7 Ways Alternative Medicine Tricks You Into Thinking It Works

The bread and butter of the alternative practitioner is the idea that practices such as Homeopathy, herbal remedies, and Reiki are "safe and gentle"; conveniently leaving out the part where Homeopathy is magic ghost water and Reiki is the practice of paying money to have someone not touch you.

Often used as a means to demonise evidence-based medicine, this misguided attempt at a positive marketing tactic neglects to mention due to the lack of regulation of the industry and lack of scientific testing.

Alternative medicines are sold without quality assurance, without testing and without documentation of what they contain and most importantly, what they don't. Some remedies have been found to contain no trace of anything advertised on the bottle.

For many forms of alternative medicine such as Reiki or remote healing (where a person claims they can heal by thought alone from a faraway place), they are falsely promoted as being "safe and gentle" due to the lack of side effects, instead it's best to remember the only reason they should be considered "safe and gentle" is because they literally do nothing.