History of Alternative Medicine in U.S.

By Robert Warren

In this country’s formation, medical sects emerged, and these dissident groups sought alternatives to the “barbaric conventional treatments,” Dr. Tanya Edwards said. Some practices these various groups adopted as remedies included bleeding, blistering, leeches, sweating, arsenic and heavy doses of mercury.

Health reform movements appeared, and religious groups linked spirituality and healing, seeking out herbal remedies and using food as medicine.

During the 1800s, the medical groups could be placed into three categories: The regulars, the homeopaths and the eclectics. All were trying their best and fighting for the same patients, Edwards said.

The homeopathic practitioneers went the route of direct marketing and criticized the “regulars,” claiming they were poisoning people. Eventually, those who practiced more traditional and mainstream medicine squashed out the homeopaths.

The medical community became more standardized, and in the 1870s medical doctors began to be licensed. Osteopathy started in this country in 1892 to address causes of diseases instead of treating the effects. Chiropractic medicine started in 1895, followed by naturopathic medince, which focuses on the body’s ability to heal itself.

In the 1960s, holistic approaches to medicine reappear. Therapeutic touch is used in the 1970s and in the 1980s homeopathy returns.

— Bobby Warren

(c) 2008 Daily Record, The Wooster, OH. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.