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...

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…