Popular medicine, also known as folk medicine, is any form of medical treatment that does not fall within the bounds of professional medical services. Popular medicine usually includes remedies that families have passed down over several generations. With the advent of modern medicine, popular medicine has become less common in many nations and is often considered to lack legitimacy, but prior to the 20th century, it was far more common than treatment by a medical professional.
Popular medicine was very common in the 18th and 19th centuries. Trained professionals often were too far away or too expensive, so many people relied on friends and relatives, as well as their own knowledge, to provide treatments for their illnesses. There were many printed texts whose aim was to assist people in treating themselves when they were ill. The quality of care varied tremendously, but there were practitioners of popular medicine who were quite well versed in the medical knowledge of the time.
Still, many of the treatments that derived from knowledge that was passed down from generation to generation or that was part of a cultural tradition had little grounding in scientific knowledge. Several non-professional practitioners of the healing arts resorted to spiritual methods of treatment, including prayer and, in some cases, elaborate rituals. Herbal remedies were common, as were prohibitions against certain behaviors.
Researchers have divided popular medicine into four categories, or "worlds," based on the source of the ailment. Treatments for the "patient world" involve altering those factors that the patient can control, such as diet, smoking or drinking. Treatments involving the "natural world" aim to cure ailments that are the result of natural causes, which include infection, insect and animal bites and even natural disasters. Treatments for the "social world" involve ailments that result from other people either through physical injury or through curses or witchcraft. The "supernatural world" is a branch of popular medicine that deals with illnesses believed to be the result of the spiritual influences of spirits, gods or ancestors.
The place of popular medicine changed significantly with the rise of the medical industry during the 20th century. It became much easier for the sick to have access to professional medical care, so popular medicine came to refer specifically to alternative therapies whose potential benefits Western medicine has not formally recognized. Today, the term includes a wide array of alternative therapy treatments. Herbal remedies still are a common form of popular medicine, as are many spiritual forms of treatment.