ABSTRACT
The legitimacy of alternative medicine is an issue of vital public concern and the growing body of social science research on alternative healing should surely illuminate the political problems involved. This chapter begins by reviewing some of the results of this research, and then outlines some findings from the authors' own investigations. Large scale studies conducted in industrial countries suggest that the usage of alternative medicine is now substantial. The Threshold Foundation study carried out in the UK projected a rate of usage amounting to 5 per cent of the rate of consultation of GPs. A study of patients at the Centre for Alternative Therapies in Southampton indicated that the three complaints for which consultations were most frequently initiated were pain, allergies, and non-specific symptoms such as 'feeling unwell or run down', malaise. Use of alternative medicine is still a minority choice, it will be clear that it is not a marginal issue.
