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Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial (Hardcover)

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Prince Charles is a staunch defender and millions of people swear by it; most UK doctors consider it to be little more than superstition and a waste of money. Welcome to the world of alternative medicine. In Trick or Treatment? the truth about the efficacy of alternative medicine is rigorously addressed for the first time by the scientist uniquely qualified to do so: Professor Edzard Ernst, the world’s first professor of complementary medicine. Having spent over a decade at Exeter University meticulously analyzing the bewildering evidence for and against alternative therapies, this former practitioner of both traditional and complementary medicine brings no bias to the subject. Writing with him is the respected science writer, Simon Singh, who also brings his considerable scientific knowledge and scrupulous impartiality to this most controversial subject. Together, they deliver a hard-hitting, yet honest examination of more than thirty of the most popular treatments, such as Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Chiropractic and Herbal medicines. Whether you are an ardent follower, sceptic or just plain baffled by the subject, Trick or Treatment? is a groundbreaking guide which finally lays to rest the doubts and contradictions that have dogged this subject for so long. Written with authority, integrity and clarity, this book delivers the ultimate verdict on alternative medicine.

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Some Details

Format : PDF from Hardcover; 352 pages; Searchable, full text and pictures.

Size : 5.6 MB

Publisher : Bantam Press

Language : English

Year : (21 April 2008)

ISBN-10 : 0593061292

ISBN-13 : 978-0593061299

Review

For 2,400 years,” wrote the historian of medicine David Wootton, “patients believed doctors were doing them good; for 2,300 years they were wrong.” Only in the past 100 years have treatments in the mainstream of medicine been consistently subject to clinical trial, to discover what works and what doesn't. Much medicine, though, still stands defiantly outside this mainstream. Can these alternative therapies really claim to be medically effective judged by today's standards, or are they no better than the blood-letting and snake oil of darker centuries?

Simon Singh, a science writer, and Edzard Ernst, a doctor, have set out to reveal the truth about “the potions, lotions, pills, needles, pummelling and energising that lie beyond the realms of conventional medicine”. Their conclusions are damning. “Most forms of alternative medicine,” say the authors, “for most conditions remain either unproven or are demonstrably ineffective, and several alternative therapies put patients at risk of harm.” The book is dedicated, in ironic homage, to HRH the Prince of Wales, that famous champion of complementary medicine, especially homeopathy (said to be used both for the prince's own body politic and for the cows at Highgrove).

Fearless, intelligent and remorselessly rational, the authors exemplify the same Enlightenment spirit of criticism that animated The Lancet in its early days. One by one, they go through the most influential alternative therapies (acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic and herbal medicines) and subject them to scientific scrutiny. In each case, they ask what is the evidence base for saying that a given therapy “works”? Acupuncture, homeopathy and chiropractic all come out badly. Singh and Ernst build a compelling case that these therapies are at worst positively dangerous - chiropractic neck manipulation can result in injury or death - and at best, are more or less useless. For example, tests done in Germany have shown that “real” acupuncture works no better in easing migraines than sham acupuncture, a random application of wrongly positioned needles, working as a placebo.

Singh and Ernst do not deny that placebos are powerful things. This being so, does it matter if homeopathy really “works” in scientific terms? If it makes me feel better to rub arnica cream into a bruise (notwithstanding the fact that the active ingredient in the cream is so dilute as to be nonexistent), what harm is done? The authors argue that it does matter, for three reasons. First, if, as the evidence base indicates, homeopathy is merely a placebo, then the price tag is a rip-off. They give the example of a single French duck, whose endlessly diluted heart and liver were used to generate $20m worth of homeopathic flu remedies. A second problem lies in the ethics of the doctor-patient relationship. In order to make the placebo effect work, doctors would have to suppress their knowledge that homeopathy was bogus. “In fact, the best way to exploit the placebo effect is to lie excessively to make the pill seem extra-special, by using statements such as ‘this remedy has been imported from Timbuktu' etc.” Third, and most worrying, by putting his or her faith in homeopathy, a patient may fail to seek out more effective conventional treatment. In the case of a minor bruise, this doesn't matter. It's altogether more serious when it comes to asthma, say, or cancer. The authors mention a Devon-based homeopath who used her own medicines to treat a malignant melanoma on her arm and, as they bluntly put it, “condemned herself to an inevitably early death”.

I just have to say, when I finished reading this the other week I had a look online and, realising it had not been scanned/ripped anywhere as far as I can see, I just HAD TO do it. It took a bit of messing about, to get the file size down and keep a good image but I can tell you the final result is very good. A small file size and yet clear pictures and text, very clear text in fact and it is fully search-able too. Done with ABBYY finereader which I recommend to anyone who wants to post a book they are reading, it's so easy!

As far as the subject matter, well...very interesting indeed.

It was no surprise to me to read that so called Alternative Therapies are just about as useless as they seem. Ie. No evidence. Nothing stands up to scientific analysis. Some good discussion on the placebo effect though, is it harmless to give a treatment that actually does nothing at all but has a placebo?

I wouldn't feel too good about it myself. I think it's dishonest. but then again, most people, if asked the question, 'would you prefer your Dr to tell you if you had a terminal illness?', would likely rather not know.

Me, I'd rather know every time.

If you'd rather know the facts, based upon evidence and trial then you MUST read this brilliant book.

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