WHY DO PATIENTS SEEK ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES?
A large lay literature on alternative therapies suggests that sufficient will and determination can overcome cancer. Many alternative therapies invent a simple etiology to explain all cancers linked to a common etiology, usually toxin-based.4 The emphasis on nutritional aids as cancer preventatives, and for treatment, is strong and permits patients to exert a significant degree of control and maintain a sense of contributing to the care of their malignancy. A widely disseminated literature on unorthodox treatments exists in print and on the Web for patients interested in seeking alternative therapies. There has been a two-decade-long movement toward more natural methods to treat a host of diseases, including cancer, and there is a significant degree of magical thinking about the role of the bowel in contributing to malignant disease and as yet unsubstantiated claims regarding the mind s ability to control cancer. Cancer patients may feel a loss of control that leads them to use alterna
