The presence of the fledgling Office of Alter native Medicine (OAM) in the National Institutes of Health is indicative that many thoughtful people in the United States are now considering the effectiveness of a range of treatments outside the medical mainstream. Some therapies being tested are even in direct opposition to conventional medicine. OAM is now sponsoring research evaluating everything from lifestyle changes to prayer.
In a similar spirit, traditional magazines are reviewing the worthiness of alternative medical practices. For example, the March 1994 issue of Consumer Reports considered in detail homeopathic medicine, which is also being researched by OAM. Consumer Reports notes that some published studies suggest this form of treatment might work but that there is no logical scientific case to be made for its benefits. One reason that a few American physicians have turned to homeopathy is their disillusionment with conventional medicine. Apparently some doctors are discovering that drugs often simply cover up symptoms rather than cure patients. The prescribed drugs of allopathic medicine can also produce side effects for which patients are given additional medication. The end result: patients sometimes taking several different medicines without becoming healthier.
Having spent much of her life as a semi invalid, a nineteenth-century spiritual pioneer in New England, Mary Baker Eddy, conducted her own medical research of the common remedies of her day. (Some of these treatments, including homeopathy, are currently seeing a resurgence in popularity.) After exhaustive investigations she found that no material remedy truly brought about lasting health.
