The role of alternative medicine in contemporary Australian society

Alternative Medicine

The Role of Alternative Medicine in Society

A variety of alternative medicines and therapies have been becoming popular in mainstream western culture. In fact, in Australia as well as the United States and the U.K., the alternative medicine industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar a year industry that is growing at an estimated rate of thirty percent annually (International Study, 2012). Yet, despite the incredible growth trend, these alternative remedies are highly criticized by the scientific and medical communities because the benefits of these treatments are found deficient in regards to scientific evidence to support their healing claims.

In fact, an organization has recently been founded that consists of over four hundred and fifty prominent members who have basically declared war on the entire field and wish to ensure that these fields are not included as subjects to be studied in any publically funded university (Kamenev, 2012). The polarization of opinions surrounding alternative medicines has reached new heights. This analysis examines the issue and argues that alternative medicine, as a whole, may be receiving much more negative publicity from such groups than it deserves.

Background on Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine is simply defined as any healing treatment that falls outside the realm of what scientifically derived conventional medicine deems as appropriate, worthwhile, or simply yet to be studied. Complementary and alternative medicines can include herbal, vitamin, mineral, homoeopathic, nutritional and other supplements. Therapies include herbal medicine, Chinese medicine, chiropractic, naturopathy, osteopathy, acupuncture, homoeopathy, reflexology, aromatherapy, Alexander technique, Bach and other flower remedies, massage, hypnotherapy, shiatsu, ayurvedic medicine, nutritional medicine, yoga, anthroposophical medicine, spiritual healing, iridology, kinesiology, meditation and others (Health Insite, 2012).

Complimentary or alternative medicines (CAM) generally place the emphasis on mind-body care and the use of natural substances. Those who are in approval of alternative medicine believe that their mind-body medicine has powerful healing implications. Examples of commonly accepted practices in such a methodology are meditation, yoga and acupuncture. Many of these practices due actually have scientific evidence in which indicates they assist in the relief of stress, anxiety and depression. One example of an alternative therapy that has been verified by the scientific community as beneficial to patients is Sahaja yoga. One study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of this therapy as an adjunctive tool in the management of asthma in adult patients who remained symptomatic on moderate to high doses of inhaled steroid and found that the practice of Sahaja yoga does have limited beneficial effects on some objective and subjective measures of the impact of asthma; however the mechanism that underlies the effects were unknown (Manocha, et al., 2002).

Discussion

One positive aspect to the vast majority of alternative therapies is that the medicines are non-chemical substances. This stands in sharp contrast to many of the medications that are developed in mainstream medicines. Alternative medications are often derived out of natural products such as vitamins, minerals and herbal extracts. The ability of biotherapies to improve well-being in terms of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual levels is argued to help the body improve its natural functions in the treatment of various conditions without chemicals or invasive medical processes. Another example can be provided by soy milk, tofu and other soy products contain phytoestrogens, chemicals that can mimic the behavior of the hormone estrogen. Because estrogen fuels many breast cancers. However, multiple research studies have been performed and they found that women who ate the most soy had lower rates of cancer recurrence and mortality (O"Connor, 2012).

Although there exist many different alternative therapies that are ineffective in treating their intended ailments, as it has been shown others, can be quantifiably verified in regards to their benefits. One explanation of why most alternative medicine treatments are commonly overlooked or disregarded by mainstream medicine is that these treatments are not patentable. Therefore, there is no profit motive that can be tapped into to provide an incentive for research and development. For example, soy is a common food ingredient and no drug company can make a profit from soy products. Furthermore, if a drug company actually did try to market a soy treatment then they could actually lessen the sales from their existing or developing chemically-based treatments.

For over ten thousand years, over the course of recorded history, natural and alternative therapies have been used to treat peoples' conditions. By contrast, modern medicine is roughly one hundred years old. Therefore, for modern scientist to completely dismiss the potential of such treatments is most likely a result of arrogance or overconfidence. Nobody seems to argue that every natural or alternative remedy is effective, however there seem to be many more that are gaining the respect of the scientific community at the same time. It is likely that when many more of the alternative treatments are subject to scientific investigation that they will produce more verifiable evidence that some of the alternative treatments have existed for thousands of years for a good reason.

Another aspect to alternative therapies that is often overlooked is that these treatments are holistic in nature. That is they focus on the mind, body, and soul and how these different components of a person interact. By contrast, modern medicine takes a reductionist approach to treatment and healing. They look at the body as simply a biomechanical system in which a person mental state or their spirit is often given little attention.