n.
A movement in which people with minor illnesses avoid doctors and treat their problems using special foods and over-the-counter medicines (also known, more popularly, as self-medication).
Example Citation:
The "self-treatment" movement is so strong that industry giants including Quaker, Campbell and Kellogg are introducing new 'functional food' products to the market. This year, cholesterol-lowering spreads were introduced to the market.
— Megan Davis, "Convenience, conviviality mark mealtime trends for future," Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, January 2, 2000
Earliest Citation:
Thousands of people have now overcome their various disorders through oxygen therapy of one form or another. A growing number of physicians in Europe and the US are offering either intravenous H202 (hydrogen peroxide) or ozone (03) blood infusions for patients with a wide variety of disorders. ...
Progress with the comparatively low-tech H202 in the US is quite another story regardless of FDA disapproval. The grassroots H2O2 self-treatment movement is now unstoppable, despite FDA warnings to distributors not to sell it for health applications, and even the physicians using H2O2 are starting to feel some safety in numbers.
— Waves Forest, "Oxygen and The Future of Life on Earth - Part 1," Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients, May 1993
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New words. 2013.