New York Times Examines Increased Popularity Of Alternative Medicine In U.S.

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New York Times Examines Increased Popularity Of Alternative Medicine

In U.S.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=37182

The New York Times on Friday examined how the more than $27 billion

that U.S. residents spend annually on alternative and complementary

medicine provides the " most telling evidence of Americans'

dissatisfaction with traditional health care. " According to the

Times, an estimated 48% of U.S. adults used at least one alternative

or complementary treatment in 2004, compared with 42% in 1994, and

health care experts maintain that the rate continues to increase " for

reasons that have as much to do with increasing distrust of

mainstream medicine and the psychological appeal of nontraditional

approaches as with the therapeutic properties of herbs or other

supplements. " U.S. residents " do not appear to care that there is

little, if any, evidence that many of the therapies work " ;

that " alternative therapy practitioners do not have a fraction of the

training mainstream doctors do " ; or that vitamin and dietary

supplement manufacturers " are as profit-driven " as pharmaceutical

manufacturers, the Times reports. U.S. residents who use alternative

or complementary treatments often have a " sense of disappointment "

or " betrayal " related to a " misdiagnosis, an intolerable drug, failed

surgery, a dismissive doctor " or " haggles with insurance providers,

conflicting findings from medical studies and news reports of drug

makers' covering up product side effects, " according to the

Times. " Whatever the benefits and risks of its many concoctions and

methods, alternative medicine offers them at least the promise of

affectionate care, unhurried service, freedom from prescription drug

side effects and the potential for feeling not just better but also

spiritually charged, " the Times reports (Carey, New York Times, 2/3).

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