Alternative medicine

Glossary

Holistic - In medicine, it is a rounded approach to healing that considers mental, social, and physical factors as interconnected.

Indigenous - Ethnic groups who are the original or earliest-known inhabitants of an area or country: for example, Native Americans in the USA.

Hippie era - Also known as the counterculture movement, it involved the rejection of established authority such as the government.

Quackery - The promotion of fraudulent and fake medical treatments gets its name from an obsolete Dutch word, quacksalver, which meant a "hawker of salve." Medieval charlatans would "quack" (shout) about their miracle cures in the marketplace.

St John's Wort - A flowering plant used as an alternative treatment for depression.

Depression - Low mood that affects someone's daily life, and can last for weeks or months.

Shamans - People who are said to have special powers to interact with good and evil spirits.