discounting the importance of psychology and relational aspects of health care there is a clear ideological bent to the promotion of alternative / complementary practices which should produce caution in the examination of and acceptance of them. “Alternative” practices and products are, by definition, things which fail to meet basic criteria of evidence of efficacy and, in many cases, even plausibility.
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While the telephone Qigong Grandmaster (Effie Poy Yew Chow) and the dental Contact Reflex Analysis practitioner (Donald Warren) may represent some of the more overtly bizarre practitioners on the commission, the reality of what constitutes “complementary” medicine certainly exceeds the common misunderstanding of it as merely being psycho-social, feel good support with the chaplain thrown in for free.
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Complementary medicine is the come-along-side-standard medicine version of alternative medicine which claims to be a collection of techniques supportive of the patient, whatever method of medicine they choose to utilize. It is in fact, based on metaphysical concepts of personhood and physics which are better understood by examining things like mystical energy healing, eastern monism, occultism, indigenous shamanism and appeasement of whatever gods the integrative/ complementary physician, nurse or healer has to offer.
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In a grab at “holism” as a buzz word one finds that one-size-fits-all spirituality is the main course. Beyond the introductory courses in relaxation and Visualization 101, the “mind-body” medicine of this still new 21st century evokes images of the 19th century mind science and occult healers and teachers like Phineas Quimby, Mary Baker Eddy, Helena Blavatsky, and Charles Leadbeater.
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The White House Commission has been charged with addressing CAM research on practices and products. This is being mandated as if real research is really important and were going to be heeded by the True Believers who people this committee. If that were true, many of these folks would not be doing what they are doing for a living.
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How -- and why -- would one research Qigong healing, especially when done over the phone? Qigong healers believe they can project energy onto another person to induce healing (long distance charges may apply) but is this a reasonable concept worth researching?
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Who on the commission is going to tell the chiropractor Veronica Gutierrez, DC, that the position paper on vaccinations of her organization, the World Chiropractic Alliance, is irresponsible and seriously off the mark when it claims that medical and scientific research, as well as “overwhelming clinical reports,” have indicated that the effectiveness of “many” vaccines for childhood diseases (which have been deadly and costly in the past, and continue to ravage developing nations) “has not been adequately proven.” And are pediatric and infant adjustments necessary for happy, healthy infants and children?
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Other commission members are also unlikely to diligently require and stimulate
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