Terminology of alternative medicine

Last updated

Alternative medicine describes any practice which aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine, but which lacks biological plausibility and is untested or untestable.Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine are among many rebrandings of the same phenomenon.

Contents

Terms for alternative medicine

The terms alternative medicine, complementary medicine, integrative medicine,holistic medicine, natural medicine, unorthodox medicine, fringe medicine, unconventional medicine, and new age medicine are used interchangeably as having the same meaning and are almost synonymous in most contexts. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Marcia Angell: "There cannot be two kinds of medicine - conventional and alternative". Marcia.angell.jpg
Marcia Angell: "There cannot be two kinds of medicine – conventional and alternative".

The meaning of the term "alternative" in the expression "alternative medicine", is not that it is an effective alternative to medical science, although some alternative medicine promoters may use the loose terminology to give the appearance of effectiveness. [5] [6] Loose terminology may also be used to suggest meaning that a dichotomy exists when it does not, e.g., the use of the expressions "Western medicine" and "Eastern medicine" to suggest that the difference is a cultural difference between the Asiatic east and the European west, rather than that the difference is between evidence-based medicine and treatments that do not work. [5]

Complementary or integrative medicine

Complementary medicine (CM) or integrative medicine (IM) is when alternative medicine is used together with functional medical treatment, in a belief that it improves the effect of treatments. [n 1] [8] [9] [10] [11] For example, acupuncture (piercing the body with needles to influence the flow of a supernatural energy) might be believed to increase the effectiveness or "complement" science-based medicine when used at the same time. [12] [13] [14] Instead, significant drug interactions caused by alternative therapies may make treatments less effective, notably in cancer therapy. [15] [16] Integrative medicine has been described as an attempt to bring pseudoscience into academic science-based medicine. [17] Due to its many names, the field has been criticized by writer Rose Shapiro for what she describes as intense rebranding of what are essentially the same practices. [1]

CAM is an abbreviation of the phrase complementary and alternative medicine. [18] [19] The 2019 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Report on Traditional and Complementary Medicine states that the terms complementary and alternative medicine "refer to a broad set of health care practices that are not part of that country's own traditional or conventional medicine and are not fully integrated into the dominant health care system. They are used interchangeably with traditional medicine in some countries." [20]

Other terms

Traditional medicine comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the era of modern medicine. The 2019 WHO study defines traditional medicine as "the sum total of the knowledge, skill and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness." [20]

Holistic medicine is another rebranding of alternative medicine. In this case, the words balance and holism are often used alongside complementary or integrative, claiming to take into account a "whole" person, in contrast to the supposed reductionism of medicine.

Definitions of alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is defined loosely as a set of products, practices, and theories that are believed or perceived by their users to have the healing effects of medicine, [n 2] [n 3] but whose effectiveness has not been established using scientific methods, [n 2] [n 4] [5] [23] [24] [25] or whose theory and practice is not part of biomedicine, [n 3] [n 5] [n 6] [n 7] or whose theories or practices are directly contradicted by scientific evidence or scientific principles used in biomedicine. [5] [23] [29] "Biomedicine" or "medicine" is that part of medical science that applies principles of biology, physiology, molecular biology, biophysics, and other natural sciences to clinical practice, using scientific methods to establish the effectiveness of that practice. Unlike medicine, [n 5] an alternative product or practice does not originate from using scientific methods, but may instead be based on hearsay, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural energies, pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources. [n 4] [5] [8] [23] [29]

Challenges in defining alternative medicine

Terminology has shifted over time, reflecting the preferred branding of practitioners. [30] For example, the United States National Institutes of Health department studying alternative medicine, currently named the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), was established as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) and was renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before obtaining its current name. Therapies are often framed as "natural" or "holistic", in apparent opposition to conventional medicine which is "artificial" and "narrow in scope", statements which are intentionally misleading. [31] [32]

Prominent members of the science [33] [34] and biomedical science community [22] say that it is not meaningful to define an alternative medicine that is separate from a conventional medicine, because the expressions "conventional medicine", "alternative medicine", "complementary medicine", "integrative medicine", and "holistic medicine" do not refer to any medicine at all. [22] [33] [34] [35] Others say that alternative medicine cannot be precisely defined because of the diversity of theories and practices it includes, and because the boundaries between alternative and conventional medicine overlap, are porous, and change. [26] [36] The systems and practices it refers to are diffuse, and its boundaries poorly defined. [37] [38] Healthcare practices categorized as alternative may differ in their historical origin, theoretical basis, diagnostic technique, therapeutic practice and in their relationship to the medical mainstream. [39] Some alternative therapies, such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda, have antique origins in East or South Asia and are entirely alternative medical systems; [39] : 13  IOM Report 2005 , p.  18.</ref> others, such as homeopathy and chiropractic, have origins in Europe or the United States and emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. [40] Some, such as osteopathy and chiropractic, employ manipulative physical methods of treatment; others, such as meditation and prayer, are based on mind-body interventions. [41] Under a definition of alternative medicine as "non-mainstream", treatments considered alternative in one location may be considered conventional in another. [42]

Critics say the expression is deceptive because it implies there is an effective alternative to science-based medicine, and that complementary is deceptive because it implies that the treatment increases the effectiveness of (complements) science-based medicine, while alternative medicines that have been tested nearly always have no measurable positive effect compared to a placebo. [5] [17] [43] [44] It has been said that "there is really no such thing as alternative medicine, just medicine that works and medicine that doesn't", [34] and that the very idea of "alternative" treatments is paradoxical because any treatment proven to work is by definition "medicine." [45]

Different types of definitions

Some definitions seek to specify alternative medicine in terms of its social and political marginality to mainstream healthcare. [46] This can refer to the lack of support that alternative therapies receive from medical scientists regarding access to research funding, sympathetic coverage in the medical press, or inclusion in the standard medical curriculum. [46] In 1993, the British Medical Association (BMA) stated that it [n 8] referred to "...those forms of treatment which are not widely used by the conventional healthcare professions, and the skills of which are not taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum of conventional medical and paramedical healthcare courses". [47] In a US context, a definition coined in 1993 by the Harvard-based physician David M. Eisenberg [48] [49] described alternative medicine as "interventions neither taught widely in medical schools nor generally available in US hospitals". [50] In a definition published in 2000 by the World Health Organization (WHO), CAM was defined as a broad set of health care practices that are not part of that country's own tradition and are not integrated into the dominant health care system. [51] [52] A widely used [53] descriptive definition devised by the US NCCIH calls it "a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine". [54] However, these descriptive definitions are inadequate in the present-day when some conventional doctors offer alternative medical treatments and introductory courses or modules can be offered as part of standard undergraduate medical training; [55] alternative medicine is taught in more than half of US medical schools and US health insurers are increasingly willing to provide reimbursement for alternative therapies. [56] In 1999, 7.7% of US hospitals reported using some form of alternative therapy; this proportion had risen to 37.7% by 2008. [57] A 15-year systematic review published in 2022 on the global acceptance and use of CAM among medical specialists found the overall acceptance of CAM at 52% and the overall use at 45%. [58]

An expert panel at a conference hosted in 1995 by the US Office for Alternative Medicine (OAM), [59] [n 9] devised a theoretical definition [59] of alternative medicine as "a broad domain of healing resources ... other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period". [61] This definition has been widely adopted, [59] and has been cited by the UK Department of Health, [62] attributed as the definition used by the Cochrane Collaboration, [63] and, with some modification,[ dubious – discuss ] was preferred in the 2005 consensus report of the US Institute of Medicine. [n 3] This definition, an expansion of Eisenberg's 1993 formulation, is silent regarding questions of the medical effectiveness of alternative therapies. [64] Its proponents hold that it thus avoids relativism about differing forms of medical knowledge and, while it is an essentially political definition, this should not imply that the dominance of mainstream medicine is solely due to political forces. [64] According to this definition, alternative and mainstream medicine can only be differentiated with reference to what is "intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society of culture". [65] However, there is neither a reliable method to distinguish between cultures and subcultures, nor to attribute them as dominant or subordinate, nor any accepted criteria to determine the dominance of a cultural entity. [65] If the culture of a politically dominant healthcare system is held to be equivalent to the perspectives of those charged with the medical management of leading healthcare institutions and programs, the definition fails to recognize the potential for division either within such an elite or between a healthcare elite and the wider population. [65]

Evidence-based definitions distinguish alternative medicine based on its provision of therapies that are unproven, unvalidated, or ineffective and support of theories with no recognized scientific basis. [66] These definitions characterize practices as constituting alternative medicine when, used independently or in place of evidence-based medicine, they are put forward as having the healing effects of medicine, but are not based on evidence gathered with the scientific method. [8] [22] [12] [13] [54] [67] Exemplifying this perspective, a 1998 editorial co-authored by Marcia Angell, a former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine , argued that:

It is time for the scientific community to stop giving alternative medicine a free ride. There cannot be two kinds of medicine – conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work. Once a treatment has been tested rigorously, it no longer matters whether it was considered alternative at the outset. If it is found to be reasonably safe and effective, it will be accepted. But assertions, speculation, and testimonials do not substitute for evidence. Alternative treatments should be subjected to scientific testing no less rigorous than that required for conventional treatments. [22]

This line of division has been subject to criticism on the grounds that not all forms of standard medical practice have adequately demonstrated evidence of benefit, [n 5] [68] [69] and that most conventional therapies, if proven to be ineffective, would not later be classified as alternative. [59] Another definition is that alternative medicine refers to a diverse range of related and unrelated products, practices, and theories ranging from biologically plausible practices and products and practices with some evidence, to practices and theories that are directly contradicted by basic science or clear evidence, and products that have been conclusively proven to be ineffective or even toxic and harmful. [n 3] [37] [70] [5]

Proponents of an evidence-base for medicine [n 10] [72] [73] [74] [75] such as the Cochrane Collaboration take a position that all systematic reviews of treatments, whether "mainstream" or "alternative", ought to be held to the current standards of scientific method. [76] In 2011, the Cochrane Collaboration proposed that indicators of a therapy's level of acceptance include government licensing of practitioners, coverage by health insurance, statements of approval by government agencies, and recommendation as part of a practice guideline; and that if something is currently a standard, accepted therapy, then it is not likely to be widely considered as alternative. [59]

Australia

The public information website maintained by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of the Commonwealth of Australia uses the acronym "CAM" for a wide range of health care practices, therapies, procedures and devices not within the domain of conventional medicine. In the Australian context this is stated to include acupuncture; aromatherapy; chiropractic; homeopathy; massage; meditation and relaxation therapies; naturopathy; osteopathy; reflexology, traditional Chinese medicine; and the use of vitamin supplements. [77]

Denmark

The Danish National Board of Health's Council for Alternative Medicine (Sundhedsstyrelsens Råd for Alternativ Behandling (SRAB)), an independent institution under the National Board of Health (Danish: Sundhedsstyrelsen), uses the term "alternative medicine" for:

  • Treatments performed by therapists that are not authorized healthcare professionals.
  • Treatments performed by authorized healthcare professionals, but those based on methods otherwise used mainly outside the healthcare system. People without a healthcare authorisation are [also] allowed to perform the treatments. [78]

Other terms

Allopathic medicine

Allopathic medicine or allopathy is a pejorative term used by proponents of alternative medicine to refer to modern scientific systems of medicine, [79] such as the use of pharmacologically active agents or physical interventions to treat or suppress symptoms or pathophysiologic processes of diseases or conditions. [80] [81] The expression was coined in 1810 by the creator of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843). [82] Among homeopaths and other alternative medicine advocates, the expression "allopathic medicine" is still used to refer to "the broad category of medical practice that is sometimes called Western medicine, biomedicine, evidence-based medicine, or modern medicine." [83]

Use of the term remains common among homeopaths and has spread to other alternative medicine practices. The meaning implied by the label has never been accepted by conventional medicine and is still considered pejorative by some. [84] William Jarvis, an expert on alternative medicine and public health, [85] states that "although many modern therapies can be construed to conform to an allopathic rationale (e.g., using a laxative to relieve constipation), standard medicine has never paid allegiance to an allopathic principle" and that the label "allopath" was "considered highly derisive by regular medicine." [86]

Many modern science-based medical treatments (antibiotics, vaccines, and chemotherapeutics, for example) do not fit Samuel Hahnemann's definition of allopathy, as they seek to prevent illness, or remove the cause of an illness by acting on the cause of disease. [87] [88]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Final Report (2002) of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy states: "The Commissioners believe and have repeatedly stated in this Report that our response should be to hold all systems of health and healing, including conventional and CAM, to the same rigorous standards of good science and health services research. Although the Commissioners support the provision of the most accurate information about the state of the science of all CAM modalities, they believe that it is premature to advocate the wide implementation and reimbursement of CAM modalities that are yet unproven." [7]
  2. 1 2 "[A]lternative medicine refers to all treatments that have not been proven effective using scientific methods." [8]
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a broad domain of resources that encompasses health systems, modalities, and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period. CAM includes such resources perceived by their users as associated with positive health outcomes. Boundaries within CAM and between the CAM domain and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed." [21]
  4. 1 2 "It is time for the scientific community to stop giving alternative medicine a free ride. There cannot be two kinds of medicine – conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work... speculation, and testimonials do not substitute for evidence." [22]
  5. 1 2 3 "The phrase complementary and alternative medicine is used to describe a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that have historic origins outside mainstream medicine. Most of these practices are used together with conventional therapies and therefore have been called complementary to distinguish them from alternative practices, those used as a substitute for standard care. ... Until a decade ago or so, "complementary and alternative medicine" could be defined as practices that are neither taught in medical schools nor reimbursed, but this definition is no longer workable, since medical students increasingly seek and receive some instruction about complementary health practices, and some practices are reimbursed by third-party payers. Another definition, practices that lack an evidence base, is also not useful, since there is a growing body of research on some of these modalities, and some aspects of standard care do not have a strong evidence base." [26]
  6. ↑ "An alternative medical system is a set of practices based on a philosophy different from Western biomedicine." [27]
  7. ↑ "CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine." [28]
  8. ↑ The BMA used the term non-conventional medicine instead of alternative medicine. [47]
  9. ↑ The Office for Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, was renamed NCCAM in 1998. [60]
  10. ↑ "Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients"; [71] "Evidence based medicine, whose philosophical origins extend back to mid-19th century Paris and earlier, remains a hot topic for clinicians, public health practitioners, purchasers, planners, and the public. British centres for evidence based practice have been established or planned in adult medicine, child health, surgery, pathology, pharmacotherapy, nursing, general practice, and dentistry; the Cochrane Collaboration and Britain's Centre for Review and Dissemination in York are providing systematic reviews of the effects of health care". [71]

Related Research Articles

Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness. Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of mainstream medicine and do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural "energies", pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources. Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiropractic</span> Form of pseudoscientific alternative medicine

Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudoscientific ideas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naturopathy</span> Form of alternative medicine

Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult to generalize, these treatments range from the pseudoscientific and thoroughly discredited, like homeopathy, to the widely accepted, like certain forms of psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence. The ethics of naturopathy have been called into question by medical professionals and its practice has been characterized as quackery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reiki</span> Pseudoscientific healing technique

Reiki is a pseudoscientific form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine originating in Japan. Reiki practitioners use a technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which, according to practitioners, a "universal energy" is transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the client, to encourage emotional or physical healing. It is based on qi ("chi"), which practitioners say is a universal life force, although there is no empirical evidence that such a life force exists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allopathic medicine</span> Term for science-based, modern medicine

Allopathic medicine, or allopathy, is an archaic and derogatory label originally used by 19th-century homeopaths to describe heroic medicine, the precursor of modern evidence-based medicine. There are regional variations in usage of the term. In the United States, the term is sometimes used to contrast with osteopathic medicine, especially in the field of medical education. In India, the term is used to distinguish conventional modern medicine from Siddha medicine, Ayurveda, homeopathy, Unani and other alternative and traditional medicine traditions, especially when comparing treatments and drugs.

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is a United States government agency which explores complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It was initially created in 1991 as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), and renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before receiving its current name in 2014. NCCIH is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craniosacral therapy</span> Pseudoscientific alternative medicine technique

Craniosacral therapy (CST) or cranial osteopathy is a form of alternative medicine that uses gentle touch to feel non-existent rhythmic movements of the skull's bones and supposedly adjust the immovable joints of the skull to achieve a therapeutic result. CST is a pseudoscience and its practice has been characterized as quackery. It is based on fundamental misconceptions about the anatomy and physiology of the human skull and is promoted as a cure-all for a variety of health conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of alternative medicine</span>

The history of alternative medicine covers the history of a group of diverse medical practices that were collectively promoted as "alternative medicine" beginning in the 1970s, to the collection of individual histories of members of that group, or to the history of western medical practices that were labeled "irregular practices" by the western medical establishment. It includes the histories of complementary medicine and of integrative medicine. "Alternative medicine" is a loosely defined and very diverse set of products, practices, and theories that are perceived by its users to have the healing effects of medicine, but do not originate from evidence gathered using the scientific method, are not part of biomedicine, or are contradicted by scientific evidence or established science. "Biomedicine" is that part of medical science that applies principles of anatomy, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, and other natural sciences to clinical practice, using scientific methods to establish the effectiveness of that practice.

Mind–body interventions (MBI) or mind-body training (MBT) are health and fitness interventions that are intended to work on a physical and mental level such as yoga, tai chi, and Pilates.

Manual therapy, or manipulative therapy, is a part of Physiotherapy, it is a physical treatment primarily used by physical therapists, occupational therapists to treat musculoskeletal pain and disability; it mostly includes kneading and manipulation of muscles, joint mobilization and joint manipulation. It is also used by Rolfers, massage therapists, athletic trainers, osteopaths, and physicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternative cancer treatments</span> Alternative or complementary treatments for cancer that have not demonstrated efficacy

Alternative cancer treatment describes any cancer treatment or practice that is not part of the conventional standard of cancer care. These include special diets and exercises, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. Most alternative cancer treatments do not have high-quality evidence supporting their use and many have been described as fundamentally pseudoscientific. Concerns have been raised about the safety of some purported treatments and some have been found unsafe in clinical trials. Despite this, many untested and disproven treatments are used around the world.


The Research Council for Complementary Medicine (RCCM) is a charitable organisation (UK Registered Charity Number 1146724) founded in 1983 to develop and promote good quality research into alternative and complementary medicine (CAM) and enhance evidence-based medicine in this area.

Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (B.A.M.S.) is a professional degree focused on Ayurveda offered in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Alternative therapies for developmental and learning disabilities include a range of practices used in the treatment of dyslexia, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome and other developmental and learning disabilities. Treatments include changes in diet, dietary supplements, biofeedback, chelation therapy, homeopathy, massage and yoga. These therapies generally rely on theories that have little scientific basis, lacking well-controlled, large, randomized trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy; small trials that have reported beneficial effects can be generally explained by the ordinary waxing and waning of the underlying conditions.

Alternative veterinary medicine is the use of alternative medicine in the treatment of animals. Types alternative therapies used for veterinary treatments may include, but are not limited to, acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, ethnomedicine and chiropractic. The term includes many treatments that do not have enough evidence to support them being a standard method within many veterinary practices.

The Ministry of Ayush, a ministry of the Government of India, is responsible for developing education, research and propagation of traditional medicine and alternative medicine systems in India. Ayush is a name devised from the names of the alternative healthcare systems covered by the ministry: ayurveda, yoga & naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa, and homeopathy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qigong</span> Chinese system of coordinated posture and movement, breathing, and meditation

Qigong, is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed by the Chinese and throughout Asia as a practice to cultivate and balance the mythical life-force qi.

The Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) is an office of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis. OCCAM was founded in 1998 and is responsible for NCI's research agenda in pseudoscientific complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), as it relates to cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and symptom management. The OCCAM differs from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health in that it is exclusively focused on cancer, while the NCCIH funds a much broader program of NIH research into CAM for all diseases and disorders. It last produced an annual report in 2011 and spent $105 million on CAM research in 2011.

The Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program was created in 2003 by Georgetown University Medical Center in response to a nationwide NIH-funded educational initiative to incorporate CAM into medical and graduate school curricula. This program is focused on training students to objectively assess the safety and efficacy of various CAM modalities such as acupuncture, massage, herbs and supplements, and mind-body interactions and introducing scientific rigor to much needed research in this field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael H. Cohen</span> American lawyer

Michael H. Cohen is an American attorney. He is the founder of the Cohen Healthcare Law Group, and a former professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. Cohen has authored books on health-care law and policy.

References

  1. 1 2 Shapiro R (2010-09-30). Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All. Random House. ISBN   9781409059165.
  2. ↑ Bombardieri D, Easthope G (October 2000). "Convergence between Orthodox and Alternative Medicine: A Theoretical Elaboration and Empirical Test". Health. 4 (4): 479–94. doi:10.1177/136345930000400404. S2CID   71900519.
  3. ↑ Shuval JT, Averbuch E (February 2012). "Complementary and alternative health care in Israel". Israel Journal of Health Policy Research. 1 (1): 7. doi: 10.1186/2045-4015-1-7 . PMC   3424827 . PMID   22913721.
  4. ↑ Freedman DH (July–August 2011). "The Triumph of New-Age Medicine". The Atlantic . Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sampson W (June 1996). "Antiscience trends in the rise of the "alternative medicine" movement". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 775 (1): 188–197. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb23138.x. PMID   8678416. S2CID   2813395.
  6. ↑ Kolata G (June 17, 1996), "On Fringes of Health Care, Untested Therapies Thrive", The New York Times , retrieved December 22, 2015
  7. ↑ Gordon JS, et al. (2002). "Chapter 2: Overview of CAM in the United States: Recent History, Current Status, And Prospects for the Future". White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. Vol.  NIH Pub. 03-5411. US Government Printing Office. ISBN   978-0160514760. Archived from the original on 2013-02-15. Chapter 2 archived 2011-08-25.
  8. 1 2 3 4 National Science Board (2002). "Chapter 7: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding, Section: Belief in Alternative Medicine". Science and Engineering Indicators. Arlington, Virginia: Division of Science Resources Statistics, National Science Foundation, US Government. Archived from the original on 2009-03-12.
  9. ↑ Ernst E (May 1995). "Complementary medicine: common misconceptions". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 88 (5): 244–247. PMC   1295191 . PMID   7636814. Complementary medicine, defined as health care which lies for the most part outside the mainstream of conventional medicine.
  10. ↑ Joyce CR (November 1994). "Placebo and complementary medicine". Lancet. 344 (8932): 1279–1281. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(94)90757-9. PMID   7967992. S2CID   36724993.
  11. ↑ May J (July 2011). "What is integrative health?". BMJ. 343: d4372. doi:10.1136/bmj.d4372. PMID   21750063. S2CID   206893456.
  12. 1 2 "Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cancer Treatment (PDQ®): Questions and Answers About Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cancer Treatment". NCI website. Physician Data Query (PDQ®). National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH. Archived from the original on 2012-12-15. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  13. 1 2 Borkan J (February 2012). "Complementary alternative health care in Israel and the western world". Israel Journal of Health Policy Research. 1 (1): 8. doi: 10.1186/2045-4015-1-8 . PMC   3424836 . PMID   22913745.
  14. ↑ "What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)?". National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Archived from the original on 2005-12-08. Retrieved 2006-07-11.
  15. ↑ Zeller T, Muenstedt K, Stoll C, Schweder J, Senf B, Ruckhaeberle E, et al. (March 2013). "Potential interactions of complementary and alternative medicine with cancer therapy in outpatients with gynecological cancer in a comprehensive cancer center". Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology. 139 (3): 357–365. doi:10.1007/s00432-012-1336-6. PMID   23099993. S2CID   29598970.
  16. ↑ Ben-Arye E, Polliack A, Schiff E, Tadmor T, Samuels N (December 2013). "Advising patients on the use of non-herbal nutritional supplements during cancer therapy: a need for doctor-patient communication". Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 46 (6): 887–896. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2013.02.010 . PMID   23707384.
  17. 1 2 Gorski D (2010-08-03). "Credulity about acupuncture infiltrates The New England Journal of Medicine". Science-Based Medicine . Archived from the original on 2013-09-28.
  18. ↑ Elsevier Science (2002). "Author interview (Edzard Ernst, editor of The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine)". Harcourt International. Archived from the original on 2002-03-02.
  19. ↑ Cassileth BR, Deng G (2004). "Complementary and alternative therapies for cancer". The Oncologist. 9 (1): 80–89. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.9-1-80 . PMID   14755017. S2CID   6453919.
  20. 1 2 "WHO global report on traditional and complementary medicine 2019" (PDF). World Health Organization. Geneva. 2019. ISBN   978-92-4-151543-6.
  21. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p. 19.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 Angell M, Kassirer JP (September 1998). "Alternative medicine--the risks of untested and unregulated remedies". The New England Journal of Medicine. 339 (12): 839–841. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.694.9581 . doi:10.1056/NEJM199809173391210. PMID   9738094.
  23. 1 2 3 Hines T (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2nd ed.). Amerst, New York: Prometheue Books. ISBN   9781573929790.; Sampson W (March 2001). "The need for educational reform in teaching about alternative therapies". Academic Medicine. 76 (3): 248–250. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200103000-00011 . PMID   11242574.; Coulter ID, Willis EM (June 2004). "The rise and rise of complementary and alternative medicine: a sociological perspective". The Medical Journal of Australia. 180 (11): 587–589. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2004.tb06099.x. PMID   15174992. S2CID   15983789.; Sagan 1996
  24. ↑ Kent H (November 1997). "Ignore growing patient interest in alternative medicine at your peril, MDs warned". CMAJ. 157 (10): 1427–1428. PMC   1228476 . PMID   9371077.
  25. ↑ Goldrosen MH, Straus SE (November 2004). "Complementary and alternative medicine: assessing the evidence for immunological benefits". Nature Reviews. Immunology. 4 (11): 912–921. doi: 10.1038/nri1486 . PMID   15516970. S2CID   11708302.
  26. 1 2 Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine 2015, p. 1, chpt. 14-E.
  27. ↑ "Complementary Medicine – Alternative Medical Systems". WebMD. 2014-01-14. Archived from the original on 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
  28. ↑ "The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States". National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. 2015-04-07. Archived from the original on 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
  29. 1 2 Beyerstein BL (March 2001). "Alternative medicine and common errors of reasoning". Academic Medicine. 76 (3): 230–237. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200103000-00009 . PMID   11242572. S2CID   41527148.
  30. ↑ "Integrative medicine": A brand, not a specialty. Science Based Medicine
  31. ↑ Barrett S, London WM, Kroger M, Hall H, Baratz RS (2013). Consumer health: a guide to intelligent decisions (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 34–35, 134, 137. ISBN   9780078028489. OCLC   758098687.
  32. ↑ "Directive 2004/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council". Official Journal of the European Union. 2004-04-30.
  33. 1 2 Offit P (2013). Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. HarperCollins. ISBN   978-0062222961. Also published in the UK as Offit P (2013-06-09). Killing Us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN   9780007491735.
  34. 1 2 3 Diamond, J. quoted in Dawkins 2003. (p. 36 in 2004 US ed. ISBN   0618335404).
  35. ↑ Fontanarosa PB, Lundberg GD (November 1998). "Alternative medicine meets science". JAMA. 280 (18): 1618–1619. doi:10.1001/jama.280.18.1618. PMID   9820267.
  36. ↑ IOM Report 2005, pp. 14–20.
  37. 1 2 IOM Report 2005, pp.  16, 175.
    Sointu 2012, pp.  13–14.
    Nissen et al. 2013.
    Eisenberg et al. 1993.
  38. ↑ Ruggie M (2004). "Chapter 2: Understanding CAM: The Problem of Knowledge and the Power of Words". Marginal to Mainstream: Alternative Medicine in America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p.  20. ISBN   978-0-521-83429-2. By the mid-1990s, the notion that some alternative therapies could be complementary to conventional medicine began to change the status of...alternative medicine. The 21st century is witnessing yet another terminological innovation, in which CAM and conventional medicine are becoming integrative.
  39. 1 2 Sointu E (2012). Theorizing Complementary and Alternative Medicines: Wellbeing, Self, Gender, Class. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p.  13. ISBN   978-0-230-30931-9.
  40. ↑ Gevitz 1997, pp.  603–33.
  41. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p.  18.
  42. ↑ Nissen N, Manderson L (2013). "Researching alternative and complementary therapies: mapping the field". Medical Anthropology. 32 (1): 1–7. doi:10.1080/01459740.2012.718016. PMID   23206171. S2CID   31843233.
  43. ↑ Carroll RT (2011-05-14). "complementary medicine". The Skeptics Dictionary (Online ed.). Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. 2013-09-27.
  44. ↑ Novella S (2010-08-04). "Acupuncture pseudoscience in The New England Journal of Medicine". Science-Based Medicine . Archived from the original on 2013-09-28.
  45. ↑ Helmuth L (11 September 2013). "The Best Critique of Alternative Medicine Ever: It's an Animated Video. And It's Hilarious". Slate.com . The Slate Group. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  46. 1 2 Saks M (1992). "Introduction". In Saks M (ed.). Alternative Medicine in Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 1–21. ISBN   9780198272786.
  47. 1 2 British Medical Association (BMA) 1993, p. 7.
  48. ↑ Artus M, Croft P, Lewis M (May 2007). "The use of CAM and conventional treatments among primary care consulters with chronic musculoskeletal pain". BMC Family Practice. 8 (1): 26. doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-8-26 . PMC   1878478 . PMID   17480212.
  49. ↑ "David M. Eisenberg, M.D." Health Through Food website. SPE Development US Inc. Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  50. ↑ Eisenberg et al. 1993. Eisenberg et al. 1998.
  51. ↑ Zhang X. "Traditional Medicines: Definitions". WHO Website. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2012-11-11. Extracted from WHO 2000.
  52. ↑ WHO 2000.
  53. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p.  19.
  54. 1 2 Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: What's In a Name? (Report). Vol. NCCIH Pub. No. D156. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Dept. of Health and Human Services (US HHS). May 2002. Archived from the original on 2005-12-08. Retrieved 2006-07-11.
  55. ↑ Sir Walton: Science and Technology Committee 2000, Chapter 1: Introduction.
    Kopelman 2004.
    Wieland et al. 2011.
    Astin JA, Marie A, Pelletier KR, Hansen E, Haskell WL (November 1998). "A review of the incorporation of complementary and alternative medicine by mainstream physicians". Archives of Internal Medicine. 158 (21): 2303–2310. doi: 10.1001/archinte.158.21.2303 . PMID   9827781.
    Pelletier KR, Marie A, Krasner M, Haskell WL (1997). "Current trends in the integration and reimbursement of complementary and alternative medicine by managed care, insurance carriers, and hospital providers". American Journal of Health Promotion. 12 (2): 112–122. doi:10.4278/0890-1171-12.2.112. PMID   10174663. S2CID   46772634.
  56. ↑ IOM Report 2005, pp.  17, 196–252.
  57. ↑ Salomonsen LJ, Skovgaard L, la Cour S, Nyborg L, Launsø L, Fønnebø V (January 2011). "Use of complementary and alternative medicine at Norwegian and Danish hospitals". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 11 (1): 4. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-11-4 . PMC   3033860 . PMID   21244655.
    American Hospital Association 2008
  58. ↑ Phutrakool P, Pongpirul K (January 2022). "Acceptance and use of complementary and alternative medicine among medical specialists: a 15-year systematic review and data synthesis". Systematic Reviews. 11 (1): 10. doi: 10.1186/s13643-021-01882-4 . PMC   8759198 . PMID   35027078.
  59. 1 2 3 4 5 Wieland LS, Manheimer E, Berman BM (2011). "Development and classification of an operational definition of complementary and alternative medicine for the Cochrane collaboration". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 17 (2): 50–59. PMC   3196853 . PMID   21717826.
  60. ↑ "Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration". Office of Policy and Planning, Office of the Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dept. of Health and Human Services, US Government. 2007.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  61. ↑ "Defining and describing complementary and alternative medicine. Panel on Definition and Description, CAM Research Methodology Conference, April 1995". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 3 (2): 49–57. March 1997. PMID   9061989.
  62. ↑ "Complementary and Alternative Medicine". UK Dept. of Health website. Archived from the original on 2010-04-07.
  63. ↑ Zollman C, Vickers A (1999). "What is complementary medicine?". ABC of complementary medicine. BMJ. 319 (7211): 693–96. doi:10.1136/bmj.319.7211.693. PMC   1116545 . PMID   10480829.
    Chan E, Rappaport LA, Kemper KJ (February 2003). "Complementary and alternative therapies in childhood attention and hyperactivity problems". Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 24 (1): 4–8. doi:10.1097/00004703-200302000-00003. PMID   12584479. S2CID   3952162.
    Coulson C, Jenkins J (April 2005). "Complementary and alternative medicine utilisation in NHS and private clinic settings: a United Kingdom survey of 400 infertility patients". Journal of Experimental & Clinical Assisted Reproduction. 2 (1): 5. doi: 10.1186/1743-1050-2-5 . PMC   1084360 . PMID   15807886.
    Roberti di Sarsina P (September 2007). "The Social Demand for a Medicine Focused on the Person: The Contribution of CAM to Healthcare and Healthgenesis". Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 4 (Suppl 1): 45–51. doi:10.1093/ecam/nem094. PMC   2206228 . PMID   18227933.
    Adams M, Jewell AP (April 2007). "The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by cancer patients". International Seminars in Surgical Oncology. 4 (1): 10. doi: 10.1186/1477-7800-4-10 . PMC   1872026 . PMID   17470282.
    Artus et al. 2007.
  64. 1 2 Hufford DJ (2004). "CAM and Cultural Diversity: Ethics and Epistemology Converge". In Callahan D (ed.). The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Accommodating Pluralism. pp.  15–35.
  65. 1 2 3 Kopelman L (2004). "The Role of Science in Assessing Conventional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicines". In Callahan D (ed.). The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Accommodating Pluralism. pp.  36–53.
  66. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p.  17.
  67. ↑ Kong SC, Hurlstone DP, Pocock CY, Walkington LA, Farquharson NR, Bramble MG, et al. (February 2005). "The Incidence of self-prescribed oral complementary and alternative medicine use by patients with gastrointestinal diseases". Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. 39 (2): 138–141. PMID   15681910.
  68. ↑ Ezzo J, Bausell B, Moerman DE, Berman B, Hadhazy V (Fall 2001). "Reviewing the reviews. How strong is the evidence? How clear are the conclusions?". International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 17 (4): 457–466. doi:10.1017/S0266462301107014. PMID   11758290. S2CID   21855086.
  69. ↑ IOM Report 2005, pp. 17–18.
  70. ↑ Dasgupta A, Hammett-Stabler CA (2011). Herbal Supplements: Efficacy, Toxicity, Interactions with Western Drugs, and Effects on Clinical Laboratory Tests. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley and Sons. pp.  202–05. ISBN   9780470433508.
  71. 1 2 Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS (January 1996). "Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't". BMJ. 312 (7023): 71–72. doi:10.1136/bmj.312.7023.71. PMC   2349778 . PMID   8555924.
  72. ↑ "Our work". Nuffield Trust website. The Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health Services. 2016-12-20. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28.
  73. ↑ Belsey J, Snell T (May 2009) [2001]. What is Evidence-based Medicine (PDF). What is...? Series (2nd ed.). UK: Hayward Medical Communications. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-11-13.
  74. ↑ "Research methods & information tools". Nuffield Trust website. The Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health Services. 2019-01-28. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27.
  75. ↑ Bardsley M, et al. (2011-03-01). "Predictive risk and health care: An overview" (PDF). The Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health Services. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28.
  76. ↑ "Cochrane CAM Field". University of Maryland website. Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28.
  77. ↑ NHMRC (2013-09-27). "Complementary and alternative medicines". NHMRC Website. Your health. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-09-30.
  78. ↑ "ViFABs definition af alternativ behandling". srab.dk. Archived from the original on 2013-09-24.
  79. ↑ Weatherall MW (August 1996). "Making medicine scientific: empiricism, rationality, and quackery in mid-Victorian Britain". Social History of Medicine. 9 (2): 175–194. doi:10.1093/shm/9.2.175. PMID   11613446.
  80. ↑ Roy V (2015). "Time to sensitize medical graduates to the Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy". Indian Journal of Pharmacology. 47 (1): 1–3. doi: 10.4103/0253-7613.150301 . PMC   4375800 . PMID   25821302.
  81. ↑ "Definition – allopathy". The Free Dictionary. Farlex. Retrieved 25 October 2013. Citing: Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine (2008) and Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th ed. (2009).
  82. ↑ Whorton JC (2004). Oxford University Press US (ed.). Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America (illustrated ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 18, 52. ISBN   978-0-19-517162-4.
  83. ↑ Zhang X (2001). "Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  84. ↑ Atwood KC (March 2004). "Naturopathy, pseudoscience, and medicine: myths and fallacies vs truth". MedGenMed. 6 (1): 33. PMC   1140750 . PMID   15208545.
  85. ↑ "Participants". Closer to Truth. Archived from the original on 20 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  86. ↑ Jarvis WT (1996). "Misuse of the term "Allopathy"". National Council Against Health Fraud . Retrieved 2013-02-07.
  87. ↑ Berkenwald AD (1998). "In the name of medicine". Annals of Internal Medicine . 128 (3): 246–50. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-128-3-199802010-00023. S2CID   53089206.
  88. ↑ Federspil G, Presotto F, Vettor R (October 2003). "A critical overview of homeopathy". Annals of Internal Medicine. 139 (8): W75, author reply W76. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-139-8-200310210-00026-w3. PMID   14568881. Archived from the original on 2003-12-30. Retrieved 2010-12-30.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.