Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative MedicineHailed in the New York Times as "entertaining and immensely educational," Snake Oil Science is not only a brilliant critique of alternative medicine, but also a first-rate introduction to interpreting scientific research of any sort. The book's ultimate goal is to illustrate how the placebo effect conspires to make medical therapies appear to be effective--not just to consumers, but to therapists and poorly trained scientists as well. Bausell explores this remarkable phenomenon and explains why research on any therapy that does not factor in the placebo effect (and other placebo-like effects) will inevitably produce false results. Moreover, as the author shows in an impressive survey of research from high-quality scientific journals, studies employing credible placebo controls do not indicate positive effects for alternative therapies beyond those attributable to random chance. Readers will come away from this book with a healthy skepticism of claims about the latest "miracle cure," be it St. John's Wort for depression or acupuncture for chronic pain. |
Contents
The Rise of Complementary and Alternative Therapies | 1 |
A Brief History of Placebos | 23 |
Natural Impediments to Making Valid Inferences | 37 |
Impediments That Prevent Physicians and Therapists from Making Valid Inferences | 59 |
Impediments That Prevent Poorly Trained Scientists from Making Valid Inferences | 69 |
Why Randomized Placebo Control Groups Are Necessary in CAM Research | 83 |
Judging the Credibility and Plausibility of Scientific Evidence | 101 |
Some Personal Research Involving Acupuncture | 113 |
How We Know That the Placebo Effect Exists | 127 |
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actually acupuncture acupuncture group Alternative Medicine Analgesia analgesic answer arthritis artifacts assessment believe biochemical body CAM research CAM therapies CAM trials causal inferences Chapter Chelation Therapy Chinese Medicinal chronic classical conditioning clinical trials Cochrane Cochrane Collaboration Complementary and Alternative conclusion conducted Controlled Trial conventional credible definitive disease Double-Blind drug employed evaluate experiment experimental explanation fact glucosamine Hawthorne effect healing herbs high-quality Homeopathy hypothesized individual intervention investigators involved issue JAMA journals knee magnets massage mechanisms of action naloxone natural history needles negative NEJM occur opioid Osteoarthritis outcome pain relief participants patients percent physicians physiological placebo control group placebo effect placebo group placebo-controlled trials plausibility positive results practitioners procedure produce publication bias published question randomized Randomized Controlled Trial RCTs real acupuncture receiving reported Sarah scientific evidence scientists Smith statistically significant symptoms systematic reviews therapists thing Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment