It is often opposed to evidence based medicine and encompasses therapies with a historical or cultural, rather than a scientific, basis. However, the term alternative medicine has been criticized by those skeptical of such practices as deceptive.Richard Dawkins has stated that "there is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In Western culture, the controversial term alternative medicine is any healing practice "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine", or "that which has not been shown consistently to be effective."The American National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) cites examples including naturopathy, chiropractic medicine, herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, hypnosis, homeopathy, acupuncture, and nutritional-based therapies, in addition to a range of other practices.
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