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Alternative medicine is now popular in Bahrain. More people are trying things like hypnotherapy and reiki. Hypnotherapy is changing feelings and behavior to help people. People use it to stop smoking. Reiki changes the energy lines in your body to make you better. People are also becoming interested in other kinds of alternative medicine, like homeopathy and acupuncture. Alternative medicine is treatment that heals the body without medicine. There is little scientific research on it. There are very few universities in western countries where you can study alternative medicine.

Bahrain allowed alternative medicine in 2012. It gave licences to seven clinics in 2013. It wants to make sure new clinics were safe. Bahrain's health department said more people wanted to open their own clinics. It said: "Alternative therapy is on the increase in Bahrain and we have new applications all the time….First, we need to see evidence that they have the professional qualifications to do their job and that they have a business plan." Many Bahrainis do not understand alternative medicine. They see it as a kind of magic, or something that you cannot trust.