It has been utterly frustrating for me to witness the constantly denigrating and sometimes tragic consequences of polarization from within and without complementary medicine. Perhaps it is an inevitable facet of human nature that so many individuals and groups of people always seem to oppose colleagues and those of different persuasions, rather than attempt to allow the validity of differing views and somehow work for the common betterment, particularly as it relates to healthcare.
Polarization occurs at so many levels of medicine.
At the widest level there is the huge gaping divide between complementary and orthodox medicine, so much so that certain elements from each camp regard the other as the enemy. This is reflected in the huge disdain sometimes voiced in the media and in the medical literature of alternative or complementary approaches being not only an utter waste of resources, but also extremely serious and dangerous to the health of the nation. Within the same polarization genre is the management technique of sidelining and ignoring developments within complementary medicine by the medical profession, so that the two camps remain as two solitudes. This is most evidenced by the total lack of any nutritional and herbal content within oncology programmes for cancer patients, who are being told that while nutrition may play a role in cancer prevention, that there is no evidence regarding its potential efficacy in cancer treatment. Then there is the polarization within individuals and groups within complementary medicine.