Alternative and Complementary Medicine a Scam?
Does Alternative Medicine Make Fools of us All?
Nov 14, 2009
Rose Shapiro writes in her book, Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Made Fools of Us All, that CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) "trades in false hope, it is bad for our health, it threatens our intellectual culture, it wastes public money and it undermines some of our most important valued institutions." Shaprio's message is a harsh indictment of the many systems of alternative medicine, such as homeopathy and acupuncture, that have for centuries given comfort and healing to millions of people.
Has Alternative Medicine Made Fools of us All?
Rose Shapiro's book has been widely supported by reviewers (without backgrounds in CAM, it should be noted). Interestingly enough, at the same time that Shapiro's book was being published, there also appeared a book by Roberta Bivins called Alternative Medicine: A History, published by Oxford University Press. Roberta Bivins, although born in the U.S., lived in Nigeria as a child. She contracted a disease that rural African children suffer with and the western model of medicine—the one that Rose Shapiro says is the only true medicine—failed young Roberta.
Conventional Medicine Failed to Diagnose Author's Illness
Roberta Biven's illness was not diagnosed by her medical doctors. They failed to treat her with success. Eventually, she was treated by a traditional healer in Nigeria, and restored to full health. Dr. Bivins is a medical historian and lecturer in the history of medicine at Cardiff University. Her experience has convinced her that while modern medicine is certainly effective (she has also experienced healing through western medicine) it is "far from complete."
Listen to the Voices of the Past and Present
Dr. Bivens writes, "Listening to the voices of the past is the best part about being a historian, and it seems cruel to keep them all - variously grumpy, cantankerous, witty, charming, lugubrious, insightful - to myself. And I want to give readers the material they need to assess my claims." She invites readers to consider that once upon a time the idea of the physical examination was thought to be dangerous and inferior to case-taking. Obviously things have moved on, but her point is that patients' needs have also changed and patients want their own experience to be considered in the consultation.
Western Model of Medicine Too Evidenced-Based?
The western model of medicine has become standardized and depersonalized. Some argue that the patient has been left behind. There is evidence that several therapies administered by the practitioners of evidence-based medicine are not wholly tested. Dr. Brian Kaplan draws attention to the use of anti-depressant medication in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a orthodox practice, yet one not convincingly supported by evidence. Rose Shapiro, however, ignores the evidence of harmful side effects of some drugs and their complications, and hospital-borne infections like MRSA, not to mention drug recalls in her condemnation of all things alternative.
Study of Antidepressants Report Only Modest Benefits
Dr. Kaplan, a medical doctor and a homeopath, further points to a study published in PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Library of Science, on antidepressants. It reports, "Meta-analyses of antidepressant medications have reported only modest benefits over placebo treatment, and when unpublished trial data are included, the benefit falls below accepted criteria for clinical significance."
Room for Complementary and Alternative and Conventional Medicine
There is efficacy in the western model of medicine but also in the quality of care demonstrated by practitioners of alternative models of medicine. Medically trained doctors are now taking courses in holistic practices and even demanding them. Likewise, health care practitioners of homeopathy and acupuncture, osteopathy and chiropractics, are demanding regulation and better training. It is possible to achieve a level of truly complementary medicine and not simply alternative, where one assists the other to sole benefit of the patient.
Sources:
Irving Kirsch et al, Initial Severity and Antidepressant Benefits: A Meta-Analysis of Data Submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. PLoS Med 2008; 5(2): e45
www.clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp
Bivins, Roberta, Alternative Medicine? A History, Oxford University Press 2008
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