Recent studies conducted in North America and Europe indicate that these remedies tend to be used most in groups with higher incomes and higher levels of education. In many cases, the costs are not covered by medical insurance schemes. The use of these complementary and alternative therapies has become a multi-billion dollar industry that is expected to continue its rapid growth. This is not the poor man’s alternative to conventional care.
A central question:
what explains the sharp rise in the use of complementary and alternative medicines? Again, we can turn to the medical establishment for some explanations. Some commentators in journals such as the British Medical Journal, The Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine interpret this trend as a biting criticism of high-technology, specialized medicine, despite all its well-documented merits.
Medical care has become depersonalized, some would even say “hardhearted”.
Medical care has become depersonalized, some would even say “hardhearted”.
In most affluent countries, the number of family physicians and primary care doctors continues to decline. The trend towards highly specialized care works against a sympathetic doctor-patient relationship.
In too many cases, the patient is no longer treated as a person, but rather as an assembly line of body parts each to be managed, often with great expertise, by an appropriate specialist.
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