There shouldn’t be a struggle between western medicine and complementary or alternative medicine (CAMs) says biochemist, author, and freelance science journalist Toby Murcott. The clash between the two forms of treatment stems from the lack of scientific evidence about the success of CAMs.
There shouldn’t be a struggle between western medicine and complementary or alternative medicine (CAMs) says biochemist, author, and freelance science journalist Toby Murcott. The clash between the two forms of treatment stems from the lack of scientific evidence about the success of CAMs.
The problem is that alternative therapies are difficult to test, while pharmaceutical drugs are subjected to painstaking trials to determine their safety and effectiveness, Murcott told an audience at Scifest Africa. The only evidence that alternative therapies work comes from personal success stories often from those who practice and or use traditional therapy. For scientists who are constantly seeking objectivity and truth, this information is not credible enough, Murcott said.
However, while most drugs are testable, it is as difficult to establish the effectiveness of physiotherapy, psychiatry and surgery as it is to assess whether alternative therapies like Reiki, shiatsu and homeopathy work. Critics of CAMs should insist on evidence for all mainstream medical treatments too, Murcott said.
He explained that research techniques from the social science – or “the science of the bleedin’ obvious” – field is increasingly being used to test alternative therapies. “These may seem commonsensical but they are fantastic at looking at how people respond to treatment,” Murcott said.
Murcott emphasised that while the media posits traditional and alternative medicine against each other, the two can and do work together to heal people. He said that traditional medicine is effective in solving acute problems, while alternative medicine is most successful to help patients live better with chronic illnesses like arthritis.
Grahamstown medical practitioner and acupuncturist, Dr Stuart Dwyer agrees.
“Western medicine is most useful in an emergency, trauma situation. If you are in car accident then you’ll want a surgeon to stitch you back together.” But the shortcoming of traditional medicine is that it fails to address long term chronic conditions because it treats the symptom, not the cause, Dr Dwyer said.
Placebo effect
CAMs are often seen as placebos by those who are sceptical of their effectiveness. The placebo effect involves a patient believing in the efficacy of the treatment or medication to such an extent that the patient gets better.
“All of medicine, every bit, [with]no exception has got a bit of placebo,” Murcott said. The placebo effect has an effect over and above the actual treatment and this applies to CAMs and western medicines alike.
Ethically, medical doctors cannot prescribe placebos. And while scientifically CAMs may be placebos, alternative health practitioners believe in their effectiveness. This is because complementary medicine has a different way of treating patients. It attempts to treat symptoms holistically.
Local reflexologist, Jane James makes a similar point.
“Western medicine often just looks at a symptom and tries to address that symptom but often suppressing it with a drug so it’s not actually addressing the cause of the illness,” James said. CAMs, however, treat a patient by focusing on things like lifestyle instead of separate symptoms.
“There is huge increase in expenditure on complementary health or unconventional medicine. In America in the early 2000s they were spending more money on unconventional therapies than on hospital treatment,” Dwyer said.
