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[Gus Chamber]

In keeping with the general consensus, it's all a load of complete butt-wash and you'd have to be a mug to even consider it. Just fuck.

and away...

[Jan]

Originally Posted by Swingin' Ryan

Faith/Holistic healing and Psychics are two of my biggest pet hates and I've spent a fair amount of time reading about/researching both, so let me save you a bit of money.

On the subject of 'alternative medicine', scientists have worked for hundreds of years to finds cures and treatments for every ailment known to man (they haven't found every cure but they've done a lot more than Holistic Medicine). These are treatments that although not 100% effective in every case, are rigorously tested to ensure they have basis in scientific fact and logic.
Holistic/alternative medicine is a mixture of guess work, spiritual pseudo-science and pure fiction which is propagated entirely by the 'placebo' effect and sheer desperation. If you have a genuine ailment, be it physical or psychological, see a GP.

On the subject of psychics, there is not a single shred of evidence to support anything they do. Ask yourself one question when you watch a psychic...'why do they say things like 'I'm getting name starting with B' or 'Is there something to do with your dead uncle and a hat' instead of giving a full name and address. Why on Earth would the dead be trying to trick the living with cryptic clues? It's all done through a combination of cold reading and linguistic trickery. If you want a Psychic reading, I'll do it for you and charge you half the price of whoever you plan on going to will and I'll probably get a fair amount right through pure guess work.

Watch anything by Derren Brown as an example, he does exactly what 'psychics' do yet openly explains it's done by nothing more than trickery and psychology.

If you need further convincing watch these documentaries by Richard Dawkins, the first dealing with psychics etc, the second with alternative medicine.

Richard Dawkins - The Enemies Of Reason - Part1 - Slaves to Superstition

Richard Dawkins - Enemies Of Reason - (Part 2)

On the subject of hypnosis, it's a very different thing. Hypnosis is undoubtedly real but it can only be used for a number of very specific issues, so it would depend entirely on what problem you have.

A great post sir.

[emergency72]

Does anyone bundle accupuncture in with faith healing?!

[Shaki]

Originally Posted by emergency72

Does anyone bundle accupuncture in with faith healing?!

Not entirely. At least there is controversy surrounding it in scientific research as opposed to pure derision.



Reflexology?





Scientology?

[drahcirv1]

YouTube - Penn & Teller Bullshit! Season 1, Episode 2 :Alternative Medicine (1/3)

This is along the lines of the videos Swingin Ryan posted.
Just with more swearing.

[Le Stu]

Originally Posted by emergency72

Does anyone bundle accupuncture in with faith healing?!

That's an interesting question. I know my mum had acupuncture on her knee and she swears it helped her with the pain and she's not known for believing in nonsense. I would say no, as Traditional Chinese Medicine, that clinical acupuncture is derived from, actually seems to have some basis which science can't adequately explain.

[nullmouse]

I'm just reading Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst's "Trick or Treatment" and am about to start the chapter on acupuncture, so I'll try and remember to post a summary of their conclusions

So far, it's an excellent book. Simon Singh is getting sued by the British Chiropractic Association for suggesting that some of their claims are 'bogus'. The BCA took offense, as the implication is that practitioners are knowingly misleading people. The trial, as it unfolds, is a great test of how libel laws can impact scientific discussion and how this could suppress anyone publically denouncing potentially harmful 'therapies' or 'treatments'. Unfortunately for Simon it must be an incredibly testing, trying and financially draining time.

For those of you what would like to see the lengths that an alternative therapy lobby group will go to protect their livelihood against allegations of being 'bogus' rather than face scientific scrutiny to support their claims, Google Simon Singh and folllow the laughs.

[nullmouse]

Originally Posted by Le Stu

That's an interesting question. I know my mum had acupuncture on her knee and she swears it helped her with the pain and she's not known for believing in nonsense.

Believing in nonsense or not may not impact the ability of these therapies to work, as the effectiveness of the placebo effect has been shown, in some cases, to not be affected by knowing you're taking a sugar pill: The fact that some intervention has taken place is often enough to cause relief of symptoms, especially when considering pain (a highly subjective measurement).

Alternatively, your mum may have regressed to the mean. In other words, your mum was probably suffering at the height of her discomfort when she considered acupuncture. The tendency for most things is to return to some level of normality (in this case either through recovery or by your mum possibly becoming accustomed to the pain). The result of this would be that she feels better naturally, but associates recovery with the acupuncture instead.

A third option, of course, is that the acupuncture did actually work. There are well designed and developed ways to test the effectiveness of medical treatments across a large number of patients, using controlled treatment groups, so this is something that can be scientifically tested to see if there really is something in acupuncture. I'm reading a book chapter about it at the moment, so will report back soon

[DJ Jo-D]

Originally Posted by Shaki

Not entirely. At least there is controversy surrounding it in scientific research as opposed to pure derision.



Reflexology?





Scientology?

I'd like to believe in most of these treatments and wonder if believing in it fully can add an element of placebo into the equation?

I had a treatment of Reflexology and thought it was amazing. The woman could tell any thing that I had bothering me just from my feet. The tingly rushes you feel which shoot up your legs through your body are ace! And I was so relaxed I pretty much drifted off towards the end of each session. I would highly recommend if you don't mind people touching your feet, if not for healing just for relaxing.

[TheTickingTime-Bomb]

Swingin' Ryan has pretty much ended this thread, but I'll lay down a quick aphorism anyway.

If alternative medicine worked, we would just call it medicine.