When you feel better after having used a product or procedure, it is natural to give credit to whatever you have done. This can be misleading, however, because most ailments resolve themselves and those that don't can have variable symptoms. For these reasons, controlled scientific studies are usually necessary to establish whether health methods actually work. And so are many people who follow whatever fads are in vogue. But the majority of quackery's victims are merely unsuspecting.
People tend to believe what they hear the most.
Another large group of quackery's victims is composed of individuals who have serious or chronic diseases that make them feel desperate enough to try anything that offers hope. This feeling is a major reason why journalists, enforcement officials, judges, and legislators seldom give priority to combating quackery. As noted above, however, most victims are not gullible. Nor do people deserve to suffer or die because of ignorance or desperation. Quackery is often discussed as though all of its promoters are engaged in deliberate deception.