In my blog posting titled, Alternative Medicine – Placebo Effect, I pointed out that even if a therapy really has not physical way to cause improvement, the therapy, in the hands of a therapist and a patient who believe in what they are doing, will result in reported improvement in one third of people treated.  Considering a therapy where this placebo effect is the only basis of helping, is there not something good about using such a therapy?  Is it not good enough that people feel better?

If feeling better is the only goal then it would seem that we should encourage the use of placebo like therapies.  But is this the only goal?

What if the therapy is making claims that it is doing a whole lot more then just helping someone to feel better?  If it really is only helping based on the placebo effect, should we be concerned?  What if a person not only believes using the therapy is helping them feel better, but that it is also preventing deterioration in body function?  Should we be concerned about this?

What if a person uses the therapy instead of using another medical treatment that is known to to be effective over and above the placebo effect?  The use of the placebo therapy might be responsible for delaying the use of the treatment known to be effective.

What about truth?  If we lead people to believe that a therapy, that really only helps through the placebo effect, is actually something more, then do we not run the risk of misleading people?  if we do this, are we breaking God’s commandment to not lie?
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-read more about the placebo effect.  Alternative Medicine – Placebo Effect

-for all postings on  Alternative Medicine – Alternative Medicine Postings Page