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Alternatives

Entry 155, on 2005-04-10 at 12:15:05 (Rating 1, News)

A representative of the New Zealand Medical Council was interviewed today regarding increasing the amount of alternative medicine offered by our doctors to their patients.

Many people have some degree of confidence in the effectiveness of alternative medicines, and there is even some research indicating that some work. But there is also a lot of evidence to show that many don't work, of course. Certain techniques are already in use by doctors - acupuncture is probably the most well known example. While there is some evidence it works, I haven't seen any real explanation of why. The traditional explanation of yin and yang, energy flow, etc is certainly nonsense.

So is encouraging alternative medicine a good idea? Personally, I would prefer that my doctor concentrated on techniques which are supported by systematic scientific research. If he spends more time on learning faith healing instead of the latest conventional techniques and drugs, I think I would look for someone else. We live in an age of specialisation, so if I decided to use alternative medicines, I would prefer to make that choice and see someone who specialises in that.

I always suspect that introducing this sort of thing has an element of political correctness in it. Encouraging these beliefs, especially indigenous quasi-religious ideas, certainly has an element of political correctness, although supporting patients by incorporating their beliefs has social and psychological advantages for them, of course.

So, in summary, I guess its all about balance (as these things generally are). Some awareness of these things by general practitioners is probably a reasonable idea, but I would not want to see it get out of hand.

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