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comment by Mindwolf
Mindwolf  ·  3773 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Clinical trials of integrative medicine: testing whether magic works?

It's quite simple. If it has not proven as viable and working, it's not medicine. Things that are considered part of the Integrative medicine model, such as Reiki, Homeopathy, acupuncture, and Natropathy are not medicine. They are pseudoscience.

Yes, having a window makes a person feel better.

But bundling these scams as medicine is pure fraud.





b_b  ·  3773 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's not simple, and a window doesn't make stroke patients feel better; it helps them heal faster and more completely. That's totally different.

Medicine isn't science. Medicine often needs science to improve, but there's a lot about medicine that has little to do with science. Confusing the two only exposes a lack of understanding of both science and medicine.

Mindwolf  ·  3773 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You're wrong. Medicine is based off of science. If it weren't for science based medicine, for evidence based medicine, we would still be exorcising demons from mental patients, we would be bleeding people dry to balance their humors, and we would be imagining we had magical witch doctor powers and heal you by waving hands over you.

The fact is simple. There has been absolutely zero evidence that anything in alternative medicine actually works. You know what we would call it if we found it worked? Medicine.

The components of integrative medicine have made some disturbingly dangerous claims. Including curing cancer and autism with chiropractics. Including spreading lies about vaccinations and trying to claim something as useless as homeopathy is a suitable replacement.

All alternative has to do is prove it works. Which it can't under replicable scientific double-blind conditions.

b_b  ·  3773 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Like I said, medicine advances through science and observation. That doesn't make science and medicine equivalent. Griping about specific claims made by some charlatans doesn't make me wrong. And it certainly doesn't mean that there aren't charlatans in traditional medicine either. The limitations of science-based medicine are well documented, and science-based medicine is often impractical or not applicable for many complex reasons. Asserting that it's "simple" betrays a deep lack of understanding of how medicine works. Not everything is quantifiable, and people aren't numbers on a page; we're subtle, complex, and emotive. Care providers (good ones, anyway) have a deep understanding of this.

Mindwolf  ·  3773 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I didn't say medicine was simple. I said the process is simple. And it's something integrative medicine can't do. Namely prove that it works.