Alternative Medicine, the 18 Billion Dollar Experiment

Alternative medicine has grown into an $18 billion industry in the United States. This phenomenal popularity is moving alternative medicine into the mainstream with little evidence of its effectiveness. With Californians leading the way, Americans are experimenting with unregulated remedies using themselves as the guinea pigs. The uncertainty and controversy surrounding alternative medicine stems from the inability to prove in any scientific way that various treatments work. The American Medical Association's Council on Scientific Affairs issued the following statement last year giving consumers little comfort: "There is little evidence to confirm the safety or efficacy of most alternative therapies."

The term "alternative medicine" covers a wide range of products and treatments from chiropractic, homeopathy, and acupuncture, to herbal remedies, energy healing and mind-body techniques. The commonality is that they all fall outside the list of "standard" therapies approved by government agencies and the medical authorities. Questionable scientific evidence is not, however, stopping insurance companies and medical centers from participating in the alternative trend. In California alone, six major insurance companies now cover acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. And a new Integrative Medicine Program offering acupuncture, chiropractic, mind-body techniques and herbs has opened at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

What has sparked the astonishing growth of this alternative movement? In part, the movement is fueled by the successes of modern medicine. Life expectancy has increased from 48 in 1900 to 76 in the United States today, thanks to scientific medicine. Along with this increase in life expectancy comes an increase in the occurrence of problems such as chronic pain, Alzheimer's disease and arthritis--problems for which western medicine has made considerably less progress. As more medical problems get solved, the unsolved ones become very frustrating for people. Another impetus for the growth in alternative medicine is the spread of managed care. With the growth of managed health care, Americans are becoming more and more frustrated with the "stopwatch" treatment they receive from traditional physicians. A desire to be treated as a "whole person" is the number one reason why people say they are seeking alternatives to western medicine. In comparison to a traditional western physician, many alternative healers show compassion to their patients by listening to them, asking questions to delve deeper into possible causes of symptoms and suggest comforting treatments that give the patient a sense of control over their health.

The "holistic" approach to health is nothing new. Ancient healing systems have taken this approach for centuries. Many patients and a growing number of researchers and physicians believe that some alternative practices do have merit. The Journal of the American Medical Association, known for its adversity to unorthodox practices, will publish an entire issue this year devoted to studies evaluating various alternative treatments. The journal's editor, George Lundberg, is quoted as saying "there has been a rapid increase in the desire of American physicians to learn about alternative medicine." There continue to be many critics who believe alternative medicine is nothing more than quackery. Without scientific means of testing these alternative treatments, the critics argue that the danger lies not only in the unknown physical risk, but also in the false health beliefs that are being adopted by the public.

(Source: Los Angeles Times, August 30, 1998)