Page 48 - Standard Indicators for the social appropriation of science
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medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy, and the idea of treating acute pain is being replaced
functional medicine. by the treatment of chronic pain. An area
where conventional medicine has not been
Can placebo be curative? If it cures, why successful. Currently the British government
not use it? includes acupuncture as a possible treatment
for chronic tension-type headaches and
It is necessary to distinguish between placebo migraines.
and a placebo effect. A placebo is a substance
or treatment that does not have an explainable Are there any types of CAM that can be
biological effect on the disease. On the other proved by scientific evidence?
hand, the placebo effect is the biological
response to the administration of a placebo. Complementary and alternative medicine is not
Currently, the placebo effect is considered an as well researched as conventional medicine,
integral part of the total effect that follows any which undergoes intense research before
therapeutic procedure along with others. release to the public. Practitioners of science-
based medicine also discard practices and
Any treatment that is performed has a part treatments when they are shown ineffective,
of effectiveness due to the placebo effect. while alternative practitioners do not. Funding
for research is also sparse making it difficult
The placebo effect is still somewhat difficult to to do further research for effectiveness of
explain, but real and quantifiable. According to CAM. Most funding for CAM comes from
experts, to begin with, the initial expectation government agencies. Proposed research
of patients is of vital importance. Of 100% for CAM is rejected by most private funding
effect of a drug, up to 50% may be due to the agencies because the results of research
placebo effect and this is manifested in terms are not reliable. The research for CAM has to
of the expectation’s patients have about it. In meet certain standards from research ethics
fact, there are doctors who have a placebo committees, which most CAM researchers find
personality, that only because of how they almost impossible to meet. Even with the little
treat they induce the improvement of the research done on it, CAM has not been proven
patient. to be effective.
Many factors have an influence in the placebo Studies that have been done will be cited by
effect: from the doctor’s speech (if they look in CAM practitioners in an attempt to claim a
the eyes, if the message they give is positive…) basis in science. These studies tend to have
to the physical characteristics of the drug. For a variety of problems, such as small samples,
example, the size of the tablet (larger, more various biases, poor research design, lack
effect), or the colour. And if instead of a pill it is an of controls, negative results, etc. Even those
injection or a surgery, the effect is even greater. with positive results can be better explained
as resulting in false positives due to bias and
Do alternative medicines really cure noisy data.
patients?
Worldwide, the idea of curative is being
replaced by preventive and palliative. Just like
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