Ayurvedic patients in Germany

In the sociology of health and illness, the heterogeneous field of heterodox medicine is often conceptualised as a more or less homogeneous entity. All kinds of heterodox modes of treatment are pooled together in order to discover the heterodox patient. In this way, differences between several heterodox modes of treatment are lost and the emerging picture remains vague. In this paper, we concentrate on one particular mode of treatment: Ayurveda. Based on 14 semi-structured interviews conducted with the patients of German Ayurvedic physicians, we examine the paths that lead patients to this form of Asian medicine, and how they process Ayurvedic concepts and make sense of them. It will be a story of how trust in heterodox medicine is built and confirmed, a story of how foreign knowledge is creatively received, modified and thus glocalised. We will also explore the patients' perception of their relationships with their physicians, for the success of heterodox medicine is often traced to a more satisfying, personal relationship with the physician when compared to the rather brief and technical consultations common in biomedicine. Finally, it is argued that Ayurvedic patients do not readily fit the notion that heterodox patients are active consumers.