Alternative and complementary medicine encompasses a great number of practices and systems of healthcare. Some have been incorporated into standard care as in the many integrative or integrated medicine clinics that have recently opened, usually under the direction of a conventional physician or MD.

Conventional medicine or western biomedicine is sometimes referred to as allopathic medicine, derived from the Greek, allo, meaning opposite, and pathos, meaning suffering. In general, conventional medicine focuses on diseases and employs techniques to eradicate it. For example, antibiotic drugs for bacterial infections or anti-hypertensives for high blood pressure.

Alternative and complementary medicine is frequently referred to as CAM, although the two terms have different connotations. Alternative medicine is used to replace conventional treatments, so opting for a nutritional therapy for cancer instead of chemotherapy is truly alternative. Complementary therapies are used alongside conventional treatments. For example, acupuncture or herbs may be used for the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

Conventional biomedicine is sometimes referred to as traditional medicine. This is a misnomer. Traditional systems of medicine existed long before the development of modern western medicine. Traditional systems, such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), or Tibetan Medicine have developed distinctly different concepts of health and disease that usually combine concepts of body, mind, and spirit. Notions of cancer or infectious diseases have no direct parallels in these systems.

New perspectives on health and medicine, incorporating ideas of "life force", balance and harmony may be referred to as mind-body approaches. Yoga, guided imagery, biofeedback, hypnosis are examples. Novel approaches emphasizing spiritual practices and the wholeness of all aspects of human life are often referred to as holistic, wholistic or New Age medicine.