Originally published August 4 2005
More than half of patients surveyed tried alternative therapies
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A survey of 1,250 patients by Australian Doctor and Pfizer Australia found 53 percent had used one or more alternative therapies like acupuncture, reflexology and others, to complement more conventional medical care, which some felt was ineffective or incomplete.
Scientific evidence might be the Holy Grail of medicine, but it's often not science that patients seek.
They want time and attention; a holistic approach to their health and a say in decisions affecting it --- all factors that can lead them to the door of complementary practitioners.
Their decision might be based on ideological reasons or because "someone over the back fence told them 'this works for me'", he says.
Professor Cohen says most people wouldn't know where to find the science to back up medical treatments or how to interpret it.
When asked whether they believed there was a scientific basis in those therapies, responses ranged from 50% of all patients believing there was science to support chiropractic therapy, to just 15% believing there was a scientific basis for iridology.
Dr Craig Hassed, complementary medicine researcher and senior lecturer in the department of general practice at Melbourne's Monash University, says some patients actually distrust science.
One complementary medicine user, Jacqueline Lorber Kasunic (see 'What patients say', below), acknowledges there is probably no rigorous scientific evidence for therapies she is using to treat migraines --- acupuncture and naturopathy.
I am speculating that there are many reasons for this and perhaps they have more to do with the philosophy and politics surrounding current scientific discourse."
But she believes some alternative therapies are worthy of investigation, particularly with certain symptoms and illnesses.
That search for holistic health care is one of the main drivers behind the growth of complementary therapies, Dr Hassed says.
He says factors driving the growth of complementary medicine include access --- the ease of getting an appointment --- and patients' desire for easy solutions to their health problems.
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