Alternative medicine and therapies are safest and most appropriate when they function as a complement to evidence-based care rather than a substitute for it. The clearest situations are those where the therapies involved low-risk, non-invasive, and aimed at improving comfort, coping, or overall well-being.

Alternative medicine becomes risky when it replaces evidence-based care rather than complementing it. The core danger is delay: conditions that are highly treatable with established medical interventions can progress into more severe, irreversible stages when people rely on unproven remedies.