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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 26 2008 : 03:10:24 AM
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Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone knew of any scientific research that has been carried out on the effectiveness of alternative medicine, which has been published in book form, or in publically available journals?
Christi |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Feb 26 2008 : 04:02:28 AM
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Pubmed is a public site where you can go look for articles in medical journals. Search terms like "meditation", "alternative medicine", "mindfulness", any third wave cognitive treatment like: "Acceptance & Commitment Therapy" (ACT) will give many hits! ACT is actually Byron Katies "The work" straight through! 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/ |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Feb 28 2008 : 08:03:53 AM
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Thanks emc,
Had a quick look, I'll check it out in detail later.
Without wishing to be too fussy, do you (or anyone else) know of any publication which is effectively an overview of the current state of research into alternative therapies and complementary medicine. Where it is prooving effective, where it isn't, etc.
I wouldn't be surprised if nobody has attempted this yet, but you never know... maybe there is one brave soul.
Christi |
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Richard
United Kingdom
857 Posts |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Feb 28 2008 : 09:56:02 AM
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Sorry, I've never been into the alternative side, so I don't know which researchers are well respected in that area.
I would guess that acupuncture is the best tested method by now. Swedish public health care is very restrictive in its usage of alternative methods, but acupuncture is permitted, so I guess the evidence in that area are clear enough by now. If you look for "meta analysis" in pubmed (combined with for example acupuncture) you will find reports where researchers have gathered as many studies as possible on acupuncture and then made a study of them to answer the question: Do all different studies point in the same direction or is it more 50-50 results pointing nowhere?
You might also find some more interesting links in this thread, http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....OPIC_ID=3267 leading to people, institutions or organisations that might be able to direct you more accurately within this field of knowledge. Always take the shortest way - go on the professors directly!!! 
Ah, just checked out Richards link. Seems like the Bandolier already does that meta analyses search for you at Pubmed! Marvellous!
Hm. But what does this say, for example?
http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/b...tml#Heading4
A sceptic might say "The Chinese believe in it, therefore it works nearly 100% of times there!"
We might say "The Chinese are probably pro's and get nearly 100% pos result due to greater natural knowing of stillness"
Interpretation is always the tricky part since it is based in current knowledge status of the interpreter...
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Edited by - emc on Feb 28 2008 10:17:37 AM |
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Richard
United Kingdom
857 Posts |
Posted - Feb 28 2008 : 10:14:08 AM
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quote:
Ah, just checked out Richards link. Seems like the Bandolier already does that meta analyses search for you at Pubmed! Marvellous!
See I do have my uses  |
Edited by - Richard on Feb 28 2008 10:19:12 AM |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Mar 26 2008 : 10:29:08 AM
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Hi all,
Well, I've had a look through the various sources on the internet, and it looks like we are a long way from proving the effectiveness, or otherwise, of pretty much any alternative therapy. As you said, emc, it looks like there are lots of problems involved in carrying out research that can actually be considered as scientific proof, even if someone had the will, and the money.
So it looks like a book available to the general public outlining the results of the research is still quite a long way away. Thanks for your help guys (and gals).
Christi
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yogani
USA
5242 Posts |
Posted - Mar 26 2008 : 12:00:38 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Christi
Hi all,
Well, I've had a look through the various sources on the internet, and it looks like we are a long way from proving the effectiveness, or otherwise, of pretty much any alternative therapy. As you said, emc, it looks like there are lots of problems involved in carrying out research that can actually be considered as scientific proof, even if someone had the will, and the money.
So it looks like a book available to the general public outlining the results of the research is still quite a long way away. Thanks for your help guys (and gals).
Christi
Hi Christi:
Yes, this kind of research is still a "can of worms" with many tangents occurring. In time, I believe there will be more focus on the underlying principles, and the development of more reliable research methods. Therefore, what the institutions are doing now is very important. It is a beginning, and it will continue to evolve.
In the meantime, we are doing our small part here. What we lack in resources, we make up for in focus on the underlying principles of human spiritual transformation, which form the foundation of good health. We should continue to encourage those with tangible resources to follow that line. Hence this topic: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....OPIC_ID=3267
Increased understanding will lead to a sea change in healthcare. We are seeing a glimmer of it now. The tide is turning.
The guru is in you.
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yogani
USA
5242 Posts |
Posted - Mar 26 2008 : 1:52:35 PM
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PS: By the way, no one here has yet mentioned the extensive research on Transcendental Meditation (over 600 studies), which is alleged to be "scientific," is on the web, and also available in book form: http://tm.org/discover/research/index.html
The TM organization is also a prominent provider of Ayurveda healthcare treatments.
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2008 : 08:48:00 AM
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Hi Yogani,
quote:
Yes, this kind of research is still a "can of worms" with many tangents occurring. In time, I believe there will be more focus on the underlying principles, and the development of more reliable research methods. Therefore, what the institutions are doing now is very important. It is a beginning, and it will continue to evolve.
In the meantime, we are doing our small part here. What we lack in resources, we make up for in focus on the underlying principles of human spiritual transformation, which form the foundation of good health. We should continue to encourage those with tangible resources to follow that line.
I think you are absolutely right. Without an understanding of how the processes work, I can't see how any assesment of any alternative health practices can be evaluated. Even if research methods could be developed, and funded, which would yield results that would be accepted on a scientific basis, without understanding what is happening, nobody would know what perameters to put on the tests.
I have noticed that a lot of alternative practices are being evaluated over a ten week time scale for example. (Someone recieves a treatment every week for ten weeks and the effects are measured over the duration of the ten weeks). I am not sure who thought this was a good idea, but personally I wonder if that kind of time scale is more a product of financial constraints (people who are paying to recieve healing are going to be happy to sign up for 10 treatments, but maybe not 50), combined with the idea that if something doesn't work in 10 weeks than it's no good.
I have noticed that I simply don't get ill these days. But if someone said, "hey lets see if yoga improves health, we'll evaluate people over a 10 week period", I would worry that the time scale was not long enough to produce any meaningful results.
I have noticed that the TM research uses timescales of years rather than weeks or months, which could be why they are getting much better results than many other research methods.
Christi |
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yogani
USA
5242 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2008 : 11:18:18 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Christi
I have noticed that the TM research uses timescales of years rather than weeks or months, which could be why they are getting much better results than many other research methods.
Hi Christi:
Yes, I agree.
While the TM organization has unabashedly used scientific research as a marketing tool since the 1970s, stigmatizing themselves along the way, it does not take away from the fact that they have paved a lot of new ground that the scientific community at large will eventually catch on to.
As we unabashedly say in AYP, take what works and leave the rest behind.
The guru is in you.
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Alvin Chan
Hong Kong
407 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2008 : 1:15:12 PM
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Again I don't mean to be a party-pooper, but there had been discoveries of flaws, cheating, and lack of vigor in researches conducted/supported by TM. Photos of levitation are among them. This doesn't erase their accomplishment in bringing forth to the world this important and lacking realm, but still casts serious doubt on the credibility of other researches as well.
Rigorous and well-recognised research are limited mostly to meditation. For most outsiders it's difficult to tell how credible a research result is, because such researches are usually funded by related (and thus biased) institutions who would try to protect their own interests. Yet, as a HongKonger where research in chinese medicine are rather hot lately, I could say they're mostly credible, and Chinese medicine are found to be effective (other than being a placebo) within limits--- I think about half is useful, another half is superstitious tradition. At the moment it's difficult to separate the two, and they might just be interlinked forever. I myself now take a practical view on Chinese Medicine, looking only at the result with the "theory" being a convenient model in a functional way by passing everything "under the hood".
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Edited by - Alvin Chan on May 06 2008 1:16:22 PM |
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