Abstract
A combination of alternative healing, self-medication, and access to free and openly-sourced technology constitutes the everyday experiences of the contemporary individual. These experiences challenge the longstanding dominance of biomedicine in the health domain, a dominance that has for some time gone unchallenged particularly in the West. Iedema and Veljanova argue that ‘medical science and medical-clinical practice have begun to lose some of their perceived authority’. We will suggest that to many, this will come as no surprise. Prominent among the developments that have fuelled this perception were problems associated with the dominant, evidence-based medical approach, problems with the conceptualisation of the health consumer as instrumentally rational, dissatisfaction with the highly technological approach of biomedicine, and increased encounters (either personally or through media exposure) with sub-standard care. Not surprisingly, we have noted a steady increase in the demand for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). And, as health consumers increasingly seek alternative methods of healing and promoting wellbeing (CAM), a reduction in the level of biomedical authority in the health domain has not gone unnoticed. Among the responses to this perceived shift of public attitude has been the absorption of selective alternative healing practices (such as acupuncture, homeopathy) into the established bio-medical health systems. The central place of biomedicine has been reified by the continued usage of the terms ‘alternative’ and ‘complementary’ to distinguish the CAM approach from the widely-accepted biomedical approach to health and healing.
Original language | English |
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Place of Publication | U.K. |
Publisher | Inter-Disciplinary Press |
Number of pages | 146 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781848883130 |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |