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complementary medicine
Complementary medicine is another expression for "alternative" medicine, though the two are often linked as complementary and alternative medicine and referred to as CAM. The term 'complementary' seems to have been introduced by the purveyors of quackery in an attempt to produce the bias that untested or discredited treatments should be used along with scientifically tested medical treatments. There really is no such thing as "alternative" medicine; if it's medicine, it's medicine. 'Alternative medicine' is a deceptive term that tries to create the illusion that a discredited or untested treatment is truly an alternative to an established treatment in scientific medicine. By adding 'complementary medicine' to the repertoire of misleading terms, the purveyors of quackery have improved on the illusion that their remedies somehow enhance or improve the effects of science-based medical treatments.
See also holistic, integrative medicine and NCCAM.
further reading
I have written several articles and short pieces about alternative-health related topics. The following is a list of those I think are most relevant to the article above.
Evaluating Personal Experience
Energy Healing: Looking in All the Wrong Places
Evaluating Acupuncture Studies: Laughable vs. Dangerous Delusions
The trouble with acupuncture, homeopathy, etc.
Sticking Needles into Acupuncture Studies
How safe are alternative therapies?
Oprah and Oz spreading superstition at the speed of night
Statistics and Medical Studies
Review of R. Barker Bausell's Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Acupuncture shown NOT to ease back and neck pain after surgery
books and articles
Bausell, R. Barker. (2007). Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine Oxford.
Park, Robert L. Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud (Oxford U. Press, 2000).
Randi, James. The Faith Healers (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1989).
Raso, Jack. "Alternative" Healthcare: A Comprehensive Guide (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1994).
Raso, Jack. "Mystical Medical Alternativism," Skeptical Inquirer, Sept/Oct 1995.
Shapiro, Rose. 2008. Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All. Random House.
Stalker, Douglas. 1995. Evidence and alternative medicine. Mt. Sinai Journal of Medicine.
Stenger, Victor J. "Quantum Quackery," Skeptical Inquirer. January/February 1997.
websites
Social and judgmental biases that make inert treatments seem to work by Barry L. Beyerstein (1999)
Analysis of the Reports of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy (WHCCAMP) from the National Council Against Health Fraud
NCAHF Position Statement on White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine
QuackWatch by Dr. Stephen Barrett
Fraud & Quackery: Internet Resources: Alternative Medicine
Alternative Medicine Topical Index Skeptic's Dictionary
The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices
The Medical Messiahs: A Social History of Health Quackery in Twentieth-Century America Chapter 18: Anti-Quackery, Inc. James Harvey Young, PhD
New More than 37% of hospitals now offer complementary and alternative treatments such as acupuncture, homeopathy, and massage therapy—up from 26.5% in 2005, according to a report from the American Hospital Association. According to the survey, 84 percent of hospitals indicated patient demand as the primary rationale in offering CAM services and 67 percent of survey respondents stated clinical effectiveness as their top reason.
The Academic Woo Aggregator (a list of all the academic medical centers with woo programs)- Orac
Last
updated 04/21/09
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