> -----Original Message----- > From: Larry C. Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2005 10:55 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Prayers do not influence recovery from heart > cathereterization > > Jim, > > I know a bit about hypnosis, given that what in part what my > dissertation was involved with. In terms of pain control and > attention, there is something more than a placebo response. That has > been amply demonstrated in terms of pain control.
Yeah - sorry. I was just listing "the usual suspects" without much thought. I do remember several studies about hypnotism and the widely varying effects it has. From what I remember some people seem very susceptible and others completely unsusceptible. I could see those that are susceptible being able to get some therapeutic benefit. Hypnotism is one of those things that have a range of proponents. Some are very "scientific" while others are very "spiritual" about it. I think it's just dumb luck but I hear about the latter much more often and tend to lump them in the "quacks" pile. But that's, of course, not really fair. I think one thing a lot of people miss in these discussions is the causal aspect of these therapies. A study like the one you began the thread with comes out and people jump on it and yell "see - that proves it's effective!" when, of course, it does nothing of the kind. 1) Does the therapy work? This is where the double-blind studies come into play. 2) Does the explained mechanism for it working actually explain the effects? It's this last one that a lot of people forget. Acupuncture, Reflexology, Therapeutic Touch, Chiropractic, and many others all work on the notion that imbalances in your "life energy" (or Chi or Akaska or whatever) cause illness and that these therapies can "fix" it. Test on the effects may show a result (possibly a placebo result) but any result doesn't prove the stated mechanism - that's a whole different set of tests. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:165016 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
