Why do people chose to use alternative medicine?
Well, it certainly is popular. Lots of people use it as an adjunct to science based medicine. Relatively few people use it exclusively. I am not aware of any people who seek out AltMed when they have an actual medical emergency. It tends to be used for ill defined chronic conditions that tend to have symptoms that wax and wane. Part of it is a backlash against science. People tend to look at sciences’ failures (thalidomide, Vioxx) and generalize that “all science” is bad….conveniently forgetting the huge gains in health in the last century as a result of a scientific approach. (cures for polio, many cancers, treatment of diabetes etc etc) The current generation has no idea how lucky they are to be alive in an era of science based medicine. It really took an upswing in popularity in the post-hippy era of the 60’s and 70’s, and that was where a lot of todays’ New Age notions were born (crystal healing, therapeutic touch etc) The 60’s generation tended to reject everything of the “estab
