It becomes even more costly when people begin to treat it as a bona fide treatment and replace other potentially successful interventions with ones that have no scientific merit. Inviting practioners of HT to a campus appears to give it credibility. Is it right to offer false hope (the placebo effect notwithstanding)? Carol
Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University Davenport, Iowa 52803 phone: 563-333-6482 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Jean-Marc Perreault [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 12:15 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Re: healing touch Hi Marie, I've really enjoyed the discussion so far. And I would like to ask you further: What are the possible negative conseqences to actually engaging in a few sessions of HT? Granted that the HT practionners do not attempt to "fix" anything major, which is what they said they would do (or not do, depending how you read it...) I brought the topic up with the counsellor who is setting the whole thing up, and in the end, she said: "well, what harm can this possibly do? In the end, students will end up more relaxed in times of stress (semester), which can only prove useful. The placebo effect can be just as good as anything else. And as there is no cost attached, neither to the students nor the College, then hey!" (I'm restating what I can recall from our discussion). Her reply sort of left me wondering, "Hey... maybe she's right. Placebo effect does work, and if students end up relaxing, then so much the better"! The place where I still have a hard time is the distribution of information that makes it look like HT has scientific backing. The handout sure looks good. Short of going on a crusade to distribute contradictory information, I'm left wondering what to do about it. I will certainly bring the topic up n class, but I only reach so many students. Another interesting issue (which some of you who work in small places might relate to) is the fact that the College where I work is very small, in a small city (22,000 people). Basically, I happen to know the person in charge of the HT who will be coming up, and she happens to be a good friend of the counsellor who is setting the whole thing up. So, how far does one go to rebute indivuduals who are very close to one's social circle? They are not personal friends, but the typical 6 degrees of separation found in most cities is cut down by a factor of about 6 around here... Everyone knows everyone through less than 1 person around here. So... short of getting into a situation that will end up in a feud, what does one do? Logic cannot be used. It's like faith. How does one argue against it? I know there are review papers that state that HT is not supported by science, but there are papers that state it is (I know, you'll say they are not as good as those stating there is no backing). Nevertheless, it becomes tenuous to make them apart, especially if one does not have the science background to tear them apart. Anyhow, looking forward to the discussion still... This is proving to be a very interesting situation for me... Jean-Marc --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
