Alternative medicine

Against allopathy Alternative medicine

Clinically unproven

Lemonade diet Weston A. Price Foundation Anthroposophy Siddha medicine Nudity National Council Against Health Fraud

Woo-meisters

Big Brain Radio Show Gaia Health Gary Null Dee Snider PETA Joe Rogan v - t - e

Style over substance Pseudoscience

Popular pseudosciences

Alternative medicine Creationism Racialism Pseudopsychology

Random examples

Face on Mars Feng shui Unani Expanding Earth Anti-relativity Synergydetox Ark Encounter OpenPsych pseudojournals My Genes Made Me Do It v - t - e

Alternative medicine is any medical treatment that is not part of conventional evidence-based medicine, such as one would learn in medical school, nursing school or even paramedic training. Much, if not most, of the "alternative medicine" world lacks any scientific proof of its effectiveness, and that which does have real effectiveness, tends to be palliative^{[note 1]} rather than curative. Any alternative medicine with scientific evidence behind it is simply called medicine.

Alternative medicine includes "traditional medicines" (i.e. "medical" systems developed prior to or outside of "Western Medicine", such as traditional Native American remedies, or traditional Chinese medicine), "folk remedies" (e.g., herbalism, tinctures, and rubs that were commonplace "treatments" often passed around via urban legend), and an ever-growing class of "religious" or "spiritual" treatments that have their sources in Eastern religions, but are filtered through a pay-as-you-go, for-profit (see "New Age") mindset. These terms are still used today to describe the various substances of unclear efficacy sold for a profit through advertising. These cures are not always sold by malicious, deceptive con artists. Many promoters are true believers, making their claims even more convincing.

And if you don't think it's real, or don't think people who have funding to spend notice it, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is run by the National Institute of Health.^[2]

Rebrandings[edit]

They go up and down — holistically, of course!^[3]

The rebranding of alternative medicine is analogous to the endless rebranding of creationism to try to evade the First Amendment, or the renaming of racialism to try and avoid the status of "racist". The original term, alternative medicine, was trivially unmasked as alternatives to medicine, and emphasized its being outside of scientific medical practice. There are many legitimate complementary therapies such as massage, counselling and so on, and by claiming to be part of this, rather than acknowledging its status as being apart from medicine, these rebrandings hope to gain a halo effect and imply a legitimate place in medical practice. The purpose is to gain greater acceptance, and hopefully funding, for pseudomedicine — a stalking horse for woo.^[5]

• CM (Complementary medicine) "is a term used for a wide variety of healthcare practices that may be used along with standard medical treatment";^[6] as Stephen Barrett puts it, "several years ago a survey done in New Zealand found that most cancer patients who used 'alternative' therapies were satisfied with their medical care and regarded 'alternative' care only as a supplement",^[7] that is, all alternative "medicine" is actually "complementary" to the real medicine.

• CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) denotes a dumping ground for all medical approaches that have been rejected by science. Like alternative medicine before it, CAM has now become so debased as a term that it has been rebranded yet again:

• IM (Integrative medicine) is the practice of supplementing medicine that does work with pseudomedicine that doesn't. The general justification is that patients will like it more. The fatuity of this idea can be readily understood by considering the effect of "integrating" apple pie with cow pie. Does this make the apple pie taste better or worse? What's the harm?

• HM (Holistic Medicine) is ostensibly the belief that medical practitioners should look at the "whole person" when treating a patient, meaning that the doctor should not just diagnose and treat the illness, but also consider the patient's lifestyle, stress levels, emotional situation, and other factors that could be of relevance for the person's health, as well as treat the patient with respect, rather than just dismissively diagnosing them and giving them some pills. This is a perfectly good and desirable concept. However, in practice, if a practitioner calls themself "holistic", it almost always means that they believe in woo. The practitioner also very often summarizes the holistic approach in the phrase "treat the patient, not the disease" — this is actually a partly-accurate assessment, given that alternative treatments generally don't affect the disease anyway. One site states that holistic medicine "encompasses all stated modalities of diagnosis and treatment including drugs and surgery if no safe alternative exists."^[8] The claim is that "holistic" means they look at the entirety of the situation, not a mere mechanical model of treatment, which is why you can buy holistic tartar control treats for your dog off-the-shelf at a supermarket. The term is ironic: medicine supposedly is not, since doctors routinely treat melanoma patients with bandages to cover their bleeding moles, for example, rather than actually looking at medical history.^{Do You Believe That?}
• Functional medicine

Alternate names[edit]

Critics of alternative medicine have come up with some of their own terms for it:

• Academic Medical Woo^[9]
• Patent Medicine
• Quackademic Medicine^[9]
• SCAM (Supplementary, Complementary and Alternative Medicine,^[10] or So-Called Alternative Medicine^[11])
• Snake oil — the original. Accept no substitutes!

Problems with alternative medicines[edit]

False hope and zero-sum medicine[edit]

Often holistic healers will convince their patients to forgo proper medical care, usually combined with misrepresentations of studies or emotional appeals, to undergo holistic therapies. Since there is no valid evidence that holistic therapies are capable of curing deadly ailments, this kind of malpractice is dangerous to offer to patients.

All alternative medicine, even the 'effective' therapies, have the danger of convincing an unwell person to forgo actual medical treatments because they think they are getting better (which can happen with palliative remedies and placebos) or they choose to trust their alternative practitioner who is offering a 'cure'. For example, a person with cancer may convince themself to try a homeopathic remedy. Telling a patient to forgo evidence-based medicine for alt-med is effectively making a zero sum argument.

Also, many herbal remedies can actually interfere with prescription drugs, lessening their effect or even causing dangerous side effects. Since almost all alternative medicines are unproven, many advocates (known to some as "alties") tend to appeal to 'health freedom', rather than actually try to prove that their nostrums work. Expensive homeopathic remedies sold at Whole Foods Market supposedly contain tiny bits of the molecules of the illnesses they are supposed to cure, which are intended to promote the immune system of the user to fight whatever it is that the medicine is supposed to fight. In reality, they are tasty bits of sugar.

Many practitioners exploit vulnerable patients. They give false hope to people who are incurably sick and frequently charge high prices for useless treatments. The belief that alternative medicines are somehow 'less risky' or 'less harsh' than conventional medicine has led some to take alternative medicine over actual (conventional) medicine. While this may often be true (though don't say that to someone who's lost skin or body parts to black salves sometimes used for skin cancers), the potential health risks of not taking conventional medicine for an illness (i.e. medicine that actually works) far outweigh the risks from the side effects of these medicines.

Anecdotal evidence and regression to the mean[edit]

Often, alternative medicine practitioners claim that, unlike "allopathy", they help the body's natural self-healing powers. Yet many of them will describe anecdote after anecdote showcasing medical recoveries (involving such transitory things as colds) while seemingly refusing to believe that the disease could ever have gone away on its own. These recoveries must be due to whatever remedy they used. So on the one hand, they extol the healing powers of the human body, while at the same time denying that illnesses could ever go away by themselves – or in other words, that the body could actually heal itself.

Lack of testing[edit]

Alternative medicines or therapies range from being (theoretically) scientifically provable to scientifically disproven, and can be benign (and often ridiculous) all the way to downright dangerous. Medical science has only recently started to do qualitative and quantitative research into alternative medicine. With the exception of some surprising and exciting treatments that have true medical potential, the vast majority of the therapies do little if anything beyond the placebo effect. Even when the treatment actually does something, the reasons given by practitioners for why the treatment is effective are almost never based on correct scientific information. Benign treatments have the advantage of not directly injuring a patient, other than money and at worst precious time going out the window. The ridiculous cannot possibly have any medical effects (beyond that of the placebo effect at best), or may be actively dangerous to the patient.

Unfalsifiability[edit]

Holistic medical practitioners defend their treatments to the general public by saying that there is documented proof that they work, but when faced with empirical evidence that does not support their claims, certain practitioners often state that holistic medicine cannot be readily tested by scientific means.

In other words: if it's not tested, then they think it works. Once it's tested, they'll tell you that the test is wrong and it works.

Lack of regulation[edit]

Taste the pain: a scarificator — a 19^th century spring-powered bloodletting instrument creating multiple cuts in the skin at once. For some reason, this is a less fashionable alternative treatment, but still goes on in Unani, Ayurvedic, and traditional Chinese medicine.

When a student wants to become a physician, he or she must attend a certified medical school, pass rigorous medical exams, and participate in carefully monitored and regulated internships, all regulated by the governmental bodies who license the doctor. The term "medical doctor" is protected in most jurisdictions, which means that if you call yourself a medical doctor without going through the process to be qualified for the status, you could end up in legal trouble; this (at least in theory) ensures that the trust which the public places in doctors to protect their health can't be abused by charlatans or imbeciles. For the majority of alternative medicine, no such regulation is in place in many jurisdictions.^[15] For a few specific alternative therapies, like chiropractic work, regulations exist in some jurisdictions.^[16][17] However, mostly every other field of alternative medicine has no regulation at all. Call yourself a color therapist, and lo and behold, you are one.

There is also a lack of regulation in the products sold as "alternative" or "herbal" medicines.^[18] You cannot, for example, know what is in a "sleep healing tea", how much of each ingredient, how potent the pills are, or even whether it contains the listed ingredient(s) at all (many herbal products, in fact, do not contain the herb(s) listed on the label).^[19] Also, as there is little scientific research, "doses" are always a guess. "Try one pill. If that doesn't work, take two."

Use of outdated, refuted, or misrepresented scholarly works[edit]

Sometimes an alternative medicine supporter will present a scholarly work as 'proof' that the alternative medicine works and is being suppressed by 'regular' medicine. The problem is that the work is either outdated, has been refuted by later research, or (worse) is misrepresented.

Weston Price's work on focal infection and nutrition is a prime example of this type of handwaving. Given what was known at the time, his work was perfectly valid… for its time, which was 1939. The thing is that the world as well as our understanding of both focal infection and nutrition have changed so drastically that Price's work would have to be reevaluated in a modern framework… something that really hasn't been done. The fact that Price himself questioned the focal infection theory is also not brought up by either side or that what Price actually did and what his supporters claim he did are so different that it is a clear misrepresentation.

Homoeopathy serves as another example as supporters can point to a 1997 paper in The Lancet, "Are the Clinical Effects of Homoeopathy Placebo Effects?"^[21] while ignoring the 2005 refutation in The Lancet, "The end of homoeopathy".^[22][23] and 14 studies from 2003 to 2007.^[24]

Colloidal silver was used as an antibiotic, germicide, and disinfectant up through the 1940s. Publications such as New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal (1907), The Journal of the American Medical Association (1918), and The Journal of the American Dental Association (1934) all had articles regarding the uses and limits of colloidal silver. Modern antibiotics were far more effective (and safer), so the use of colloidal silver effectively ended in evidence-based medicine.

In many respects, this is the most dangerous form of alternative medicine, as it cloaks itself in the garb of genuine medicine using scholarly publications to support its claims.

Kinds of alternative medicine[edit]

You can't neatly brush it all into the quack corner. Some of them work, but not all of them.

(Some) Proven palliative effect[edit]

• Massage therapy — massage has real benefits such as temporary pain relief and increased circulation, as anything that feels pleasurable will have at least some short-term therapeutic effect, but like all other woo, some less than ethical therapists will sell it (and a line of smelly herbal additives) as a cure for almost anything.
• Chiropractic — has been shown to relieve some back and joint pain and mitigate some chronic headaches, although no more so than standard therapy (e.g. taking acetaminophen or seeing a physical therapist). It has the disadvantage that it can damage soft tissues if performed incorrectly, and it increases the risk of stroke. It also has a significant risk of death or paralysis from injury.^[25]
• Medical marijuana — Some advocates adhere to the smokeable version of this despite issues with proper dosing; some of its medicinal properties are also found (and precisely dosed) in Marinol, its synthetic version. The palliative effect derives from pleasurable sensations, not from any medicinal properties of marijuana. Many of the claims of efficacy are overstated based on scant research.
• Neti pot — can help relieve symptoms of allergies, sinus infections, and colds. It should not be used more than once per day, and using unsterilized water can lead to potentially serious infections that can be lethal.
• Osteopathy — In North America it is a variant of mainstream medicine, albeit one with slightly different approaches to medicinal problems. Outside of the US there appears to be a great deal more quackery involved.

Potentially provable[edit]

• Herbal supplements — some are fairly effective for some conditions, others are close to useless, and some are highly dangerous (e.g. aristolochia). Herbal medicine varies a great deal in effectiveness and quality. Lax regulation means that the consumer must be very diligent about brand choice, and always takes on some degree of risk.
• Oil pulling — may have some effect against tooth decay. Not much else, though.
• Salt therapy (or mummification) involves staying in a salt cave to breathe the air and treat respiratory problems. It's quite popular in Eastern Europe (Poland, for example, is renowned for its salt mines).^[26] Not much research has been done on the subject, and the effectiveness of the treatment remains up in the air.^[27]
• Biofeedback therapy has been found to have some positive effect on headaches.^[28][29]

Useless[edit]

Benign[edit]

• Aromatherapy — Smelling nice has some social advantages. It may reduce anxiety and it won't kill you. To cure anything else, however, is nonsensical.
• Reflexology^[30] — as a massage therapy, it can reduce stress, but there is nothing it can cure.
• "Himalayan" salt lamps — do nothing except slightly light up the room.
• Halotherapy is related to salt lamp use, which involves lighting a candle or electric light inside a salt rock to supposedly "release negative ions".
• Bach flower remedies — since some of the issues that these are supposed to treat are psychosomatic, and some of the users are neurotics and hypochondriacs, flower remedies are perhaps the best thing for them.
• Homeopathy — using dilute solutions with usually no remaining active ingredient to treat conditions.
• Cupping — often used in conjunction with bloodletting.
• Magnetic field therapy
• Psychic surgery
• Reiki

Somewhat benign, occasionally dangerous[edit]

• Acupuncture ("Pointillism", as it is known in the art world) — like the caricature of using voodoo dolls, but practiced on the victim patient directly. Acupuncture can give pain relief due to the placebo effect, but this is quite outweighed by the risks that could occur if not performed "properly".^[31]
• Chiropractic — to cure anything except back pain. It is sometimes done on children and babies, which could risk breaking their spines.
• Colloidal silver — an alleged "natural" antibiotic, its only possible use is for that very tiny segment of the population that has a burning desire to look like a Smurf.
• Crystal healing — crystals won't heal anything, but most of them (barring obvious ones such as asbestos, anglesite, etc.) are mostly harmless (though they could probably be put to better use than woo). Just keep in mind that most of these crystals are mined in dangerous conditions that result in environmental destruction and very bad labor conditions of people in poorer countries.
• DMSO — an industrial solvent by-product of paper manufacture, used topically for a variety of health claims.
• Ear candling — a silly practice alleged to draw toxins out of the ears and/or remove earwax. There is a potential danger of hot wax burning the inner ear, which may result in hearing loss.
• Faith healing — attempts to use prayer and faith to heal. It's not harmful in and of itself, but its practitioners usually encourage avoiding traditional medicine ("Don't visit the doctor, God will cure you better than any doctor can!").
• Inversion therapy — reverse conditions by reversing positions. This could be problematic if you accidentally contort yourself in a way you can't uncontort yourself from, though this probably won't be an issue except for the elderly and sufferers of seizures, osteoporosis, etc.
• Male enhancement capsules — to cure the desire to buy a large SUV.
• Hypnosis — It can aid with tobacco addiction or weight loss in some cases. Problems can arise with possible implanting of false memories. And some people may not "snap out" of a trance.
• Vaginal steaming — It typically just uses warm water rather than actual steam. If steam is used, the scalding can be very nasty. And if herbs are mixed in, it could lead to bad reactions.
• Osteopathy — should always be done by someone properly trained.

Dangerous[edit]

• Conversion therapy — increases suicidality among LGBT people. It also can cause a victim to develop an addiction to drugs or alcohol.
• Ideological detransition — detransitioning if you're cisgender is OK, but not if you're trans and don't have a strong enough reason to do it.
• Black salve (a.k.a. cansema) — a paste made from bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) that is claimed to "draw out" cancer cells in tumors, but is known for causing massive disfiguration. If chemotherapy is slash'n'burn, this stuff is a West Coast thousand-acre wildfire.^[32][33]
• Laetrile — attempting to cure cancer using cyanogen compounds found in stonefruit pits, particularly apricots.
• Coffee enemas — as ridiculous as ear candling, but exponentially more disgusting (and allegedly addictive). Cup o' joe, anyone?
• New German Medicine — attempting to cure cancer using psychological conflict resolution.
• Trepanation — intentionally drilling a hole in one's head, which is about as ill-advised as it sounds.
• Sungazing — staring at the Sun cures all ills, especially chronic eyesight.
• Bloodletting — killed Lord Byron and possibly George Washington. Do not be fooled into thinking this is extinct. It isn't. (Bloodletting is still the routine treatment for iron toxicity, but in the veinal blood donating style of bloodletting, which is actually safe.) Leeching is effective for a few conditions under medical supervision.
• Rebirthing — one form of rebirthing has caused deaths in children.^[34][35]
• Dynastic gymnastics — swing babies around. Dangerous enough to be illegal in most of the civilised world, except Russia, where it's fairly popular.

Motivations[edit]

Manheimer 2003, which studied IV drug users, found that:^[36]

Having a higher education and lower self-rated health were the two strongest predictors of CAM use, followed by having a regular doctor or clinic, being white and younger. There was a high level of self-perceived effectiveness of CAM therapies (4.1 on a scale of 1-5), and CAM users were likely to use CAM for reasons related to their addiction.

Prevalence[edit]

Video[edit]

See also[edit]

For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about Quacktionary.

External links[edit]

• Holistic Airlines
• What is Alternative Medicine and how it Works
• What alternative health practitioners might not tell you
• Quackwatch: Full of useful information debunking many alternative medicines
• How To Spot a Quack Arthritis Cure (a good article which also applies to most other illnesses)
• Why Bogus Therapies Seem to Work, Barry Beyerstein
• Folk medicine, Wikipedia.org

Notes[edit]

References[edit]