Alternative medicine - Revision history

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2014-12-17T08:06:53Z

Appeal

Halbmond: /* Research */

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Research

Halbmond: /* Intimidation and actions against critics */

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Intimidation and actions against critics

Halbmond: /* Potential danger */

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Potential danger

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Potential danger

Halbmond: /* Criticism */

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Criticism

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Criticism

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Research

Halbmond at 07:11, 17 December 2014

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Show changes

Starbuster: /* Weblinks */

2011-06-13T12:28:09Z

Weblinks

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 For the popularity of offers outside of science-based medicine a variety of factors were identified.
-People seeking alternative treatments were found to have had had a transformational experience that changed the person's worldview and often showed commitment to environmentalism, commitment to feminism, and interest in spirituality and personal growth psychology. One study found that dissatisfaction with conventional medicine did not predict use of alternative medicine. Only 4.4% of those surveyed reported relying primarily on alternative therapies. It concluded that people find these health care alternatives to be more congruent with their own values, beliefs, and philosophical orientations towards health and life.<ref name="Astin" /> Still, arguments like "[[alternative practitioners]] devote more time to patients than doctors" are frequently heard.
+People seeking alternative treatments were found to have had had a transformational experience that changed the person's worldview and often showed commitment to environmentalism, commitment to feminism, and interest in spirituality and personal growth psychology. One study found that dissatisfaction with conventional medicine did not predict use of alternative medicine. Only 4.4% of those surveyed reported relying primarily on alternative therapies. It concluded that people find these health care alternatives to be more congruent with their own values, beliefs, and philosophical orientations towards health and life.<ref name="Astin" /> Still, arguments like "alternative practitioners devote more time to patients than doctors" are frequently heard.
 Other studies found that disappointments with and distrust of conventional therapies play a role. Many patients and clients find pleasure in the more or less explicit criticism of [[mainstream medicine]]" or "the pharmaceutical industry" which is not uncommon in alternative medicine circles. Often, an anti-scientific attitude is mixed with [[New Age]] mysticism.  Vigorous marketing and extravagant claims create false hope. When people become sick, any promise of a cure is appealing.<ref>Beyerstein BL (March 2001). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1097%2F00001888-200103000-00009 "Alternative medicine and common errors of reasoning"]. Academic Medicine 76 (3): 230–7.</ref>

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 ==Research==
 In Germany, funding for research in the field of alternative medicine usually comes from private foundations, such as:
-* [[Karl und Veronica Carstens-Foundation]] (27&nbsp;million Euro). It sponsored 1.5&nbsp;million Euro in May 2008 for an endowed chair of alternative medicine at the Berlin [[Charité]].
+* Karl und Veronica Carstens-Foundation (27&nbsp;million Euro). It sponsored 1.5&nbsp;million Euro in May 2008 for an endowed chair of alternative medicine at the Berlin Charité.
 * Krupp Foundation
 * Kneipp Foundation

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 ==Intimidation and actions against critics==
-Individuals or institutions that have a critical view of alternative medicine and indicate its [[pseudomedicine]]character must expect personal attacks. Two women who asked critical questions at an event [[Helmut Pilhar]] about [[Germanic New Medicine]] in Frankfurt, Germany. were "accompanied home" by "bald gentlemen". The two women had to call police. A cellular therapist tried to stop a critic with a court order and from giving his assessment of [[cellular therapy]].<ref>LG Stuttgart AZ&nbsp;17&nbsp;0&nbsp;289/76 Claims 500,000&nbsp;German Mark</ref> A further example are civil actions against the project Paralexx which led to a  temporary shutdown.
+Individuals or institutions with a critical view of alternative medicine pointing out its [[pseudomedicine|pseudo-medical]]character must expect personal attacks. Two women who asked critical questions of the lecturer at an event on [[Germanic New Medicine]] in Frankfurt, Germany were "accompanied home" by "bald-headed gentlemen". The two women had to call the police. A cellular therapist tried to stop a critic with a court order and from giving his assessment of [[cellular therapy]].<ref>LG Stuttgart AZ&nbsp;17&nbsp;0&nbsp;289/76 Claims 500,000&nbsp;German Mark</ref> A further example are civil actions against the former project Paralexx which led to a temporary shutdown.
-The German consumer protection foundation "Stiftung Warentest" wanted to publish a book with a critical analysis and evaluation of natural and alternative medicine. The magazine "Stern" seized the opportunity to do a prior publication: Krista Federspiel, one of the two authors and her colleague Hans Weiss offered to do a undercover report on the scene and have ten natural healers give them a diagnosis. Stern offered generous payment for the report and requested a second part that should present victims of alternative methods by name. To prove that the journalists had indeed visited natural healers a photographer was documenting it. Each attended healer imputed the subject with several diseases: A total of 38&nbsp;different diseases and an myriad of ailments and allergies were diagnosed and more than 130&nbsp;drugs prescribed. When the report "Wunderheiler und Krankbeter" (miracle healers and patient prayers) was published in Stern&nbsp;49/1991, the raised criticism was met by outrage and massive protests by healing practitioners that the editors postponed and later cancelled the second part fearing the loss of readers. The rights were returned to the autors.<ref>http://kritischgedacht.wordpress.com/2007/12/25/sanfte-alternative/</ref>
+The German consumer protection foundation "Stiftung Warentest" wanted to publish a book with a critical analysis and evaluation of natural and alternative medicine. The magazine "Stern" seized the opportunity to do a prior publication: Krista Federspiel, one of the two authors and her colleague Hans Weiss offered to do a undercover report visiting ten alternative practicians to obtain a diagnosis. "Stern" offered generous payment for the report and requested a second part presenting victims of alternative methods by name. To prove the journalists had indeed seen these alternative practicians, a photographer documented the visits. Each prcitioner attended imputed the subject with several diseases: A total of 38&nbsp;different diseases and a myriad of ailments and allergies were diagnosed, and more than 130&nbsp;drugs prescribed. When the report titled "Wunderheiler und Krankbeter" (Miracle Healers and Faith Un-Healers) was published in "Stern"&nbsp;49/1991, the criticism raised was met by outrage and massive protests by alternative practitioners to such an extent that editors postponed and later cancelled the second part, fearing the loss of readers. The rights were returned to the authors.<ref>http://kritischgedacht.wordpress.com/2007/12/25/sanfte-alternative/</ref>
-In a TV-show of the German station ZDF on September 5, 2007 titled "Heilen mit dem Nichts?"(Healing with nothing?) the journalist Joachim Bublath reported about scientific findings on [[homoeopathy]] (including an analysis of the renowned journal ''The Lancet''<ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16125589 Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy], The Lancet, 2005</ref>) that questioned a possible effectiveness of this controversial method beyond [[placebo]]s. This led to a call from advocates of homoeopathy to ''spam'' and ZDF shied away by deleting the websites citing the Lancet figures.<ref>http://www.promed-ev.de/modules/news/article.php?storyid=110</ref><ref>http://www.bdhn-ev.de/uploads/media/Die_modernen_Wunderheiler.pdf accessed June 13, 2011</ref>
+In a show aired by German TV station ZDF on September 5, 2007 titled "Heilen mit dem Nichts?"(Healing with nothing?), journalist Joachim Bublath reported about scientific results on [[homoeopathy]] (including an analysis of the renowned journal ''The Lancet''<ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16125589 Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy], The Lancet, 2005</ref>) which questioned a possible effectiveness of this controversial method beyond [[placebo]]s. This led to a call from advocates of homoeopathy to ''spam'' the station's website and ZDF shied away by deleting the site citing the Lancet figures.<ref>http://www.promed-ev.de/modules/news/article.php?storyid=110</ref><ref>http://www.bdhn-ev.de/uploads/media/Die_modernen_Wunderheiler.pdf accessed June 13, 2011</ref>
 {{OtherLang|en=Alternative medicine|ge=Alternativmedizin}}

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 * misdiagnoses because of inadequate medical training of alternative practitioners
 * deterioration of therapeutic prospects due to futile pseudomedical efforts
-* development of guilty feelings at failure, towards oneself or towards family members
+* development of guilt feelings at failure, towards oneself or family members
-* psychological and financial abuse by the CAM system which often shows cult-like structures
+* psychological and financial exploitation by a CAM method displaying cult-like structures
-* development of psychological dependency on addiction to the treatment
+* development of psychological dependency or addiction
 * deaths or permanent damage due to inappropriate procedures
-A study by the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne published in December 2010 investigated 39 cases in which children were hurt due to alternative medical treatments. In 30 cases a correlation between damage to the patients and the use of alternative medical therapies or the denial of prescribed medicines could be established. Four of the children died because their parents refused medical treatment. An malnourished infant of eight months died of septic shock because he had been put on a diet of "naturopathic" rice milk due to an alleged obstruction since his third month of life. A baby of ten months also died of septic shock because he was put on a restrictive diet against chronic dermatitis. A further child died from multiple epileptic seizures after the parents had stopped the anti-epileptic drug medication for fear of side effects, using an alternative remedy instead. A fourth child suffered fatal bleeding because the parents refused treatment with clotting factors in favour of a complimentary medical treatment.<ref>http://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/44039/Paediatrie--Tod-nach-Alternativmedizin.htm</ref><ref>http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2010/11/24/adc.2010.183152.short?q=w_adc_ahead_tab</ref>
+A study by the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne published in December 2010 investigated 39 cases in which children suffered damage fpllowing alternative medical treatments. In 30 cases, a correlation between damage to the patients and use of alternative medical therapies or denial of prescribed medicines was established. Four of the children died because their parents refused medical treatment. An malnourished infant of eight months died of septic shock because he had been put on a diet of "naturopathic" rice milk due to an alleged constipation since his third month of life. A baby of ten months also died of septic shock because he was put on a restrictive diet against a chronic eczema. Another child died from multiple epileptic seizures after parents had stopped the anti-epileptic drug medication for fear of side effects, using an alternative remedy instead. A fourth child suffered fatal bleeding because the parents refused a therapy with anticoagulants in favour of a complementary medical treatment.<ref>http://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/44039/Paediatrie--Tod-nach-Alternativmedizin.htm</ref><ref>http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2010/11/24/adc.2010.183152.short?q=w_adc_ahead_tab</ref>
 ==Intimidation and actions against critics==

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 ==Potential danger==
 Alternative medicine involves several dangers and risks<ref>Markman M (2002): Safety issues in using complementary and alternative medicine. J Clin Oncol 20: 39-41</ref><ref>http://sekten-info-nrw.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=36</ref><ref>http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/bmj-cmc122210.php (engl.)</ref>:
-* rejection of effective diagnostic and therapy in favor of [[pseudomedicine]] methods without proof of effectiveness leading to protraction of the illness or appearance of avoidable symptoms
+* rejection of effective diagnostics and therapies in favour of [[pseudomedicine|pseudo-medical]] methods without proof of effectiveness leading to protraction of the illness or appearance of avoidable symptoms
-* misdiagnoses  because of inadequate medical training of alternative medicine practitioners
+* misdiagnoses because of inadequate medical training of alternative practitioners
 * deterioration of therapeutic prospects due to futile pseudomedical efforts
 * development of guilty feelings at failure, towards oneself or towards family members
-* psychological and financial abuse through the healing supply, which often shows [[sect|sect-like]] structure
+* psychological and financial abuse by the CAM system which often shows cult-like structures
-* development of psychological dependency an [[New Age addiction|addiction to the treatment]]
+* development of psychological dependency on addiction to the treatment
-* deaths and lasting damage due to inappropriate procedures
+* deaths or permanent damage due to inappropriate procedures
-A study by the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne published in December 2010 investigated 39 cases where children were hurt due to alternative medical treatments. In 30 cases a correlation between damage to the patients and the use of alternative medical therapies or the denial of prescribed medicines could be found. Four of the children died because the parents refused medical treatment. An eight-month-old malnourished infant died of septic shock because he had been set on a diet of "naturopathic" rice milk because of an alleged obstruction since his third month of life. A 10-month-old baby died also of septic shock because he was set on a restrictive diet against chronic dermatitis. A further child died after multiple epileptic seizures after the parents hat stopped the anti-epileptic drug treatment for fear of side effects and treated it with an alternative medical remedy. A fourth child suffered fatal bleeding because the parents refused treatment with clotting factors in favour of a complimentary medical treatment<ref>http://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/44039/Paediatrie--Tod-nach-Alternativmedizin.htm</ref><ref>http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2010/11/24/adc.2010.183152.short?q=w_adc_ahead_tab</ref>
+A study by the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne published in December 2010 investigated 39 cases in which children were hurt due to alternative medical treatments. In 30 cases a correlation between damage to the patients and the use of alternative medical therapies or the denial of prescribed medicines could be established. Four of the children died because their parents refused medical treatment. An malnourished infant of eight months died of septic shock because he had been put on a diet of "naturopathic" rice milk due to an alleged obstruction since his third month of life. A baby of ten months also died of septic shock because he was put on a restrictive diet against chronic dermatitis. A further child died from multiple epileptic seizures after the parents had stopped the anti-epileptic drug medication for fear of side effects, using an alternative remedy instead. A fourth child suffered fatal bleeding because the parents refused treatment with clotting factors in favour of a complimentary medical treatment.<ref>http://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/44039/Paediatrie--Tod-nach-Alternativmedizin.htm</ref><ref>http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2010/11/24/adc.2010.183152.short?q=w_adc_ahead_tab</ref>
 ==Intimidation and actions against critics==

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 ==Criticism==
-As far as effectiveness is concerned, users of alternative medical methods often only refer to their own experience which is based on a selective perception of the past. Such retrospective observations are not evident by nature. The argument used occasionally, [[Who heals is right]], is not sensible because causality and correlation are often confused in anecdotal experience and reports. In other words, an illness treated with [[globules]] might just as well have gone away by itself.
+As far as effectiveness is concerned, users of alternative medical methods often only refer to their own experience which is based on a selective perception of the past. Such retrospective observations are not evident by nature. The argument used occasionally, "He who heals is right", is not sensible because causality and correlation are often confused in anecdotal experience and reports. In other words, an illness treated with globules might just as well have gone away by itself.
-The notion of a postulated and fuzzy phrased "holistic approach" (usually associated with "of body, mind and soul") remains a pure promise within alternative medicine and would be difficult to implement because of time and financial constraints (see [[holistic]] after Issels).
+The notion of a postulated and fuzzy phrased "holistic approach" (usually associated with "of body, mind and soul") remains a mere promise within alternative medicine and would be difficult to implement because of time and financial constraints.
 ==Potential danger==

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 The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in USA has an annual budget of 122&nbsp;million dollars, financed by the government, and spent $2.5 billion on studies of CAM therapies.<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/06/the_ap_shoots_and_scores_again.php The AP shoots and scores again], scienceblogs.com</ref><ref>[http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/ Research Results NCCAM]</ref> The NCCAM budget has been criticized because despite the duration and intensity of studies, there have been exactly zero effective CAM treatments supported by scientific evidence to date.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031602139.html Scientists Speak Out Against Federal Funds for Research on Alternative Medicine], David Brown, Washington Post, March 17, 2009</ref><ref>[http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/nccam.html Why the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) Should Be Defunded], Wallace I. Sampson M.D., Quackwatch, December 2002</ref> R. Barker Bausell, a research methods expert and author of "Snake Oil Science" states that "it's become politically correct to investigate nonsense."<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31190909/ $2.5 billion spent, no alternative cures found], msnbc.com</ref>
-Wallace Sampson, an editor of Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine and a Stanford University professor of medicine, comments CAM is the "propagation of the absurd" based on the example that alternative and complementary have been substituted for quackery, dubious, and implausible and concerns that CAM tolerates contradiction without through reason and experiment.
+Wallace Sampson, an editor of Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine and a Stanford University professor of medicine, comments CAM is the "propagation of the absurd" based on the example that alternative and complementary have been substituted for dubious and implausible quackery.
 Currently (2010), the "National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine" (NCCAM) and the "Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine" (OCCAM) spend a combined 240 million U.S. Dollars of taxpayers' money from the NIH (National Institute of Health).<ref>Salzberg S. Save taxpayer $$$: Eliminate alternative medicine research. Forbes.com, 18. Juni 2010 [http://blogs.forbes.com/sciencebiz/2010/06/save-taxpayer-eliminate-alternative-medicine-research/]</ref>

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 See also: [[Helsana-Study]]
-==Weblinks==
+==Weblinks (mostly in German language)==
 * http://www.faz.net/s/RubF3CE08B362D244869BE7984590CB6AC1/Doc~EFE6249A7501E4254B8EEA47E0CA266ED~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
 * http://www.hauszumdolder.ch/docs/03_01_Robert_Juette.pdf