The US military has recently realized that it is going to have to pay out a butt load of money over the long term for all of the enlisted men and women (atheists included), who have been injured in the War on Terror (make spooky sounds here). Now, the prudent thing to do would be to look at the situation and determine how best to save money to honestly treat these individuals, and make sure that they can have the best lives possible. I am certain that in many respects, this is exactly what some people are doing.
However, when it comes to the costly treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, the military is apparently willing to just throw our tax dollars away. They have decided to offer to offer research grants to those studying transcendental meditation, spiritual healing, yoga, Qi Gong, Reiki, bioenergies, acupuncture, and distance healing. Across a wide field of “potential” cures and treatments, they are looking to offer four million dollars in funding. Individual studies will be given between $300,000 and one million dollars, depending on the current state of their existing research.
Certainly this study might find some useful tools, but it needs to be much more restrictive in granting funding. Some techniques, like yoga, may have beneficial uses, but by and large the list of alternative treatments offered is a list of failures. The best result that one could expect from most of these topics is a sort of placebo effect, where individuals a made to feel better simply because of a pseudo-scientific ritual.
In the end, this is a real waste of money that could be spend in much better ways. Why not simply invest the four million in treatment, or research of subjects that have actual scientific value. Perhaps the worst part, is that these studies could potentially end up not only in the broader acceptance of cult medicine, but the treatment of individuals who went to war with such quackery.
Filed under: Politics, Pseudo-Science | Tagged: Alternative Medicine, Army, Cult Medicine, Funding
Sounds like grasping at straws
Please try a few reiki treatments. It is a wonderful energy treatment. I have had excellent results with people suffering from slipped disc, AIDS, cancer, etc. I would never wish to fool anyone and entered this field very skeptically. Please don’t dismiss this without trying it out a few times. Find a good experienced practitioner. TM and acupuncture have proved their worth repeatedly.
Don’t knock the placebo effect – it’s powerful stuff. If there’s a way to harness it, then all well and good. But the best treatments also have something more, of course. Hopefully the studies will compare these treatments with the best available alternatives – if they come out better (which they might, given the power of the placebo effect) then there may well be a place for them in treatment.
If the studies are non comparative, then they’re worthless.
I thought you might like to become aware of http://www.aarati.co.uk a natural living yoga festival happening on 31st August in the grounds of the beautiful Lanhydrock, near bodmin, cornwall UK.
Yes, the placebo effect can work, but on average its only 30% effective. Depending on the culture and treatment it can be far less than this as well.
I would rather see this four million dollars put into research on topics scientists don’t already know are quackery, saved and invested for a later larger return, or put dirrectly into helping veterans. Instead, the military is willing to put it into research for which scientists already know the subjects are not real medicine.