Title : Where traditional and integrative medicines and therapies find acceptance and challenges among US physicians and consumers
Abstract:
Physician and patient opinions and embrace of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines are slowly changing in the U.S. The core reasons for choosing these “alternatives” to the U.S. medical establishment remain the same. The original study’s purpose was to understand the current knowledge, beliefs, and use of herbal medicine in the central United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The data showed that Western herbal medicine was a "modern herbal synthesis" shaped from three source traditions-- classic Western herbalism, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Native American herbal medicine, and that it was best understood as a part of cultural evolution known as a revitalization movement. In short—when a society’s cultural systems (such as medical care) do not meet the needs of a significant portion of people, they seek alternative paradigms that do offer them what they need. Two decades later, the culture of medicine shows changes and more incorporation of Traditional Medicine, or CAM, though skepticism remains. One of the most important changes is the increase in interest in other forms of Traditional Medicine and Ethnomedicine from a wider range of global cultures. With these new social influences, the types of remedies and the ways they are consumed and purchased have changed as Americans adopt not just remedies but the philosophies and methodologies of other ethnomedicines, and they are more likely to be integrated with acknowledgement of their cultural origins. Theme and qualitative analysis of modern information sources and popular ethnomedical therapies show that the same core reasons people choose these therapies remains the same. People are more likely to use herbal remedies for illnesses not satisfactorily treated by Western allopathic medicine. These failings could be comfort during treatment, balancing spiritual, cultural, or ethical beliefs during therapy, ideas of acceptable side effects, personal control, or a desire for sustainable solutions. While much of this increases positive use of traditional medicines, we have also seen a rise of dangerous or poorly researched “remedies” falsely claiming to be associated with reputable established Traditional Medicines to “borrow” their legitimacy. Unfortunately, these dangerous practices tarnish the reputation of legitimate traditional and ethno-medicine and make their acceptance by physicians more difficult, even though they are growing more accepting of TM and CAM overall.
