History of alternative medicine

Table of contents

1 History of alternative medicine in Eastern Culture 1.1 Chinese culture 1.2 Vedic culture 2 History of alternative medicine in Western culture 2.3 European History 2.3.1 The Greco-Roman Period 2.3.2 The Dark Ages 2.3.3 The 1200s 2.3.4 The 1300s 2.3.5 The 1500s--the Renaissance 2.3.6 The 1600s--the Reformation 2.3.7 The 1700s--the Enlightenment 2.3.8 The Age of Heroic Medicine (1780-1850) 2.3.9 1st half of the 19th Century--Age of Romanticism 2.3.10 2nd half of the 19th Century--The Birth of Modern Science 2.3.11 The 20th Century 2.4 American History 2.4.12 The 1700s--the Colonies 2.4.13 The Popular Health Movement (1830-1850) 2.4.14 Antebellum America 2.4.15 Postbellum America 2.4.16 Progressive ERA of Health Care Reform (1890-1920) 2.4.17 The 20th Century

History of alternative medicine in Eastern Culture

Chinese culture

• History of traditional Chinese medicine

History of alternative medicine in Western culture

European History

The Greco-Roman Period

In Europe, interest in the hydrotherapy can be traced back to the ancient Roman spas and the hot mineral springs at Bath, England.

The Dark Ages

Healers throughout the medieval period could come in many varieties. Physicians who studied the works of the Greek masters at Universities, were the elite of the medical profession in the middle ages. However few people other than the well-off or the nobility had regular access to these. Folk Healers passed on their knowledge from master to apprentice, and were more accessible to the peasant or labourer than physicians. Unregulated, but knowledgeable on herbs and folk-remedies, they were gradually excluded from the medical system. Monastic Medicine monasteries played a big part in the provision of medieval medicine. Virtually every monastery had an infirmary for the monks or nuns, and this led to provision being made for the care of secular patients.

The 1200s

The 1300s

The 1500s--the Renaissance

The 1600s--the Reformation

The 1700s--the Enlightenment

The Age of Heroic Medicine (1780-1850)

1st half of the 19th Century--Age of Romanticism

2nd half of the 19th Century--The Birth of Modern Science

Hygiene and public health became the central focus of emerging urbanization

The 20th Century

In the first half of the 20th century a number of factors including internal conflict and the relative success of conventional medicine led to the decline of alternative medicine in the western world. In the second half Alternative medicine staged something of a recovery as conventional medicine failed to live up to the unrealistic expectations that many people had of it. This combine with the increasing cost of conventional medicine and greater awareness of alternative medicine Brought alternative medicine to the position it now has

American History

In Europe, physicians already had a centuries old monopoly over the right to treat patients. But in America, medical practice was literally open to anyone who called themselves a doctor.

The 1700s--the Colonies

The Popular Health Movement (1830-1850)

Only homeopathy, natural hygiene and eclecticism managed to last from the 1830s through the rest of the 19th century.

Antebellum America

The 20th Century

• In 1970, Modern medicine first appears with the McMaster Medical School in Canada that used a clinical learning strategy that eventually develops into evidence-based medicine (EBM). It further came into vogue in the 1980's at the Harvard University.
• In 1977, George L. Engel, MD (1913-1999) first proposed the biopsychosocial model of health, illness and healing.