Alternative Medicine
Alternative medicine describes practices used in place of conventional medical treatments. It should not be confused with complementary medicine, which refers to alternative medicine that is used concurrently with conventional medicine. Many regard the distinction as false, preferring "good medicine" (which demonstrably works) and "bad medicine." Richard Dawkins, Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, notes that alternative medicine is defined as that set of practices that cannot be tested, refuse to be tested or consistently fail tests. He also states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work."
Alternative medicine includes practices that incorporate spiritual, metaphysical, or religious underpinnings; non-European medical traditions; newly developed approaches to healing; and a number of others. Detractors of alternative medicine may also define it as "diagnosis, treatment, or therapy which can be provided legally by persons who are not licensed to diagnose and treat illness," although some medical doctors find value using alternative therapies in the practice of "complementary medicine."
Many in the scientific community define alternative medicine as any treatment, the efficacy and safety of which has not been verified through peer-reviewed, controlled studies. It is thus possible for a method to change categories in either direction, based on increased knowledge of its effectiveness or lack thereof.