IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v62y2006i11p2646-2657.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of evidence in alternative medicine: Contrasting biomedical and anthropological approaches

Author

Listed:
  • Barry, Christine Ann

Abstract

The growth of alternative medicine and its insurgence into the realms of the biomedical system raises a number of questions about the nature of evidence. Calls for 'gold standard' randomised controlled trial evidence, by both biomedical and political establishments, to legitimise the integration of alternative medicine into healthcare systems, can be interpreted as deeply political. In this paper, the supposed objectivity of scientific, biomedical forms of evidence is questioned through an illumination of the multiple rhetorics embedded in the evidence-based medicine phenomenon, both within biomedicine itself and in calls for its use to evaluate alternative therapeutic systems. Anthropological notions of evidence are constructed very differently from those of biomedical science, and offer a closer resonance with the philosophy of alternative medicine. Examples are given of the kinds of evidence produced by anthropologists researching alternative medicine. Ethnographic evidence of 'what works' in alternative medicine includes concepts such as transcendent, transformational experiences; changing lived-body experience; and the gaining of meaning. It is proposed that the promotion of differently constructed modes of evidence can be used to legitimise alternative medicine by widening the definition of what works in therapy, and offering a critique of what people feel is lacking from much of orthodox medical care.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry, Christine Ann, 2006. "The role of evidence in alternative medicine: Contrasting biomedical and anthropological approaches," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 2646-2657, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:11:p:2646-2657
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(05)00615-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lohr, Kathleen N. & Eleazer, Kristen & Mauskopf, Josephine, 1998. "Health policy issues and applications for evidence-based medicine and clinical practice guidelines," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Quah, Stella R., 2003. "Traditional healing systems and the ethos of science," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(10), pages 1997-2012, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deml, Michael J. & Notter, Julia & Kliem, Paulina & Buhl, Andrea & Huber, Benedikt M. & Pfeiffer, Constanze & Burton-Jeangros, Claudine & Tarr, Philip E., 2019. "“We treat humans, not herds!”: A qualitative study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) providers’ individualized approaches to vaccination in Switzerland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    2. Pedersen, Inge Kryger, 2013. "‘It can do no harm’: Body maintenance and modification in alternative medicine acknowledged as a non risk health regimen," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 56-62.
    3. Andrews, Gavin J. & Evans, Joshua & McAlister, Seraphina, 2013. "‘Creating the right therapy vibe’: Relational performances in holistic medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 99-109.
    4. Chung, Vincent C.H. & Hillier, Sheila & Lau, Chun Hong & Wong, Samuel Y.S. & Yeoh, Eng Kiong & Griffiths, Sian M., 2011. "Referral to and attitude towards traditional Chinese medicine amongst western medical doctors in postcolonial Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 247-255, January.
    5. Kelner, Merrijoy & Wellman, Beverly & Welsh, Sandy & Boon, Heather, 2006. "How far can complementary and alternative medicine go? The case of chiropractic and homeopathy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2617-2627, November.
    6. Scott, Clare & Walker, Jan & White, Peter & Lewith, George, 2011. "Forging convictions: The effects of active participation in a clinical trial," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(12), pages 2041-2048, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chiu, Stephen W.K. & Ko, Lisanne S.F. & Lee, Rance P.L., 2005. "Decolonization and the movement for institutionalization of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong: a political process perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 1045-1058, September.
    2. Waldram, James B. & Hatala, Andrew R., 2015. "Latent and manifest empiricism in Q'eqchi' Maya healing: A case study of HIV/AIDS," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 9-16.
    3. Wahlberg, Ayo, 2007. "A quackery with a difference--New medical pluralism and the problem of 'dangerous practitioners' in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 2307-2316, December.
    4. John M. Brooks & Cole G. Chapman & Mary C. Schroeder, 2018. "Understanding Treatment Effect Estimates When Treatment Effects Are Heterogeneous for More Than One Outcome," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 381-393, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:11:p:2646-2657. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.