The thing is, the mind is an amazing thing. There will always be examples of people who believe in the cure--be it medical, herbal, religious or whatever, and therefore are cured. Then there will be others who will not respond to these things. Was it real for the ones who were cured? Of course! There were, after all cured or helped. Sometimes the miracle is that we are better able to deal with our illnesses or dillemmas because of our faith. However, I suppose that I must mention the following story:
My Grandad, who lived in the hills of eastern Oklahoma, (passed on over 10 years ago) had an old fishin' buddy whose kids insisted that the buddy go to the Dr. about some "bad places" on the skin of one of his legs. The Dr. told the buddy it was skin cancer, & would have to have surgery to remove it. The buddy told the Dr. & the kids that they didn't know what they were talking about! He then went home & went for a walk & collected some of what the old timers refferred to as "Wild Weed" Which is an indigenous plant (although illegal) to that part of the country. He then made a poltice out of it & used it on the cancerous places. When the old buddy went back to the Dr. for the pre-surgery checkup, the Dr. was amazed because--you guessed it! The cancer was almost entirely cleared up, with only some scaly patches.    So, did the "herbal" or "naturopathic" treatment work? Duh!