
4.1Individual systems and practices
4.2"Irregular practitioners"
4.3Medical education
4.4United States government
5Efficacy
6Criticism, legitimacy and effects
7Placebo effect
8Use and regulation
8.1Prevalence of use
8.2Regulation
9Conflicts of interest
10Risks
10.1Adequacy of regulation and CAM safety
10.2Interactions with conventional pharmaceuticals
10.3Potential side-effects
10.4Treatment delay
10.5Unconventional cancer "cures"
11Gallery
12See also
13Notes
14References
15Bibliography
16Further reading
16.1World Health Organization
16.2Journals
17External links
17.1Criticism

Appeal[edit]

Alternative therapies often make bombastic claims, and frequently include anecdotes from healthy-looking individuals
claiming successful treatment.

Practitioners of complementary medicine usually discuss and advise patients as to available


alternative therapies. Patients often express interest in mind-body complementary therapies
because they offer a non-drug approach to treating some health conditions. [2][clarification needed]
In addition to the social-cultural underpinnings of the popularity of alternative medicine, there
are several psychological issues that are critical to its growth. One of the most critical is the
placebo effect a well-established observation in medicine.[3] Related to it are similar
psychological effects, such as the will to believe, [4] cognitive biases that help maintain self-
esteem and promote harmonious social functioning, [4] and the post hoc, ergo propter
hoc fallacy.[4]
Marketing[edit]

Edzard Ernst, a leading authority on scientific study of alternative treatments and diagnoses, and the first university
professor of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Here in 2012, promoting his book Trick or Treatment co-written
with Simon Singh.

CAM's popularity may be related to other factors that Edzard Ernst mentioned in an interview
in The Independent:

Why is it so popular, then? Ernst blames the providers, customers and the doctors
whose neglect, he says, has created the opening into which alternative therapists
have stepped. "People are told lies. There are 40 million websites and 39.9 million
tell lies, sometimes outrageous lies. They mislead cancer patients, who are
encouraged not only to pay their last penny but to be treated with something that
shortens their lives. "At the same time, people are gullible. It needs gullibility for the
industry to succeed. It doesn't make me popular with the public, but it's the truth. [5]

Paul Offit proposed that "alternative medicine becomes quackery" in four ways: by
recommending against conventional therapies that are helpful, promoting potentially harmful
therapies without adequate warning, draining patients' bank accounts, or by promoting
"magical thinking."[

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