Unexpected Development! - Book Review: The Truth about Alternative Medicine - Post 4 of 4

As way of sparking dialogue and positive partnership, I emailed Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst, M.D, authors of Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Truth About Alternative Medicine, and offered them free healing sessions!  

I admit that when I sent the emails I fully expected to be ignored! After all, they go to great lengths in their book to prove false everything I know to be true!  Imagine my surprise when I found an email from Dr. Ernst saying that he might be interested!  (Perhaps I underestimated the good doctor!)  Tune in on Sunday for more information on this challenge and if, when and how it will go forward!

Book Review

(for Posts 1, Posts 2, and Posts 3 of the book review click here!)

.....Moreover, In Trick or Treatment, Singh & Ernst seem to suggest that because the scientific method cannot be used to prove the validity of alternative healing, no one should use alternative healing.  

To this I respond that the scientific method is designed to detect, measure, quantify and describe the physical world and is less useful in understanding the non-physical aspects of human existence. For instance:

• The scientific method cannot prove the existence of love.  Taking Singh & Ernst’s line of reasoning to its logical end, this would mean that I should refrain from falling in love, caring for my children or helping family members - activities based on love.  (Importantly, these are activities which also improve health, quality of life and prospects for longevity).   

• The scientific method cannot be used to prove the existence of willpower.  Does this mean, according to Singh & Ernst, that I should stop working to make life better?  Should I eat cinnamon rolls and maple bars all day long, forgetting the green veggies altogether?  Should I smoke cigarettes instead of go to yoga class?  Should I stop setting goals and working to achieve them?  

• The scientific method cannot prove the existence of the intellect, which, like love, willpower and chi, exists, but, is also abstract.  Do Singh & Ernst believe that college students should refuse to pay tuition on the grounds that the intellect nurtured by higher education does not, according to science, exist? Should Singh & Ernst themselves abandon their lucrative careers because science cannot prove that the minds they use every day in their work are real?  Does this mean that I am under a mandate to stop using logic to solve life challenges? 

The obvious answer to all three of these scenarios is, "Of course not!  If I waited for the scientific method to prove everything, my life – and health - would grind to a halt!"

In their defense, I don’t think that Singh & Ernst want to rid the world of life, love, logic, higher education or sound nutrition with their central assumption that, “if science can’t prove it, it is not real and cannot be trusted.”  However, taken to its logical end, this is where the argument in Trick or Treatment leads.  This is because there is so much of life that the scientific method cannot detect and therefore cannot prove.  

The idea that we should stop using our minds, stop being motivated by love and take no action in life until science can prove to its own satisfaction the existence of love, willpower and intellectual (as well as how love, willpower and intellect can be safely used by humans) seems preposterous.  More preposterous in my view than the idea that love can heal, the central theory behind why spiritual healing and energy work is effective.

In short, the fact that the scientific method, as Singh & Ernst put it, can find "no evidence for the existence of Chi,” (pp 83), in no way implies that Chi - like love, like willpower, like intellect - does not exist and cannot positively influence life and health.  What it does imply is that the scientific method is unable to discover Chi, just as it is unable to discover love, willpower and intellect.

There is no doubt about it.  Medical science has made astounding advances – many of which are breathtaking and ingenious.  It has saved and improved countless lives worldwide.  It also has limits, including:

·         high cost of medical research and care delivery;

·         limited focus on preventative medicine which stands to lower (by promoting early diagnosis and healthy habits) long-term suffering and economic loss;

·         risk of malpractice and misdiagnosis;

·         lack of quality care for the poor, uninsured and those living in rural or war-torn areas;

·         heavy reliance on prescription medications that may not resolve problems and may cause side effects or interact with other drugs;

·         biases that impact research and care including prejudices about, or lack of awareness of, the unique health concerns of women, seniors, racial and ethnic minorities, gays and lesbians, those in an awakening process and other spiritual minorities;

·         research whose scope is driven by profitability and not necessarily human need;

·         procedures that are unnecessarily invasive;

·         the responsibility for healing lies primarily with the doctor, limiting agency in the patient;

·         the inability of the modern scientific method to predict that which cannot be quantified, including the healing impact of love. 

These limitations may not seem to Singh & Ernst compelling reasons for the average person to seek accessible, empowering, flexible and preventative forms of health care.  However, these concerns are paramount to individuals faced with limited access to insurance, the high cost of medical care and a model of aging that assumes increasing rates of disease and healthcare costs as life progresses.

While I would recommend Trick or Treatment:  The Undeniable Truth about Alternative Medicine for anyone interested in exploring the culture of science and its limitations, I would not recommend it for those needing information on how to access the benefits of alternative medicine. 

(for more, see next post)