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'''Alternative medicine''' is any practice that is put forward as having the healing effects of [[medicine]], but is not based on [[evidence]] gathered with the [[scientific method]].<ref>''"alternative medicine refers to all treatments that have not been proven effective using scientific methods"'', ''Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding Science Fiction and Pseudoscience - Belief in Alternative Medicine'', [[National Science Foundation]], [http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm]</ref> Alternative medicine is based on tradition, belief in [[supernatural]] energies, [[pseudoscience]], [[fallacy|errors in reasoning]], propaganda, or fraud.<ref name=NSF_altmed /><ref name=ATRAMM>''The Flight from Science and Reason: Antiscience Trends in the Rise of the "Alternative Medicine Movement"'', Volume 775, ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'', Wallace Samson, pages 188–197, June 1995</ref><ref name=AMCER>''Alternative Medicine and Common Errors of Reasoning'', Beyerstein, Barry L. PhD, ''Academic Medicine'': March 2001 - Volume 76 - Issue 3 - p 230-237</ref><ref>Other
*''Nature Medicine'', September 1996, Volume 2 Number 9, p1042 *''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal'', Hines, Terence, ''American Psychological Association'', [http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2003-02869-000] *''The Need for Educational Reform in Teaching about Alternative Therapies'', ''Journal of the Association of Medical Colleges'', March 2001 - Volume 76 - Issue 3 - p 248-250 *''The Rise and Rise of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: a Sociological Perspective'', Ian D Coulter and Evan M Willis, ''Medical Journal of Australia'', 2004; 180 (11): 587-589 *''Ignore Growing Patient Interest in Alternative Medicine at Your Peril - MDs Warned'', Heather Kent, ''Canadian Medical Association Journal'', November 15, 1997 vol. 157 no. 10 *''The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark'', Carl Sagan, Random House, ISBN: 0-394-53512-X, 1996</ref> Alternative therapies lack [[scientific validation]], and their effectiveness is either [[Scientific method|unproved]] or [[Scientific evidence|disproved]].<ref name=ATRAMM /><ref name=IGPIAMAYP>''Ignore Growing Patient Interest in Alternative Medicine at Your Peril - MDs Warned'', Heather Kent, ''Canadian Medical Association Journal'', November 15, 1997 vol. 157 no. 10</ref><ref name=NP>Goldrosen MH, Straus SE. [http://www.nature.com/nri/journal/v4/n11/pdf/nri1486.pdf "Complementary and alternative medicine: assessing the evidence for immunological benefits."] ''Nature Perspectives'', November 2004 vol. 4, pp. 912-921.</ref> They have also been defined more broadly as the treatments that are not part of the conventional healthcare system.<ref>''What is CAM'', ''NCCAM'', [http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam]</ref><ref>''What is Complementary Medicine?'', ''British Medical Journal'', [http://www.bmj.com/content/319/7211/693]</ref><ref>Traditional Medicine: Definitions, Complementary/alternative medicine (CAM), World Health Organization, [http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/traditional/definitions/en/index.html]</ref> Alternative medicine is sometimes grouped with '''complementary medicine''' which, in general, refers to the same interventions when used in conjunction with mainstream techniques,<ref name="whccamp.hhs.gov">{{cite web |title=White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy |url=http://whccamp.hhs.gov/fr2.html |date=March 2002| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/61C8iiefX | archivedate = 2011-08-25| deadurl=no}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=[[Edzard Ernst|Ernst E.]] |title=Complementary medicine: common misconceptions |journal=[[Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine]] |year=1995 |volume=88 |issue=5 |pages=244–247| pmid = 7636814|pmc=1295191 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Joyce CR |title=Placebo and complementary medicine |journal=[[The Lancet]] |year=1994 |volume=344|issue=8932 |pages=1279–1281 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(94)90757-9}}</ref> under the umbrella term '''complementary and alternative medicine''', or '''CAM'''.<ref name=ernstinterview>{{cite web |url=http://www.harcourt-international.com/ernst/interview.cfm |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070311015608/http://www.harcourt-international.com/ernst/interview.cfm |publisher=Elsevier Science |title=Interview with [[Edzard Ernst]], editor of ''The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine'' |year=2002 |archivedate=2007-03-11}}</ref><ref name=CassilethDeng2004>{{cite journal |author=Cassileth BR, Deng G |title=Complementary and alternative therapies for cancer |journal=[[The Oncologist]] |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=80–9 |year=2004 |pmid=14755017 |doi=10.1634/theoncologist.9-1-80}}</ref> [[Integrative medicine]] (or integrative health) is the combination of the practices and methods of alternative medicine with [[evidence based medicine]].<ref name=BMJ_May>{{cite journal | journal=British Medical Journal | volume=343 | doi=10.1136/bmj.d4372 | date=12 July 2011 | title=College of Medicine: What is integrative health? | author=James May | url=http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4372.full | pages=d4372 | pmid=21750063}}</ref> Critics maintain that the terms “complementary” and “alternative medicine” are deceptive [[euphemism]]s meant to give an impression of medical authority.<ref>Carroll RT. [http://www.skepdic.com/compmed.html "complementary medicine"] at ''The Skeptic's Dictionary''</ref><ref name=APNEJM>Acupuncture Pseudoscience in the New England Journal of Medicine, Science Based Medicine, Steven Novella, [http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=6391 Science-Based Medicine » Acupuncture Pseudoscience in the New England Journal of Medicine]</ref><ref name="Credulityabout">Credulity about acupuncture infiltrates the New England Journal of Medicine, Science Based Medicine, David Gorski, [http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=6381 Science-Based Medicine » Credulity about acupuncture infiltrates the New England Journal of Medicine]</ref>
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