That's just the thing, alternative medicine can really only be justified in situations where a placebo is considered a viable treatment option, and they bring with them a number of unique problems.
- Poorly labeled, or undefined drug conflicts. In fact some are known to diminish the effects of cholesterol and heart medications, or birth control.
- Cost. They are not all 15 cent teas. My mother has spent thousands on homeopathy, energy healing, acupuncture, and herbal remedies without any noticeable effect aside from a lighter wallet.
But my personal opinion is that people don't seek out alternative medicine because it works. It clearly doesn't.
People move to alternative health care because the practitioners tend to spend more time listening to their patients, and use that information to come up with nice-sounding theories to explain their affliction. Science-based medicine is complicated and requires a large amount of education. Alternative medicine is simple and easy to understand. It doesn’t matter that the theory has been completely refuted by numerous double-blind studies, the patient feels that they’ve been listened to and given a seemingly adequate explanation, and that’s more than they got from the hospital.
People don’t turn to alternative health care because they want better medicine, they turn to alternative health care because they want better doctors.