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‘It can do no harm’: Body maintenance and modification in alternative medicine acknowledged as a non risk health regimen

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  • Pedersen, Inge Kryger

Abstract

This article proposes the notion of a non-risk health regimen as a mode of recognising more dynamic aspects of risk-awareness in health care, in this case alternative medicine in Denmark. Danish users of alternative medicine are in an ambivalent position. They are responsible citizens who care about their own health. On the other hand, they are doing this by paying out of their own pockets for attending non-authorised treatments with very limited scientific evidence for their effects. This article draws on 138 qualitative in-depth interviews conducted in 2006–07 with 46 Danish users of different forms of session-based alternative medicine. A recurring theme throughout users' accounts is found to be that the treatments ‘at least can do no harm’. Many of the users regard pharmaceuticals or surgery as an artificial impediment and a threat to overall health, whereas the energy-stimulating processes initiated by the alternative practitioner are not considered risky. The no harm discourse constitutes a sophisticated lay-explanation that brings together a wide range of explanations within which three themes are identified: responsibility; optimization; desperation. By informing these findings with the concept of reflexive body techniques, it is shown that use of alternative medicine is a process of working on the self and body in a spectrum between transition (i.e. pain relief or self-development) and continuity (i.e. well-being or prevention of illness) and not only a quest for cure. In this process ‘non-risk’ emerges as a lay explanation in the efforts of users to construct coherent self-narratives as agents in a risk-aware environment. The development of the notion of a non-risk health regimen invites and facilitates further studies on various lay motives within health care in general and contributes to explaining the popularity of alternative medicine in particular.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:90:y:2013:i:c:p:56-62
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.05.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Connor, Linda H., 2004. "Relief, risk and renewal: mixed therapy regimens in an Australian suburb," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(8), pages 1695-1705, October.
    2. 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.
    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.
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    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. Attwell, Katie & Ward, Paul R. & Meyer, Samantha B. & Rokkas, Philippa J. & Leask, Julie, 2018. "“Do-it-yourself”: Vaccine rejection and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 106-114.
    3. Anita Lavorgna & Leslie Carr, 2021. "Tweets and Quacks: Network and Content Analyses of Providers of Non-Science-Based Anticancer Treatments and Their Supporters on Twitter," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440211, March.

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