Although the article‘s premise seems reasonable (given the author‘s origin, the USA, being renown as prone to prescribe pain killers and psychotropics for the most menial things[1]) - a similar bias must be outlined when trying to understand the German perspective: That we are still romanticists.
Many German doctors will send you off with „some rest“ and „tea“. Some will prescribe homeopathics, which are to some extend even covered by our universal healthcare, which makes „sense“ since a large part of the electorate believes in it. Even in IT you will regularly hear: „i feel like I’m getting a cold - better take my homeopathics quick or it will definitely evolve into one!“
Alternative healthcare is a big market here, many individuals spending 100s - 1000s € a year for the most obscure things. Which doesn’t sound much per se, but for Romanticism Germans who regularity castigate Pharma- and Medical industries as capitalistic, to throw money so willingly away kind of beats the purpose of coming across as mindful.
Anyone remembers the the Mitchell and Webb sketch about the „homeopathic ER“? Well fun fact: the Nazis did try to make this happen. In order to get rid off the evil, jewish (science based) medicine. They wanted to make homeopathy the official medicine of the Reich - including the Wehrmacht, which for better or worse, the Generals intervened against.
[1] I have no proofs for this being actually true, just the representation that the US medical system gets by German media - and many Americans