I find what you say to be very interesting, but how does one leave out
the placebo effect? It's like talking about drinking wine and it's
effects on health, alcohol notwithstanding... I'm not a placebo
specialist, but it seems like an impossible task to separate the placebo
from any treatment at all, be it pharmaceutical, alternative, or else.
One can measure the placebo effect, for sure, but one cannot dissociate
it from the treatment itself.
I do agree that if the practitioners claim they can "cure" ailments that
should receive more conventional treatment, then it is a major issue. I
also agree that with the institution sponsoring such events, they are
giving HT credibility, which could lead to false beliefs. So, should I
ask the Counselling Centre to put up a large warning sign, that would go
along the lines of: "Warning. the College in no way supports the claims
that HT has been demonstrated to be beneficial to your health. We simply
want to offer you alternatives, be them good, neutral, or bad"...
hehehe... That would be something!
I could always wear a sandwich board each time they show up... ;-)
Cheers!
JM
DeVolder Carol L wrote:
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
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