另類醫學是與常規醫學治療併用的替代醫學，是一種使用它可以「補充」治療（提高療效）的「信念」，但其沒有得到科學方法證實[n 7][2][21][22]。CAM是補充和替代醫學（英語：complementary and alternative medicine）的英語縮寫[23][24]。整合醫學是指替代醫學和實證醫學的結合[25]。
「補充醫學」是指與常規醫學治療併用的替代醫學，有人相信它能增加建基於科學的醫學的有效性[40][41][42]。「補充醫學」的一個例子是針灸的利用，再加上採用科學為基礎的醫學，相信針灸能增加或「補充」建基於科學的醫學的有效性[42]。CAM是補充和替代醫學(complementary and alternative medicine)的英語縮寫[23][24]
"The phrase complementary and alternative medicine is used to describe a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that have historic origins outside mainstream medicine. Most of these practices are used together with conventional therapies and therefore have been called complementary to distinguish them from alternative practices, those used as a substitute for standard care. ... Until a decade ago or so, "complementary and alternative medicine" could be defined as practices that are neither taught in medical schools nor reimbursed, but this definition is no longer workable, since medical students increasingly seek and receive some instruction about complementary health practices, and some practices are reimbursed by third-party payers. Another definition, practices that lack an evidence base, is also not useful, since there is a growing body of research on some of these modalities, and some aspects of standard care do not have a strong evidence base."[1]
"It is time for the scientific community to stop giving alternative medicine a free ride. There cannot be two kinds of medicine – conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work... speculation, and testimonials do not substitute for evidence."[3]
"Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a broad domain of resources that encompasses health systems, modalities, and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period. CAM includes such resources perceived by their users as associated with positive health outcomes. Boundaries within CAM and between the CAM domain and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed."[4]
"CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine."[6]
The Final Report (2002) of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy states: "The Commissioners believe and have repeatedly stated in this Report that our response should be to hold all systems of health and healing, including conventional and CAM, to the same rigorous standards of good science and health services research. Although the Commissioners support the provision of the most accurate information about the state of the science of all CAM modalities, they believe that it is premature to advocate the wide implementation and reimbursement of CAM modalities that are yet unproven."[20]
According to the Tzu Chi Institute, a Canadian centre established to evaluate complementary and alternative therapies, "alternative therapies are those lacking scientific validation that are excluded from medical school training programs and uninsured by health plans."[26]
"Kessler refers to a lack of efficacy but never pushes back at Hatch by enumerating the dangers that unregulated products pose to the public, the dangers that fill the pages of Offit’s book."[28]
The National Cancer Institute's Dictionary of Cancer Terms, states that, "Orthodox medicine [is] ... also called allopathic medicine, biomedicine, conventional medicine, mainstream medicine, and Western medicine";[43] the same source states that, "Standard medical care" is "[a]lso called best practice, standard of care, and standard therapy."[44]
Mary Ruggie in Chapter 2 of Marginal to Mainstream: Alternative Medicine in America said, "By the mid-1990s, the notion that some alternative therapies could be complementary to conventional medicine began to change the status of...alternative medicine. The 21st century is witnessing yet another terminological innovation, in which CAM and conventional medicine are becoming integrative."[51]
As David J. Hufford, Professor and Director at the Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine at the Penn State College of Medicine,[58] has argued: "Simply because an herbal remedy comes to be used by physicians does not mean that herbalists cease to practice, or that the practice of the one becomes like that of the other."[59]
In his book The Homœopathic Medical DoctrineSamuel Hahnemann the creator of homeopathy wrote: "Observation, reflection, and experience have unfolded to me that the best and true method of cure is founded on the principle, similia similibus curentur. To cure in a mild, prompt, safe, and durable manner, it is necessary to choose in each case a medicine that will excite an affection similar (ὅμοιος πάθος) to that against which it is employed."[62]
Sampson, W. Antiscience Trends in the Rise of the "Alternative Medicine" Movement. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1995, 775 (1): 188–197. PMID 8678416. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb23138.x.
Dasgupta, Amitava; Hammett-Stabler, Catherine A. Herbal Supplements: Efficacy, Toxicity, Interactions with Western Drugs, and Effects on Clinical Laboratory Tests. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley and Sons. 2011: 202–205. ISBN 9780470433508.
"Science-based medicine, with its emphasis on controlled study, proof, evidence, statistical significance and safety is being rejected in favour of 'alternative medicine' - an atavistic portmanteau of anecdote, hearsay, rumour and hokum.... Probably the most commercially successful and widely used branch of alternative or complementary medicine is 'phytotherapy'. These are the tablets, powders and elixirs, otherwise known as herbal medicine, that are sold in most countries, through health shops and pharmacies as 'nutritional supplements'.... Only a tiny minority of these remedies have been shown to have mild-to moderately beneficial health effects... So why are affluent, otherwise rational, highly educated people (for this is the average user profile) so hungry for phytotherapy?... people still believe that 'natural' equals good and safe despite plenty of evidence to the contrary." ... as far as the human body is concerned, 'natural' is meaningless... Equally, what's so safe about consuming substances that need meet no standards of contents? ...", Phytotherapy - good science or big business?, Sara Abdulla, Nature - International Weekly Journal of Science, 5-13-1999 [1] （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）
Weisleder, P. Unethical prescriptions: alternative therapies for children with cerebral palsy.. Clinical pediatrics. January 2010, 49 (1): 7–11. PMID 19628756. doi:10.1177/0009922809340438.
Relman, A.S. Andrew Weil, the boom in alternative medicine, and the retreat from science. A Trip to Stonesville. The New Republic219 (24). 1998-12-14: 28–36. 參數|magazine=與模板{{cite news}}不匹配（建議改用{{cite magazine}}或|newspaper=） (幫助)Reproduced at Quackwatch, (2002-03-10) and archived from there 2002-10-10.
Bombardieri, D.; Easthope, E. Convergence between Orthodox and Alternative Medicine: A Theoretical Elaboration and Empirical Test. Health (London). October 2000, 4 (4): 479–494. doi:10.1177/136345930000400404.
Ezzo, J.; Bausell, B.; Moerman, D.E.; Berman, B.; Hadhazy, V. Reviewing the reviews. How strong is the evidence? How clear are the conclusions?. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. Fall 2001, 17 (4): 457–466. PMID 11758290.
Nissen, N.; et al. Researching alternative and complementary therapies: Mapping the field. Medical Anthropology. 2013, 32 (1): 1–7. PMID 23206171. doi:10.1080/01459740.2012.718016.
House of Commons: Science and Technology Committee. Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy(PDF) (報告). HC 45, Fourth Report of Session 2009–2010. London: The Stationery Office. 22 February 2010 [2016-06-23]. （原始內容存檔(PDF)於2021-02-14）.
Shang, Aijing; Huwiler-Müntener, Karin; Nartey, Linda; Jüni, Peter; Dörig, Stephan; Sterne, Jonathan AC; Pewsner, Daniel; Egger, Matthias, Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy, The Lancet, 2005, 366 (9487): 726–732, PMID 16125589, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67177-2
Jagtenberg T, Evans S, Grant A, Howden I, Lewis M, Singer J. Evidence-based medicine and naturopathy. J Altern Complement Med. 2006, 12 (3): 323–8. PMID 16646733. doi:10.1089/acm.2006.12.323.
Ernst E. Rise in popularity of complementary and alternative medicine: reasons and consequences for vaccination. Vaccine. 2001, 20 (Suppl 1): S89–93. PMID 11587822. doi:10.1016/S0264-410X(01)00290-0.
Rebekah L. Bahr, Don C. Wilson. The Impact of High-Dose Vitamin C on Blood Glucose Testing in 18F-FDG PET Imaging. Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology. March 2015, 43 (1): 70–71. doi:10.2967/jnmt.114.140335.
Lu, Gwei-Djen; Needham, Joseph. Celestial Lancets: a History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. 1980. ISBN 9780521215138.
Crozier, Ralph C. Traditional Medicine in Modern China: Science, Nationalism, and the Tensions of Cultural Change. Harvard East Asian Series. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1968.
Pharmacographia Indica （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）, A history of principal drugs of vegetable origin in British India - Volume 1, William Dymock et al. (1890), London
National Science Foundation. 7. Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. 2002 [2016-06-22]. ISBN 978-0-16-066579-0. （原始內容存檔於2013-07-25）. Among all who had heard of [magnet therapy], 14 percent said it was very scientific and another 54 percent said it was sort of scientific. Only 25 percent of those surveyed answered correctly, that is, that it is not at all scientific.
Stenger, Victor J. Reality Check: the energy fields of life. Skeptical Briefs (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). June 1998 [25 December 2007]. （原始內容存檔於11 December 2007）. "Despite complete scientific rejection, the concept of a special biological fields within living things remains deeply engraved in human thinking. It is now working its way into modern health care systems, as non-scientific alternative therapies become increasingly popular. From acupuncture to homeopathy and therapeutic touch, the claim is made that healing can be brought about by the proper adjustment of a person's or animal's 'bioenergetic fields.'"
Lilienfeld, Scott O.; Lynn, Steven Jay; Lohr, Jeffrey M. Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology. Guilford Press. 2014: 202–. ISBN 9781462517893.
Lee, MS; Pittler, MH; Ernst, E. Effects of reiki in clinical practice: A systematic review of randomised clinical trials. International Journal of Clinical Practice (Systematic Review). 2008, 62 (6): 947–54. PMID 18410352. doi:10.1111/j.1742-1241.2008.01729.x. In conclusion, the evidence is insufficient to suggest that reiki is an effective treatment for any condition. Therefore the value of reiki remains unproven.
Raub, J.A. Psychophysiologic effects of Hatha Yoga on musculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary function: A literature review. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. December 2002, 8 (6): 797–812. PMID 12614533. doi:10.1089/10755530260511810.
Porter, Robert S.; Kaplan, Justin L. (編). Chapter 165. Sexuality and Sexual Disorders. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis & Therapy 19th. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., A Subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. 2011. ISBN 978-0-911910-19-3. （原始內容存檔於2015-02-20）.
Szasz, Thomas S.Sex. The Second Sin. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. 1974: 10 [1973] [2011-06-30]. ISBN 0-7100-7757-2. （原始內容存檔於2021-03-21）. Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth, it's a cure.
Shpancer, Noah. The Masturbation Gap. The pained history of self pleasure. Psychology Today. New York City: Sussex Publishers. 29 September 2010 [2013-06-27]. （原始內容存檔於2016-07-31）. The publication of Kinsey's and Masters and Johnson's research revealed that masturbation was both common and harmless. Many studies have since confirmed this basic truth, revealing in addition that masturbation is neither a substitute for "real" sex nor a facilitator of risky sex.參數|journal=與模板{{cite web}}不匹配（建議改用{{cite journal}}或|website=） (幫助)
Coon, Dennis; Mitterer, John O. 11. Gender and Sexuality. Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior 14. Cengage Learning. 2015-01-01: 363 [2020-07-09]. ISBN 978-1-305-54500-7. （原始內容存檔於2020-06-14）. Is there any way that masturbation can cause harm? Seventy years ago, a child might have been told that masturbation would cause insanity, acne, sterility, or other such nonsense. "Self-abuse," as it was then called, has enjoyed a long and unfortunate history of religious and medical disapproval (Caroll, 2013). The modern view is that masturbation is a normal sexual behavior (Hogarth & Ingham, 2009). Enlightened parents are well aware of this fact. Still, many children are punished or made to feel guilty for touching their genitals. This is unfortunate because masturbation itself is harmless. Typically, its only negative effects are feelings of fear, guilt, or anxiety that arise from learning to think of masturbation as "bad" or "wrong." In an age when people are urged to practice "safer sex," masturbation remains the safest sex of all.
Sigel, Lisa Z. Masturbation: The History of the Great Terror by Jean Stengers; Ann Van Neck; Kathryn Hoffmann. Journal of Social History (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Summer 2004, 37 (4): 1065–1066. ISSN 0022-4529. JSTOR 3790078. doi:10.1353/jsh.2004.0065. Stengers and Van Neck follow the illness to its fairly abrupt demise; they liken the shift to finally seeing the emperor without clothes as doctors began to doubt masturbation as a cause of illness at the turn of the twentieth century. Once doubt set in, scientists began to accumulate statistics about the practice, finding that a large minority and then a large majority of people masturbated. The implications were clear: if most people masturbated and did not experience insanity, debility, and early death, then masturbation could not be held accountable to the etiology that had been assigned it. Masturbation quickly lost its hold over the medical community, and parents followed in making masturbation an ordinary part of first childhood and then human sexuality.
Wood, Kate. Masturbation as a Means of Achieving Sexual Health by Walter Bockting; Eli Coleman. Culture, Health & Sexuality (London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.). 2005-03, 7 (2): 182–184. ISSN 1369-1058. JSTOR 4005453. In the collection's introductory chapter, Eli Coleman describes how Kinsey's research half a century ago was the first in a series of studies to challenge widely prevalent cultural myths relating to the 'harmful' effects of masturbation, revealing the practice to be both common and non-pathological. Subsequent research, outlined by Coleman in this chapter, has shown masturbation to be linked to healthy sexual development, sexual well-being in relationships, self-esteem and bodily integrity (an important sexual right). As such, the promotion and de-stigmatization of the practice continue to be important strategies within sexology for the achievement of healthy sexual development and well-being.
The collection concludes with two surveys among US college students. The first of these was based on limited quantitative questions relating to masturbation. The findings suggest that masturbation is not a substitute for sexual intercourse, as has often been posited, but is associated with increased sexual interest and greater number of partners. The second of these surveys asks whether masturbation could be useful in treating low sexual desire, by examining the relationship between masturbation, libido and sexual fantasy.
Blatchford, Emily. Chicken Pox 'Parties' Are Dangerous And Unnecessary, Experts Say. March 7, 2016 [2020-06-24]. （原始內容存檔於2020-06-25） –透過Huff Post. Given the highly contagious nature of chicken pox, the thinking behind such events was, seeing as the child would probably contract it at some point anyway, why not catch it early and get it over with?
Callahan, D. (編). The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Accommodating Pluralism. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 2004. ISBN 9781589014640.
Gevitz, N. Chapter 28: Unorthodox Medical Theories. Bynum, W.F.; Porter, R.S. (編). Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine Vol. 1. New York & London: Routledge. 1997 [1993]. ISBN 9780415164191.
Kasper, Dennis L; Fauci, Anthony S.; Hauser, Stephen L.; Longo, Dan L.; Jameson, J. Larry; Loscalzo, Joseph. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine 19th. New York: McGraw Hill Education. 2015. ISBN 9780071802154.
Saks, M. Orthodox and Alternative Medicine: Politics, Professionalization and Health Care. Sage Publications. 2003. ISBN 9781446265369.
Sointu, E. Theorizing Complementary and Alternative Medicines: Wellbeing, Self, Gender, Class. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. ISBN 9780230309319.
Taylor, Kim. Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945–63: a Medicine of Revolution. Needham Research Institute Studies. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon. 2005. ISBN 0-415-34512-X.
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印度阿育吠陀醫學包括心靈的靈性平衡會影響疾病的信念
傳統西班牙市場出售的草藥
馬達加斯加傳統醫學
中國傳統醫學中使用的各種植物和動物部份
基督教信仰療法中的手禮、祈禱治療
墨西哥索諾拉州的薩滿治療師
