Shadow medicine: the placebo in conventional and alternative therapies

289 Pages·2015·1.49 MB·English

by  Haller, John S

T H E P L A C E B O
I N C O N V E N T I O N A L
A N D A L T E R N A T I V E
T H E R A P I E S
JOH N S. HALL ER JR.
Shadow
Medicine

John S. haller Jr.
Shadow
Medicine
The Placebo in
Conventional and
Alternative
Therapies
coluMbia univerS ity PreSS
new york
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2014 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haller, John S., Jr., 1940– author.
Shadow medicine : the placebo in conventional and alternative therapies /
John S. Haller Jr.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-16904-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-53770-4 (ebook)
I. Title. II. Title: Placebo in conventional and alternative therapies.
[DNLM: 1. Placebos. 2. Complementary Therapies. 3. Evidence-Based Medicine.
4. Placebo Effect. WB 330]
R733
615.5—dc23
2013048051
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover design: Mary Ann Smith
References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
For Clio,
my feline companion
and ever-present muse

There is no alternative medicine. There is only scientifically
proven, evidence-based medicine supported by solid data or
unproven medicine, for which scientific evidence is lacking.
—Phil B. Fontanarosa and George D. Lundberg,
“Alternative Medicine Meets Science” (1998)
The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally
confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature. . . .
It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scope of
ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of
twentieth-century science to the human intellect.
—Lewis Thomas, The Medusa and the Snail (1979)

contentS
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction xv
1. EvidEncE-BasEd MEdicinE 1
Normative Science 3
Big Pharma 16
Cochrane Collaboration 18
Cochrane Complementary Medicine 22
Ethics and Equipoise 24
2. PostModErnist MEdicinE 31
Psychosomatic Medicine 35
Spirituality 42
Open Door 44
CAM Popularity 48
American Medical Schools 54
3. “thE PowErful PlacEBo” 61
Beecher’s Discovery 62
What and How 71