The national newspapers today are both unanimous and venomous in attacking homeopathy. Most articles conflated (in my opinion deliberately) two separate issues: The extremely damaging effects (to both individuals and society in general) of homeopaths dissuading parents from having their children receive the normal vaccinations universally recommended by all health authorities. Homeopathy is apparently no [...]
Homeopathic Doctors honoured by Royal Patronage The Faculty of Homeopathy, a global association representing doctors, dentists, pharmacists (and selected regulated health professionals) trained in homeopathy was delighted and honoured to receive the patronage of Prince Charles this week. The future monarch, a member of a family that has used and supported homeopathy since its inception [...]
Film Review: H E A L Netflix (https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80220013 Netflix are to be commended on making a positive and life-affirming film on the power of the holistic or whole person approach in medicine. In this well-made documentary, luminaries such as Deepak Chopra make an excellent case for the body/mind/spirit, whole person approach in its various forms. [...]
In September I took part in an art therapy symposium called Art Heals led by Boston-based Professor of Art Therapy, Shaun McNiff and hosted by the London Art Therapy Centre. It was one of the most vital, moving and edifying meetings I’ve attended in over three decades as a medical doctor. There were 120 participants, [...]
Three years ago I posted a few words on 'bad backs'. Taking issue with the lay diagnosis of a 'bad back', I made the case for building up core strength by carefully and relentlessly exercising key muscles such as the abdominal obliques, rectus abdominis, psoas, transverse abdominis and the pelvic floor muscles. It's more work than [...]
Medical scientists and particular the disciples of Scientism are fond of asserting that the only real Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) is the randomised clinical trial where a medicine is compared with a control (placebo). I've long been of the position that RCTs have their limitations, particularly because they exclude the effects of the consultation itself, [...]
An article in the latest edition of that very non-treehugging journal Scientfic American by a self-confessed skeptic (spelled with a 'k' because he's American and with an 's' very deliberately in lower case for reasons he makes clear), John Horgan, shows how self-styled 'sceptics' specifically attack 'soft targets' such as homeopathy (which he mentions specifically) while [...]
Good news for supporters of liberty, democracy and complementary medicine has emerged from Switzerland. The interior ministry of the land of bankers, superior chocolate and timepieces has announced that 'Homeopathy, holistic medicine, herbal medicine, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine will acquire the same status as conventional medicine by May 2017 when it comes to health insurance.' [...]
Readers of this blog know that I am no fan of the word 'depression' but it came up in an amazing story in Science this week. The article is about how we may be inheriting genetic diseases going back 50 000 years to one of our earliest ancestors, Neandertal Man! Depression is listed as one possibly hereditary [...]
I've never liked the word 'depression'. The Victorians referred more accurately to chronic sadness as 'melancholia'. Psychiatry has struggled for decades to find a chemical solution by which to 'treat the brain' in order to alleviate this awful problem. Success has been hard to come by and both the psychoanalytic school of thought and the anti-psychiatry [...]