Is alternative medicine effective?

Alternative medicine helps those who distrust the mainstream

Question: Is alternative medicine effective?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, alternative medicine is effective
Argument‹3 of 5›: Alternative medicine helps those who distrust the mainstream

Alternative medicine appeals to people with a distrust of authority or belief in conspiracy theories.

The argument

This argument explains the appeal of complementary and alternative medicine by the position patients now find themselves in. With many diseases now curable, we are left with a profile of multiple long-term health conditions that cannot be cured, only managed — a situation in which conventional treatment offers maintenance rather than resolution, and in which a patient may reasonably keep looking. People are therefore looking for alternative treatment. Society has also increasingly embraced the desirability of natural and organic things, and CAM appeals to these ideals, presenting itself in the vocabulary of the natural rather than the pharmaceutical. Access shapes the pattern as much as preference does. The lack of health care coverage in the USA increases the chances of people disliking traditional medicine, since they are less familiar with it and associate it with a system that oppresses them — the institution is encountered first as a source of bills and exclusion, and only then as a source of treatment. Similarly, 80% of people in developing countries cannot afford the most basic medical procedures, drugs and vaccines, so are drawn to cheaper, more available care. Where the mainstream option is out of reach, the alternative is not competing with it on equal terms. The final element is informational. The rise of disinformation allowed by the internet has created an environment where truth and quackery carry equal weight, because both arrive through the same channels with the same apparent authority. The Big Pharma conspiracy theory — the belief that pharmaceutical companies, regulators and politicians are secretly working in consort against the public interest, withholding effective treatments and cures to line their own pockets, or developing diseases in order to sell their products — circulates in that environment. Taken together, on this argument, unmet need, cultural affinity, cost and distrust explain why alternative medicine helps and holds those who have turned away from the mainstream.

Premises

[P1]With many diseases now only manageable rather than curable, and society embracing natural and organic ideals, people increasingly seek alternative treatments (CAM) that align with those values. [P2] Distrust of mainstream medicine—driven by gaps in US healthcare coverage, the unaffordability of basic care for 80% of people in developing countries, and internet disinformation like the 'Big Pharma' conspiracy—draws many toward cheaper, more available alternative care. [C] Because it reaches and serves those who distrust or cannot access mainstream medicine, alternative medicine is effective for them.

Counter-arguments

Far from being natural and organic, CAM is a multi-billion dollar industry with strong political lobby groups and clever marketing tapping into the desire for nature. In a lightly regulated market it is relatively easy be highly profitable. CAM that involve oral supplements are equally as toxic as conventional medicine – without the checks and balances to identify them.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Alternative medicine does not work outside of these oppressive paradigms.