What is Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)? Free courses by Dr. Harriet Hall

Philip Copitch, Ph.D. – 

Author of Basic Parenting 101: The Manual Your Child Should Have Been Born With

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) used to be called "stuff that was not taught in Medical School". But now it covers any procedure that anyone would like to tell you is a fix for a particulate or all medical ailments. It can be wild quackery for curing cancer or seemingly a reasonable but unproven way to to remove warts. It may be very dangerous or relatively safe. The problem is, without scientific scrutiny, how is the public to know if the "treatment" is safe or helpful.  

CAM is really a marketing term. In this lecture Dr. Hall does a nice job of giving you historical information concerning CAM. She also explains what to watch out for when it comes to CAM treatments.

The James Randi Educational Foundation, and Dr. Harriet Hall, have developed 10 free video courses looking at critical thinking and medical claims called Science-Based Medicine. The lectures are:

1. Science-Based Medicine vs. Evidence-Based Medicine

2. What Is CAM?

3. Chiropractic

4. Acupuncture

5. Homeopathy

6. Naturopathy and Herbal Medicine

7. Energy Medicine

8. Miscellaneous “Alternatives”

9. Pitfalls in Research

10.Science-Based Medicine in the Media and Politics

There is also a free course guide.

Lecture 2: What is CAM, by Harriet Hall, MD (36 minutes)