This short post is dedicated to Dr RW and Roy Poses. Just read this book review - Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools Of Us All by Rose Shapiro
Shapiro concedes that the biggest consumers of alternative medicine are middle-aged, middle-class women. But they’re educated enough to know what they’re paying for and if they prefer to spend money on an aromatherapist than a stiff gin, it’s hard to cry too many tears for them. Since the average amount of time a patient can speak to a GP before interruption is 23 seconds, it’s easy to see why someone might find it worthwhile to bung fifty quid to a reflexologist just to chat for an hour. As Shapiro notes, we have a grave suspicion of mental illness in this country and many people would feel it a sign of weakness to visit a psychotherapist. So it’s perfectly possible that the foot massage is just a cover for the opportunity to talk about your problems in all their banal detail, without boring the pants off everyone who used to love you.
Perhaps we should call it an Alternative to Medicine. But always remember that it might just be dangerous.
