answer:Some of it works, some of it is shear quackery. Crystals and aroma therapy fall into the last category and for good reason. Some herbal remedies and simple diagnostic techniques which were formerly relegated to folk lore, have proved useful such as the presence of a lateral ear lobe crease, which can be seen from ten feet away and can determine if a patient has a dangerous cardiac condition. Today, person with an ear lobe crease is now strongly advised to get a full cardiac work-up, whereas just a decade ago doctors laughed at such quackery. There is definitely a lot of division because there is a lot at stake—primarily the health of the patient, but there is also individual reputations and the reputation of mainstream medicine to consider as well. More and more, mostly due to the cost of standard medical care, researchers are investigating and re-visiting various methods and medicines of the past. But research is expensive, so inclusion is slow. One of my last research projects was a Department of Defense study on the efficacy of Ujaii breathing techniques as a therapy for PTSD. Ujaii prana is an ancient yoga breathing technique. This was difficult to get past some people in the Pentagon, but the cost and failure of treatment for the Vietnam war veterans with PTSD convinced them to throw a half million into the project. Once all this was called “alternative medicine” and it was taboo for a licensed practitioner to overtly advocate it. Today it is called “complimentary medicine” and the stuff that seems to have a positive effect on a patient—for whatever reason—and does the patient no harm, is more accepted and open for investigation.