Second Opinion: The rise in both the number of practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine and the sale of herbal and homeopathic remedies is an indicator that the public is turning to these therapies is growing numbers.
Yet much of the Irish media continues to act as judge and jury to many therapies - either jumping on the scaremongering bandwagon, or lauding new therapies as the answer to all our problems. The truth is - as always - somewhere in the middle.
As a practitioner of herbal medicine, I have been dismayed at times by the unbalanced reporting I have seen. If some of the media reports were to be believed, we would have increased our lifespan by at least a decade, be forever immune from infection and have lifted the mood of the nation to a state that would surely render redundant the 300,000 anti-depressant prescriptions doled out annually.
On the other hand, the potential for harm attributed to many a humble weed would be grave, if true. I have been rung by journalists for my views on the dangers of taking parsley or celery, even in moderate amounts.
The risks of taking garlic and other herbs before surgery were widely reported, based on a purely speculative article taken from yet another "scientific" website.
My opinion has also been sought about the benefits of taking a popular liver remedy before indulging in an alcoholic blow-out by another journalist giving "advice" to students about to celebrate the Leaving Cert results.
Irresponsible marketing of products also plays a part and, when combined with an uncritical press, it seems anything goes.
I have lost count of the number of times I have had enquiries from the public asking if I "do weight loss". The stock response that there is no safe quick way and my approach, based on a sensible eating pattern combined with exercise, does not seem to hold much consumer appeal.
I often have the sense that people will continue along this trail until they find someone who gives them the answer they want to hear. This "quick-fix" mentality goes against the notion of what holistic health practice is about, as positive outcomes for many chronic conditions entail a combination of making change, sometimes in both attitude and lifestyle, and patience.
The type of journalistic reductionism I have described is bound to raise the blood pressure of practitioners concerned with offering a balanced and viable form of medicine. Any genuine complementary medicine practitioner will usually welcome the opportunity to have a fair and accurate account of their practices reported in the media. Medicine is a serious matter and deserves a higher level of debate than merely skimming the "new-age" surface of lesser known treatments to fill column inches.
Journalists who fail to get a range of views from those with expertise in the field are failing both their readers and the subject in hand. The result is often a confused public, who may have unrealistic expectations about what treatments can deliver without grasping the importance of their own commitment to lifestyle changes.
To the uninitiated, the complementary health sector can be difficult to navigate. Often the practices are extremely diverse. With such a wide divergence of tradition, philosophy, and practice, complementary and alternative medicine presents easy pickings for those elements of the media keen to be perceived as the guardians of serious science.
There is now a significant proportion of the population who use homeopathy, herbal medicine, acupuncture, reflexology, massage, osteopathy, to name but a few, on a regular basis. Many people value the time given in a consultation with a complementary or alternative medicine practitioner and most importantly, the experience of being listened to. Healing is not just about taking the medicine. It is also about feeling heard and valued.
Studies carried out in the UK revealed that most patients taking some form of alternative medicine were reluctant to disclose this information to their own doctor. For their part, doctors are often reluctant to condone treatments which seem unusual or strange. A greater level of communication between doctors and complementary medicine practitioners, coupled with a less biased media is the way forward.
• Helen McCormack is a medical herbalist