You don't have to believe in it: it works!

Within the current literature different explanations are offered for the increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Western societies. On the one hand it is argued that people believe in holistic assumptions underlying alternative forms of medicine, on the other hand it is maintained that pragmatic motives prevail in the usage of CAM. This study aims to explain the practice of CAM by contemporary healthcare providers, and focuses on a case of which it cannot be argued in advance whether it is an expression of pragmatism or of a belief in holism, namely the practice of CAM by general practitioners (GPs). This study analyzes GPs’ perspectives on healing and the role of pragmatic motives in their practice and draws on data collected by means of in-depth interviews with nineteen GPs practicing alternative medicine. It shows that they believe in holistic principles and that the often-expressed argument that physicians use CAM only for pragmatic reasons, must be reversed: it is precisely their use of conventional methods that stems from practical considerations.