7 ms·
The popularity of homeopathic medicine, a concept so obviously wrong that even someone who doesn't understand chemistry can debunk it in seconds, is fascinating
by lalaland1125 4y ago
The popularity of homeopathic medicine, a concept so obviously wrong that even someone who doesn't understand chemistry can debunk it in seconds, is fascinating.
Why are people drawn to such absurdly wrong medical cures? This says something really interesting about human psychology IMHO.
Like at least chiropractic and ineffective herbal remedies have a somewhat plausible (but wrong) mechanism of action.
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- snarf21 4y agoI think a lot of it is just about "trust". They don't trust the government so they definitely don't trust FDA approved drugs or Big Pharma. I mean there are people who actually believe that the Covid vaccines contain nano transmitter trackers put there by Bill Gates. When you tell them there is some root from Chile that solves their issue, they trust that more than something built in a lab. I think the thing we need to change is that all of these homeopathic "medicines" and vitamins need to go through some clinical rigor. They should have to show the actual benefit of taking Vitamin XXX. We also need testing of these items at random. There are lots of these items that don't even contain the thing they claim they do. It is $40 Billion industry that has marginal benefit and is an outright scam in some cases.
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- canadiantim 4y agoThe fact that you dismiss herbs, the very basis of most modern pharmacology, suggests to me that you have an axe to grind.
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- JTbane 4y agoHomeopathy usually refers to the claims that dilution of an herb makes the medical effects stronger, which is ridiculous. That poster wasn't denying that herbal medicine could be useful, as many herbs do have chemicals that are biologically active.
- MarkSweep 4y agoHomeopathy is not herbs. It is just water: “Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using homeopathic dilution. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the diluent. Often not even a single molecule of the original substance can be expected to remain in the product.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy
- Nicksil 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy
- boomboomsubban 4y agoHomeopathy isn't herbs, but the person the commenter was replying to dismissed herbal medicine in their post.
- pif 4y agoYou are not alone in this confusion. I though "homeopathy" meant "medicine based on herbs" for a few decades, and I'm sure we are not alone, and this may explain why so many people buy products that are based on a mix of idiocy and nothingness.
- dekhn 4y agoThey don't dismiss herbs.
- Brybry 4y agoBoth of my parents are highly educated statisticians and the sketchy things they'll believe never fails to amaze me. A lot of it seems to be innate trust of (false) authority figures: the MDs, naturopaths, and authors who shill this stuff.
- themitigating 4y agoThe majority of MDs don't believe in homeopathic medicine. Naturopaths are authority figures?
- lotsofpulp 4y agoThey have “doctoral” degrees, they call themselves “Dr”, and can even prescribe in Washington state. Absolutely mind boggling.
- carrotcarrot 4y agoThey go through the same work as non naturopath Made in addition to their naturopathic work. Whycant you allow people who want their care to go to them? They're not misleading people, theyre offering an alternative.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoThere is no alternative to clinical trials. Either a medicine (or treatment) has evidence behind it, or it does not. And whatever education or tests naturopaths do are not comparable to what MDs have to do.
- themitigating 4y agoIf I had a medicial degree, opened a clinic to treat patients for cancer, and the medicine I used had no emperical evidence that it works (meaning some probability of success determined used a properly done study) should that be acceptable? Even if I told patients I think thought the treatment would work but it's not FDA approved.
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- neaden 4y agoI think with Homeopathic medicine people usually don't know how it is supposed to work. If you look at the label there is no explanation of the idea like cures like and diluting to an absurd degree, just a list of what's in it, some unsupported claims, and a small disclaimer that it is not FDA approved.
- isleyaardvark 4y agoI’ve known people who just thought it meant “natural” or “organic”
- whoopdedo 4y agoConfusing "herbal" and "homeopathic" shows the success of advertising by the alternative medicine industry to keep customers misinformed about what is in -- or in the case of homeopathy, what is not in the products they buy. The opposite of regulated medicines which need to be specific about what goes into them. Promoting homeopathy is promoting ignorance.
- blincoln 4y ago> Why are people drawn to such absurdly wrong medical cures? IMO, most people don't know what "homeopathic" means. It sounds vaguely like "naturopathic", which would at least contain something other than water. They see the claims on the label, compare the price to actual medication, and buy the fake product because it's cheaper, probably has more fantastical claims about what it will do, and doesn't mention any side effects. There are definitely folks who are so irrational that they know how homeopathic products supposedly "work" and still believe in it, but IMO they are a tiny minority. Most of the people buying them are honest folks being scammed. This lawsuit was long overdue. I hope after this they go after retailers doing things like putting "Cinnsulin" next to actual diabetes treatments.
- josefresco 4y ago> Why are people drawn to such absurdly wrong medical cures? Because the "official" cure/treatment prescribed by their doctor isn't working or has unwanted side effects. I have an uncurable disease with medication that creates unpleasant side effects. You bet your ass I've spent a considerable amount of time researching "alternative" treatments.
- themitigating 4y agoWhy did you put official in quotes?
- jjtheblunt 4y agoperhaps more than one subculture, each with its own definition of official?
- altairprime 4y agoBecause people are drawn to being under the influence of the placebo effect, specifically. You could make a billion dollars by offering a kiosk that sells a bottle of sugar pills with a custom label printed on it. Let people enter whatever symptom they have that’s bothering them and get a placebo bottle of sugar pills for it. Nope, there’s no pharmaceutical in them. Yes, sugar is an “active ingredient” in placebo pills. This pair of statements is deeply hostile to a pharmaceutical mindset — but we’re human beings, and human beings like to be fooled and like to pretend and like meaningless gestures that still make us feel better, and our bodies sometimes play along. Homeopathy uses a lot of pseudoscience to sell their placebos because they’ve figured out how to market placebos to human beings. Find a better way to market placebos to human beings, as placebos and with the express purpose of having the placebo effect, and you’ll displace homeopathy altogether. Arguing that humans shouldn’t seek the placebo effect is hopeless, though. We are human beings, and if there’s one thing you can guarantee with people as a whole, it’s that they’ll seek as wide a variety of altered states as possible by all means available — including both pharmaceuticals and placebos.
- mikkergp 4y agoI think you understate the value of the placebo effect in medical treatment, especially for certain types of treatments, i.e. pain and psychological treatment. I'm not saying we should treat infectious diseases that way, but the placebo affect is probably most of the power of many of "real" treatments. If the goal is to feel better, it seems a lot safer than using addictive opiods and other drugs. It may also be ultimately more efficacious: For anti-depressants, "a 2009 meta-analysis of anti-depressant trials concluded: The placebo effect accounted for 68% of the effect in the drug groups. Whereas clinical trials need to control the placebo effect, clinical practice should attempt to use its full power." https://theconversation.com/are-over-the-counter-painkillers-a-waste-of-money-71433#:~:text=An%20evidence%2Dbased%20approach%20to,work%20no%20better%20than%20placebo https://theconversation.com/are-over-the-counter-painkillers....
- altairprime 4y agoI’m suggesting that plainly-labeled placebos should replace homeopathy, so no need to convince me of the value of placebos! I’m just not interested in litigating the medical evidence with homeopathy proponents, because that tactic has been tried for decades and is an abysmal failure at ending homeopathy. (You’re welcome to keep trying if you like, but I’ve nothing new to contribute to such efforts.)
- 300bps 4y agoThe majority of the population seems to wrongly think that "homeopathic" simply means "natural".
- dhritzkiv 4y agoPeople probably conflate homeopathic vs. naturopathic. They sound similar enough. One of them a good doctor would never prescribe as it is bunk; the other a doctor might recommend as a course of action sometimes, depending on the ailment and its severity.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoMy favorite part of these scams is when stores are able to sell the same product at 1,000x markup. You can pay Costco $10 for a 5lb bag of turmeric in the spice aisle, or pay Costco $30 for 1lb of turmeric tablets near the pharmacy. Perhaps I should not complain, as people wasting money on these tablets subsidizes lower prices on other products at Costco for me.
- HWR_14 4y ago> people wasting money on these tablets subsidizes lower prices on other products at Costco for me. I don't think that's true in any way. If anything, they are crowding out products you might be more interested in.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoFrom what I understand, Costco aims for their net income to be equal to their membership revenue. And so the sum total of all things sold is equal to all the costs. And so if they are getting a high margin on some items, such as fake medicine which typically have huge markups, then this would allow them to have near zero or even negative margin on other items (which I presume are popular staples like milk/eggs/etc). With the cash back rewards for executive membership, I do not even end up paying for my membership, so I assume items with higher markup are subsidizing that also.
- HWR_14 4y ago> which I presume are popular staples like milk/eggs/etc I don't know why those would be what is subsidized. Why wouldn't Costco just cut the prices on the homeopathic medicines to make their target 3% or whatever.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoBecause milk/eggs are what draws people into the store. And their famous rotisserie chicken or hotdog. Standard retail tactic. Once at the store, people might decide to buy things they did not need, or cost more than elsewhere, such as a 6 pack of knives when they only needed one, or turmeric tablets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader
- t0bia_s 4y agoIf it works as placebo, it just works. People dont need science to explain everything. Positive experience is more important.