Whether it’s yoga, naturopathy, osteopathy, fasting courses, meditation or even “energy healing”, “wellness” practices are on the rise. Whatever the cause of this enthusiasm – shortages of health professionals, health crisis, anxiety-provoking economic and international climate… – there is no question here of throwing stones at the millions of French people who turn to these “alternative” medicines. “, some of which can actually bring well-being.
But it must be said and repeated: this sector is currently subject to no control, or very little. However, with the increase in demand, supply explodes. How do you know if your yoga teacher has undergone rigorous training or if he has only taken a few classes on the Internet? How can you be sure, by pushing the door of such and such a naturopath, that he will indeed offer healthy lifestyle advice, and not charlatan practices – iridology, lithotherapy, magnetotherapy…? How can you be sure that your osteopath does not practice cranial or visceral osteopathy, two methods that have never demonstrated the slightest effectiveness on any pathology?
Of course, the repression of fraud and the Miviludes watch. But their resources seem derisory compared to the scale of the phenomenon. The appetite of the French for these methods opens the door wide to “derapeuths” of all kinds, with all the abuses that we know: renunciation of care, delay in diagnosis, pure and simple scams, sectarian-type influence and now sliding towards conspiracy.
The question of supervision, of course, is delicate. Because framing would amount to recognizing methods which, very often, are based only on fallacious beliefs. But, failing that, shouldn’t we be more widely informed about what it is really possible to expect from it? No one is better placed for this than the Ministry of Health. When will he take up the subject?