There are many misconceptions and prejudices about alternative medicine, caused by the lack of information about what it really is. Very often people have different ideas about alternative medicine, like witches who prepare miraculous drinks, an old woman who uses it in the treatment of leeches, urine, and feces, secretive women doing abortions deep in the woods and away from the public eye, men who extract teeth with carpentry pliers, “bone breakers” who adjust the spine with many pains and screams, various religious sects that brainwash and “cast out demons”, then tarot, tea leaves or coffee divination, throwing beans for divination and similar activities take are taking place at various esoteric fairs.

The entire biomedical and pharmaceutical circles (or at least one of their significant parts) contribute to this image; they call, with outrage, condemnation, and derogatory, all alternative therapists and healers the quackeries, and discard all the benefits and results of alternative medicine, despite many types of research, documented videos and numerous testimonies of successful healing in cases where classical medicine was unsuccessful. The health ministry of many countries and their health policy deny the public the fact that there are alternative treatment methods and that in many cases they are effective. The biggest culprit for this is the pharmaceutical industry.

Classification of alternative medicine

The term “alternative medicine” is the most used name for all unconventional medical systems. Most of them are not a substitute (alternative) to classical biomedicine, but its addition, while systems that have elaborated diagnostics, preventive care, and curative remedies (such as ayurveda, homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, etc.) can be an alternative because they act like biomedicine only in a different way. For this reason, since all methods of unofficial medicine are not an adequate alternative to official biomedicine, EUNES has classified “alternative” medicine into 4 branches:

1. Natural medicine – The therapeutic activities of natural medicine include all therapeutic procedures which use natural, chemically unprocessed ingredients and preparations (healing herbs, minerals, essential oils, honey preparations, healthy foods, and the like) according to special rules for each therapeutic method. Diagnosis (or condition analysis) of internal therapy consists of the physical examination of the body, but also considering mental states and environmental factors in which the person lives. The most popular natural medicine systems are ayurveda, homeopathy, Bach’s flower therapy, aromatherapy, phytotherapy, etc.

2. Energy medicine – Therapeutic activities of energy medicine include all therapeutic procedures which establish the energy balance and energy flow of the organism according to the specific rules for each therapeutic method. Diagnostics of energy medicine consist of the analysis and examining human energy (aura, chakras, meridians, etc.). The most popular energy medicine systems are acupuncture, bioresonance therapy, bioenergy, theta healing, reiki, shiatsu massage, acupressure, yoga, etc.

3. Spiritual medicine – Healing activities of spiritual medicine include all therapeutic procedures that, in accordance with the special rules of each method, by faith in God, independently of the religious system, inspire healing processes in man. The healer here is God, man can only be his mediator. Diagnostics in spiritual medicine are absolutely unnecessary since God’s power or love is healing. The most popular spiritual medicine techniques are meditation, prayer, hagiotherapy, etc.

4. Alternative counseling activities – include all procedures for analyzing the functional and general condition of man and the environment in which he lives and works. It is used individually or as an integral part of different methods of energy medicine as a way of analyzing the human condition and the starting point for determining the therapy. The most popular activities are vastu, feng shui, jyotish, radiesthesia, iridology, computer diagnostics, etc.

Unfortunately, in Croatia, unconventional medical systems have not yet been legally regulated, so there are a number of those who use their position to earn money from the ignorance and weakness of sick people. For this reason, I advise you to be well informed about the method and the therapist before you decide on the alternative. More information you can get here: www.eunes.eu

(the professional organization of healers and therapists in the Republic of Croatia and EU countries)