Three Clues Suggesting why the Benefits of Chinese Medicine Cannot be Dismissed as "Psychological"

1) Clinical trials prove Chinese Medicine's efficacy.  The whole point of clinical trials is to determine the degree to which a procedure demonstrates a statistically significant efficacy over and beyond a control, usually a placebo.  In numerous instances, acupuncture and herbal medicine have proven they work.  See here.

2) Patients enjoy benefits beyond the condition for which treatment was sought.  A patient being treated for arthritis may report improved vision.  The factor underlying both in such instances is circulation.  A patient taking a formula for weight management might report better, that is more regular and less painful menstrual cycles, as the hormones stored in fat are eliminated from the body with the loss of weight.  The point here is that if Chinese medicine were purely psychological, then we would expect its benefits to be confined to the problem area, but in case after case benefits are greater.

3) The constituents of modern pharmaceuticals have their basis in traditional herbal remedies.     If Chinese herbalism were purely the product of cultural belief systems then there would be little interest in these practices beyond the culture in which they developed.  However, disciplines like "pharmacognosy," half-anthropology and half-chemistry, focus on finding learning what the traditional medicines are and then determining the bioactive compounds in those medicines.  Among traditional medicines, that is pre-pharmaceutical medicines, Chinese medicine distinguishes itself for the wellspring of information it provides Western researchers because of its extensive catalog of recorded data.

There you have it.  Three rational bases for attestign to why Chinese medicine's efficacy is not in your head. 

Tell a friend.