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Related Experiment Videos

Alternative medicine and common errors of reasoning.

B L Beyerstein1

  • 1Brain-Behaviour Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. bbeyerstein@arts.sfu.ca

Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
|March 10, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Many intelligent individuals and therapists seek alternative medicine despite lacking scientific evidence. This abstract explores social, psychological, and illusory factors driving the use of ineffective or dangerous treatments.

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Area of Science:

  • Medical Ethics
  • Health Psychology
  • Sociology of Health

Background:

  • Many patients and healthcare providers invest in alternative medicine.
  • Most alternative therapies lack rigorous scientific validation and can be ineffective or dangerous.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the reasons behind the widespread use of alternative medicine.
  • To identify social, psychological, and cognitive factors contributing to the adoption of unproven therapies.

Main Methods:

  • The study analyzes social, cultural, and psychological factors influencing healthcare choices.
  • It examines cognitive biases and the placebo effect as contributors to perceived treatment efficacy.
  • The author reviews criteria for evaluating scientific evidence in medicine.

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Main Results:

  • Social factors include poor health literacy, anti-scientific attitudes, and distrust in conventional medicine.
  • Psychological drivers involve the "will to believe," cognitive biases, and wishful thinking.
  • The perceived effectiveness of ineffective therapies is often due to the placebo effect, natural disease progression, or misdiagnosis.

Conclusions:

  • Patients seeking alternative medicine should critically evaluate treatments based on scientific evidence.
  • Anecdotal evidence, testimonials, and pseudoscientific claims should be viewed with skepticism.
  • Practitioners promoting "too good to be true" cures warrant suspicion.