Breaking News – Some alleged “doctors” have signed a multi-million dollar contract with Tinker Bell, a fairy falsely assumed to be fictional, to sprinkle fairy dust over the complex world of modern medicine. This has resulted in what some call “integrative medicine”, treating mostly unsuspecting patients with unproven remedies and mystical approaches. The latest reports from major news sources is that Tinker Bell is having an attack of conscience and has asked her lawyers to examine the “opt out” part of the contract. Following is just a small sample of what is troubling Tinker Bell so much.
“Integrative
medicine, as a specialty, has a huge problem that makes it very difficult
indeed to ever consider it as science based. The reason is simple. Many of the
‘outside the mainstream’ treatments being ‘integrated’ rest on principles that,
from a strictly basic science standpoint, range from highly implausible to virtually
impossible, even violating
well-established laws of physics and chemistry, prime examples include
homeopathy and Reiki, both of which are based on ideas rooted in prescientific
vitalism. There are CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) modalities
that are based on anatomical structures or abnormalities that do not exist,
such as acupuncture ‘meridians’ or chiropractic ‘subluxations’.
“Other CAM
modalities seek to correct abnormalities in nonexistent physiological
functions. Particularly silly examples of this phenomenon include craniosacral
therapy, which seeks to correct the ‘craniosacral rhythms’ of the cerebrospinal
fluid by manipulating joints in the skull, and reflexology, which claims a nonexistent connection between organs and
specific points on the soles of the feet or palms of the hands. Yet one can
find reflexology offered in academic medical centers as more than just a
pleasant foot massage, and craniosacral therapy is offered in academic medical
centers as varied as Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center, the University of
Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Beaumont Health System.
“Perhaps the
most disturbing development in integrative medicine is how whole medical
systems based on pseudoscience or prescientific ideas are becoming not just
respected, but perceived as essential parts of an academic medical center.
Consider the case of traditional Chinese
medicine, clearly one of the most popular whole medical systems, if not the
most popular. While it is certainly possible that herbal medicines used by TCM
(traditional Chinese medicine) practitioners might have substances with useful
pharmacological activity that might be used as drugs, many arguments in favor
of TCM cite its ancientness, as though being hundreds or thousands of years old
somehow indicates that a medicine works.
“Appeals to
antiquity aside, simply put, TCM postulates links between specific organs and
anatomic structures similar to links between locations on the soles of the feet
and hands and specific organs that form the basis of reflexology. For example,
‘tongue diagnosis’ links areas on the tongue to specific organs. In addition, TCM ascribes illness to the six ‘pernicious
influences’ of wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness, and summer heat and/or
imbalances in the ‘five elements’, earth, fire, metal, wood and water. One
notes that these ‘influences’ strongly resemble ideas at the core of ancient
European medicine dating back to Hippocrates, who postulated imbalances in the
‘four humors’ as the cause of disease. Integrative medicine practitioners enthusiastically
accept TCM’s ancient concept of ‘imbalances’ in the five elements, while at the
same time being appropriately skeptical of the ancient concept of imbalances in
blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Yet the Cleveland Clinic Foundation
is far from alone in having TCM practitioners in its integrative medicine
program.”
Source:
David H. Gorski, “Integrative Medicine: Integrating Quackery With
Science-Based Medicine”, Pseudoscience:
The Conspiracy Against Science, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Press, 2018
Andrew Weil is
one of the foremost propagators of integrative medicine:
“Today, Weil
mixes scientific medicine with Ayurvedic and other forms of quackery and calls
this practice ‘integrative medicine.’ One of his main tenets is: ‘It is better
to use natural, inexpensive, low-tech and less invasive interventions whenever
possible.’ However, there is no scientific evidence for the claim that natural
interventions are always superior to artificial ones. Millions of people use
herbs and natural products for a variety of conditions, such as calcium, Echinacea,
ginseng, ginkgo biloba, glucosamine, saw palmetto, shark cartilage, and St.
John's wort. All of these, when tested
scientifically, have failed to support the traditional wisdom regarding their
healing powers. Pharmaceuticals and other treatments are much superior to most
herbal remedies. If a plant has been shown to be effective as a healing agent,
the active ingredient has been extracted and tested scientifically and is part
of scientific medicine. Otherwise, any beneficial effect following use of the
herb or plant is probably best explained as due to the placebo effect, natural
regression, the body's own natural healing processes, or to some other
non-herbal factor.”
The psychology
of why some people believe in nonsensical and unproven remedies is tackled by a
scientific skeptic and professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in
Burnaby, British Columbia:
“Why so many
people—including many highly educated and medically trained people—believe in
the efficacy of quack remedies is a complex issue. As Barry Beyerstein has
pointed out in his most thorough analysis of this phenomenon, there are a ‘number
of social, psychological, and cognitive factors that can convince honest,
intelligent, and well-educated people that scientifically-discredited [or
untested] treatments have merit’ The typical believer in untested or
discredited medical treatments accepts uncritically the apparently clear
messages of personal experience that such treatments are effective. To the
uncritical thinker, many worthless or harmful treatments seem to ‘work’ (the
pragmatic fallacy). Such people are
either unaware of or intentionally ignore the many perceptual and cognitive
biases that deceive us into thinking there are causal relationships between
quack treatments and feeling better or recovering from some illness or disease.
They uncritically place ‘more faith in personal experience and intuition than
on controlled, statistical studies’.”
This classic
1999 piece by Beyerstein is 100% relevant today and gets right into the core of
why people get duped:
----Social
and judgmental biases that make inert treatments seem to work.
----Social
and cultural reasons for the popularity of unproven therapies.
----Psychological
reasons for the popularity of alternative therapies.
----Why
might therapists and their clients who rely on anecdotal evidence and
uncontrolled observations erroneously conclude that inert therapies work?
A sampling
of therapies offered by integrative medicine clinics:
Acupuncture
Amatsu
therapy
Aromatherapy
Autogenic
training
Bioceuticals
Biofeedback
Biopuncture
Botox
Bowen
therapy
Chiropractic
Guided
imagery
Herbalism
Homeopathy
Homotoxicology
Hormone
balancing
Hot stone
massage
Hypnotherapy
Indian head
massage
Koryo hand
massage
Laser
therapy
Lomi massage
Lymph
drainage
Naturopathy
Nutraceuticals
Osteopathy
Reiki
Shiatsu
Traditional
Chinese medicine
Tuina
Additional Resources
Credible Complementary and Alternative Medicine Websites https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4093414/
Why Medical Schools Should Not Teach Integrative Medicine https://www.forbes.com/sites/sciencebiz/2011/04/21/bad-medicine-at-the-university-of-maryland/#12de0c1d7326
“Integrative” oncology: Trojan horse, quackademic medicine, or both? https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/integrative-oncology-trojan-horse-quackademic-medicine-or-both/
Be Wary of "Alternative," "Complementary," and "Integrative" Health Methods https://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/altwary.html
Six signs you are being treated by a quack https://health.spectator.co.uk/quacks-are-everywhere-here-is-how-to-spot-them/
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Photo (GIF): https://giphy.com/gifs/disney-peter-pan-tinkerbell-Txtxz9k9kGolW
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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