Complementary and alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is a set of therapies that advocates claim are either alternatives to, or complements of what they see as conventional medicine. These practices include acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal medicine, faith healing, chiropractic and prayer. Critics argue that these practices are not scientifically or clinically verified, and can lead patients to harm in delaying treatment, and point to evidence of scams and fraud perpetuated by practitioners of alternative medicine.

Critics of alternative medicine seek alternative explanations for the claims that advocates of such therapies make, mostly in the use of the placebo effect, a surprisingly powerful psychological effect where a person who thinks that a medical intervention is effective boosts their own health. Along with this, patients of alternative treatments are said to exhibit a self-delusional bias, where they accept successes and disregard failures for their favorite alternative practices while not doing similarly for mainstream medicine (confirmation bias). While some defend alternative medicine on the basis that it is not harmful, there are problems with this: as alternative treatments are often not rigorously tested, it can be difficult to know the side effects of some alternative treatments, especially as the natural sources used for such treatments do not often allow for strict control of doses. This has been observed with the incompatibility between St John's Wort, a herbal remedy often prescribed by alternative medicine practitioners for depression and a variety of drugs including AIDS and heart disease medications. Critics of alternative medicine also note that it can be dangerous if patients delay seeking conventional treatment in preference for use of alternative medicine.

Some alternative treatments have been tested through scientific means and when found beneficial have been integrated into normal medical practice. An example of this is acupuncture, which many doctors now use as part of pain relief for some ailments because of the release of endorphins. The scientific studies have shown that it is effective, but hasn't shown that the metaphysics upon which it is based - that of chi, "vital energy" or the existence of 'meridians' have not been confirmed.