6 ms·

> Reiki can’t possibly work, so why does it? It doesn't. Intro section on Wikipedia [0] already lists five studies that concluded it doesn't work: "Clinical re

• dcx 7y ago
  An interesting point TFA makes is that it doesn't have to beat placebo: the placebo effect itself provides therapeutic benefit! > Ted Kaptchuk, a Harvard Medical School professor and one of the lead researchers, theorizes that the placebo effect is, in the words of the Times article, “a biological response to an act of caring; that somehow the encounter itself calls forth healing and that the more intense and focused it is, the more healing it evokes.” I dug up an article in which he explores this further and it's an angle I haven't considered before [1]: > More recently, however, experts have concluded that reacting to a placebo is not proof that a certain treatment doesn't work, but rather that another, non-pharmacological mechanism may be present. > How placebos work is still not quite understood, but it involves a complex neurobiological reaction that includes everything from increases in feel-good neurotransmitters, like endorphins and dopamine, to greater activity in certain brain regions linked to moods, emotional reactions, and self-awareness. All of it can have therapeutic benefit. "The placebo effect is a way for your brain to tell the body what it needs to feel better," says Kaptchuk. > But placebos are not all about releasing brainpower. You also need the ritual of treatment. [...] You receive all kinds of exotic pills and undergo strange procedures. All this can have a profound impact on how the body perceives symptoms because you feel you are getting attention and care." If reiki can evoke this effect consistently, reliably and cheaply at scale (and this is believable, because according to TFA, the lot of the practice is just physical touch in ways that the body might perceive as caring?) - perhaps there actually is value in it? [1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-th...
  • rikelmens 7y ago
    Yeah, but how does placebo actually work? :D If it works, why don't we use it for our benefit?
    • jacobush 7y ago
      We do, but often not very explicitly. But it's definitely practiced in medicine all the time. The doctor silently thinks for a while, then gives some stern warnings and prescribe some pills. You leave, so grateful for living in a civilised time and place.
    • yourapostasy 7y ago
      > ...but how does placebo actually work? Whatever the mechanism factors turn out to be, I would not be at all surprised if it involves areas of study that clinical studies currently dismiss as unimportant. > If it works, why don't we use it for our benefit? Currently difficult to control outcomes because we understand so little of it, and a possibility that it would depress the financial results of a lot of current US "medical/healthcare industry" stakeholders if it turns out for example, having a doting Israeli grandmother dropping by each day with steaming hot matzo ball soup with some unmentionable ingredient that still tastes bitter as hell, a handful of friends calling with jokes, and a couple hours a day in the sauna works cheaper and just as well as a $200 antiviral prescription.
    • BurningFrog 7y ago
      I think that is exactly what Reiki is!
  • fooblat 7y ago
    Ted Kaptchuck is not a credible source. He is an altmed activist who plays games with the definition of placebo to push his agenda. His studies are universally flawed[0] and manipulated. 0. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ted-kaptchuk-versus-placebo-effects-again/ https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ted-kaptchuk-versus-placebo...
    • dcx 7y ago
• learnstats2 7y ago
  Placebo is known to be good! It's reasonable that Reiki should be compared with no intervention, which is the realistic alternative.
  • lostcolony 7y ago
    Reasonable if evaluating your treatment options, and those are the only two available to you. Not reasonable if you are trying to determine the best treatment options and others exist, such as "anything with actual clinical trials that show it more effective than placebo", which is hardly an unrealistic alternative.
    • mcv 7y ago
      The article emphasises that Reike should only be used in combination with actual proven clinical treatment, and not as a replacement of those (which is obvious and dangerous quackery). So compare clinical treatment with Reiki on the side to clinical treatment without Reiki. And maybe also clinical treatment with a more conventional placebo on the side.