This is all very true, Jim, but if you read the patient information packet of a lot of medication, you'll find that they can't explain the mechanism of it. This was certainly true of the interferon, coumadin, lovenox, and estradiol I was taking last year. It may not be true of something like penecillin, but the point I think you are missing is that much of modern medecine is *also* faith healing, albeit with studies to back it up...
Dana On 7/16/05, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > -----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 > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Purchase Flash MX Pro from House of Fusion, a Macromedia Authorized Affiliate and support the CF community. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=57 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:165202 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=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
