The most common form of alternative medicine nowadays is herbal medicines. These natural remedies can be found in millions of American homes today. Herbal medicine is probably the most widely used of the alternative medicines. Herbal medicine is a part of homeopathy, which is an alternative system of healing that uses very small doses of substances to relieve specific symptoms (2). Traditional herbalists tend to use combinations of small amounts of herbs to meet the needs of the patient.
Natural medicines are a part of our world. There are natural remedies to many everyday illnesses. Natural medicines have been used through out the history of the world. There are records of the Egyptians using them in 1,600 BC. There are scriptures that date back to the Yin dynasty in 1,500 BC. The Old Testament also has many references to herbal medicines. The ancient Chinese were experts at natural medicine. They were experts on using plants, animals and minerals to heal themselves(7). The Chinese's natural medication didn't start diffusing over to Europe until the 2nd century, but there were many similarities in the Chinese's and the Egyptian's natural medicines (7).
There are several benefits to in using alternative medicines. First, alternative medicine does not separate symptoms of a physical nature from those of a mental-emotional nature (6). This theory from ancient China expects specific mental/emotional conditions to go along with certain disease patterns, and expects these emotional symptoms to respond to treatment as well as any physical symptoms(6). Also, in alternative medicine each and every sign and symptom is understood
Bibliography: 1."Aloe Vera." 1001 Herbs for a Healthy Lifestyle. 1998 1001 Herbs.