In This Chapter
■What’s all this fuss about alternative medi-
cine, anyway?
■What is alternative medicine and how is it
different from “regular” medicine?
■What are the theoretical foundations of the
two systems?
■What does research tell us about the two
systems?1 What Is Alternative Medicine All About?.
1 What is Alternative Medicine All About?.
According to a random survey conducted in 1997, 42% of Americans
sought out and used one or more types of medical interventions that
were not taught in medical schools and were not generally available in
U.S. hospitals. This represented an eight percentage point increase over
the 1990 results of the same survey. While the vast majority (96%) of
these people were also seeking conventional treatment for their health
problems, less than 40% of these people told their conventional doc-
tors what they were doing. Clearly, something’s going on with alterna-
tive medicine.