Why are so many people now turning to complementary and alternative medicine and why do approaches to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) raise such controversy? This unit explores the following three key areas: ‘Why people use complementary and alternative medicine’, ‘Critical issues in the therapeutic relationship’ and ‘Ethics in complementary and alternative medicine’. This study unit is just one of many that can be found on LearningSpace, part of OpenLearn, a collection of open educational resources from The Open University. Published in ePub 2.0.1 format, some feature such as audio, video and linked PDF are not supported by all ePub readers.