Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is a number of approaches of curing diseases that do not fall within the scope of conventional medicine. An interesting fact is that technically these approaches and methods have appeared many centuries ago and are actually traditional and classic in relation to the modern medicine that appeared relatively not long ago. The meanings term "alternative medicine" (or "untraditional medicine", "unconventional medicine") are not clear and it is often used in various meanings.
Alternative medicine includes acupuncture, herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, meditation, yoga, hypnosis, homeopathy, naturopathy and some other practices. Their efficiency has not been studied thoroughly, although there are numerous examples of curing diseases using these methods. Their effect is often attributed to the placebo effect, which means that patients are cured not by the methods themselves, but by the confidence in their efficiency. The positive effect may also be the result of the doctor's psychological influence on the patient. There is also a subtype of alternative medicine called complementary medicine that combines both conventional and alternative methods.
Despite the positive effect that alternative medicine may have due to unique methods of treating diseases (like acupuncture), there is also a negative aspect connected with it. Very often absolutely useless methods (like voodoo tricks) are being advertised under the mask of alternative medicine.