R. Barker Bausell

Snake Oil Science

The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Hailed in the New York Times as "entertaining and immensely educational," Snake Oil Science is not only a brilliant critique of alternative medicine, but also a first-rate introduction to interpreting scientific research of any sort. The book's ultimate goal is to illustrate how the placebo effect conspires to make medical therapies appear to be effective--not just to consumers, but to therapists and poorly trained scientists as well. Bausell explores this remarkable phenomenon and explains why research on any therapy that does not factor in the placebo effect (and other placebo-like effects) will inevitably produce false results. Moreover, as the author shows in an impressive survey of research from high-quality scientific journals, studies employing credible placebo controls do not indicate positive effects for alternative therapies beyond those attributable to random chance. Readers will come away from this book with a healthy skepticism of claims about the latest "miracle cure," be it St. John's Wort for depression or acupuncture for chronic pain.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 348
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Juli 2009
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 140mm x 21mm
• Gewicht: 491g
• ISBN-13: 9780195383423
• ISBN-10: 0195383427
• Artikelnr.: 26100887

Autorenporträt

R. Barker Bausell, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore, was Research Director of a National Institutes of Health-funded Complementary and Alternative Medicine Specialized Research Center.

Inhaltsangabe

* Introduction
* 1: The Rise of Complementary and Alternative Therapies
* 2: A Brief History of Placebos
* 3: Natural Impediments to Making Valid Inferences
* 4: Impediments That Prevent our Physicians and Therapists From Making
Valid Inferences
* 5: Impediments that Prevent Poorly Trained Scientists from Making
Valid Inferences
* 6: Why Randomized Placebo Control Groups Are Necessary in CAM
Research
* 7: Judging the Credibility and Plausibility of Scientific Evidence
* 8: Some Personal Research
* 9: How We Know that the Placebo Effect Exists
* 10: A Bio-Chemical Explanation for the Placebo Effect
* 11: Do CAM Therapies Work Or Are They Placebo Effects? Evidence From
High Quality Randomized Placebo Controlled Trials
* 12: Do CAM Therapies Work Or Are They Placebo Effects? Evidence From
High Quality Systematic Reviews
* 13: How CAM Therapies Are Hypothesized to Work
* 14: Tying Up a Few Loose Ends
* Notes
* Index

Rezensionen

'Inside' Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), we see embarrassingly little critical evaluation. Barker Bausell most certainly comes from the 'inside' and he is definitely critical about CAM; this makes his book unusual, ground-breaking and, I think, important...his book is highly informative, easy to read and full of entertaining wit and humour...aimed at the consumer...but too good a book to be read by the lay audience only. I warmly recommend it to healthcare professionals who work in CAM or have an interest in this area. Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies