Science vs Pseudoscience

The ADE guest editorial “Energy healing is now being scientifically validated” by Ms. Dionne-Dickson warrants a response. Ms. Dionne-Dickson believes that having an “energy healer” at a high school wellness fair is a "reflection of the times we are now living in.” But it is also a reflection of the times that science literacy in the USA is plunging. Two-thirds of Americans do not have a firm grasp of what is meant by the scientific method. I am pleased to hear that “everyone who lay on the table that day was eager to understand what they were witnessing.” My concern is that the wellness class students were not asking questions that help a consumer decide whether the foundation of a particular health practice or technique is based on science or pseudoscience. Pseudoscience is any body of knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice that claims to be scientific but does not follow and adhere to the scientific method. How does a person distinguish science from pseudoscience?

Practitioners of pseudoscience commonly accuse scientists of being hostile. It seems the questions put forth in my letter to the editor, although valid, were full of negative energy and perceived as hostile. However, my concerns were about educating students about science, the scientific method, critical thinking and use of reason.

Another way to distinguish pseudoscience from science is the attempt to shift the burden of proof away from themselves. Note the quote offered from Dr. Dossey’s book: “A body of knowledge that does not fit with prevailing ideas can be ignored as if it does not exist…” Dr. Dossey’s so-called “body of knowledge” is being ignored because there is no scientific evidence to support it. The statement that “science cannot explain" is a common defense in pseudoscience. Pseudoscientists claim their beliefs are based in science yet beyond “ordinary” science. Often their claims are beyond the natural, what many refer to as the supernatural.

The “vast body of knowledge, scientifically based, that is now available verifying the validity of the energetic body and the many forms of what is now being called Energy Medicine” doesn’t exist. Here is what the National Institutes of Health Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine has to say about therapeutic touch, a form of energy medicine. “However, there has been little rigorous scientific research. Overall, these therapies have impressive anecdotal evidence, but none have been proven scientifically to be effective.” If that statement is not enough, I suggest you read “A close look at therapeutic touch” by Rosa L., Rosa E., Sarner L. and Barrett S. published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (1998) Apr 1; 279(13):1005-1010. Most practitioners of therapeutic touch are likely familiar with this article since it is a simple experiment that concludes, “Twenty-one experienced TT practitioners were unable to detect the investigator's "energy field."

Ms. Dionne-Dickson points out that she was trained at The Institute of Healing Arts & Sciences LLC. The IHAS is not accredited by the Connecticut State Department of Education. A visit to the IHAS Website and a listen to their introductory video explains that the Connecticut Commissioner of Higher Education approves the Institute. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, an independent accrediting organization, does not list IHAS as an accredited school. If you spend some time looking through the IHAS catalog you will see that they teach “distance healing techniques” (pg. 16). As a parasitologist I found it interesting that the same module teaches techniques to eliminate intestinal parasites. There are 3 billion people in the World infected with intestinal parasites. It seems logical that far fewer people would have intestinal worms if they could be eliminated via distance healing techniques.

It is a problem that the many professional practitioners of complementary medicine in our area are concerned about “the judgement they can run into.” That is probably a cost of doing business in the energy medicine field. But this is not about judgments. It is about discerning science from pseudoscience. It is about teaching our students how to make intelligent decisions about their health care based on scientific evidence, critical thinking and reason, not faith. It is about insuring that the public knows that the basis of the health treatments they are receiving have been deemed scientifically safe, sound and effective.

Ms. Dionne-Dickson attempts to explain the “science” behind Chakra reading. The fact that “using a crystal as a pendulum, to hook into the spinning rotation of each energy center to give a visual representation of the activity of the energy center” may be interesting. But please explain what that statement actually means and provide the peer reviewed, scientific evidence on which your claims are based. Pseudoscientists commonly invent their own vocabulary in which many terms lack precise or unambiguous definitions, and some have no definition at all. It is generous of Ms. Dionne-Dickson to offer a free half-hour private session. But your Website indicates that you also do “distance”. Is it really necessary for a client to be physically present for a treatment?

I do not question that Ms. Dionne-Dickson is sincere in her beliefs and her intentions to bring health and healing to people in a professional and ethical manner. However, the legitimacy of the means in which she is doing it should be questioned. Moreover, unlike in pseudoscience, beliefs are not in the realm of science. Scientists do not believe scientific evidence; they accept or reject evidence obtained from experiments done in a controlled, repeatable manner.

Lastly, we need to ask where is the State of New York in regulating the practice of “energy medicine” especially Reiki or Therapeutic Touch? Massage therapists need to be educated and licensed under the auspices of the NY State Department of Education. Why not practitioners of touch healing? Florida, Utah and North Dakota all require practitioners of Reiki to be licensed massage therapists.

Energy Healing: Looking in All the Wrong Places

That's the title of an article written by Robert Todd Carroll. You can go to the Skeptics Dictionary and read it.

What we are basically talking about here after all the mumbo jumbo is removed...is faith healing. Dr. Carroll and I both agree that it is even more amazing that many of these energy healing techniques can be applied at a distance. He points out than many of these techniques go back to Franz Anton Mesmer and his discovery of "animal magnetism. But here is what is really important about therapeutic touch:

Practitioners admit that there has never been any scientific detection of a human energy field. This, they say, is because of the inadequacies of our present technology. One with a trained sense, however, is allegedly able to detect the human energy field and assess its integrity.

Go here to read an article which debunks "therapeutic touch".



There is money in therapeutic touch research however. The above picture shows Dr. Karen Priestwood of the Univ. of Connecticut Health Center, recipient of a $1.8 million grant from NIH to discover how touch can heal. She is receiving a Reiki treatment from Libbe Clark, a Reiki Master teacher. WTF?

Chakra

Here is what I've learned about Chakra.

In Hinduism and its spiritual systems of yoga and in some related eastern cultures, as well as in some segments of the New Age movement a chakra is thought to be an energy node in the human body.

The word comes from the Sanskrit "cakra" meaning "wheel, circle", and sometimes also referring to the "wheel of life". The pronunciation of this word can be approximated in English by 'chuhkruh', with ch as in chart and both instances - the commonly found pronunciation 'shockrah' is incorrect.

The seven main chakras are described as being aligned in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Each chakra is associated with a certain color, multiple specific functions, an aspect of consciousness, a classical element, and other distinguishing characteristics.

The chakras are thought to vitalise the physical body and to be associated with interactions of both a physical and mental nature. They are considered loci of life energy, or prana, which is thought to flow among them along pathways called nadis.

There are 3 other chakras but evidently these are only used by evil forces.

Now this is key:

A mystic deals with these metaphysical concepts on the metaphysical plane, as a model for their own internal experience, and when talking about 'energy centres', they are generally talking about subtle, spiritual forces, which work on the psyche and spirit, not about physical electrical or magnetic fields.

See these are special biofields that are outside the realm of natural science. I guess you could call them...I don't know...supernatural?



WTF?

As I understand it, a Chakra reading involves dangling a crystal as a pendulum to hook into the spinning rotation of each energy center to give a visual representation of the activity of each energy center. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know what that means. Can anyone help me out?

Or, you can just go here and get a "distance chakra reading" for a suggested donation of $75 - 100.

If you are living in the Tri-Lakes area and you want a personal interaction, you can go to Healing Adventures and get a free 30 minute introductory session. After that you pay $75 an hour ($10 discount for long distance work).

What Do These Words Have in Common?

Crust; Cyst; Eczema; Fissure; Lichenified; Macule; Papule; Nodule; Patch; Plaque; Pustule; Scale; Ulcer; Vesicle/bulla; Wheal ?

They are all distinctive types of skin leisons.

Energy healing is now being scientifically validated

It's only fair that I post Ms. Dionne-Dickson's guest editorial from todays ADE. It's in response to my letter published last week. I'm working on a response. Ms. Dionne-Dickson's website is here. Notice the $10 discount for "distance healing". Also, visit the Institute of Healing Arts and Sciences.

It was such a pleasure to be invited to the first Wellness Day held at Saranac High this past week.

The fact that Tricia Preston was open to and excited about having an energy healer there was a reflection of the times we are now living in. I also commend the Adirondack Daily Enterprise for publishing the picture it did, showing one of hundreds of teenagers and adults who received chakra readings that day.

I was struck with how open and serious the young emerging adults were. Nearly everyone who lay on the table that day was eager to understand what they were witnessing, asking very honest questions, trying to take in the information as I was providing it and place it into a new frame of reference for how they perceived themselves and their world.

It’s too bad that Mr. Sayles could not bring forward his questions with the same kind of openness, for all of his questions and concerns were valid ones. It’s always difficult to provide a satisfying answer when there is such energy of judgment within the question itself. Dr. Larry Dossey, who has written a fabulous book bringing together the information of hundreds of scientific studies that have been done proving the positive effects of prayer and energy healing, says, “A body of knowledge that does not fit with prevailing ideas can be ignored as if it does not exist, no matter how scientifically valid it may be.” (“Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine,” Larry Dossey, M.D.)

This is the dilemma. There is a vast body of knowledge, scientifically based, that is now available verifying the validity of the energetic body and the many forms of what is now being called Energy Medicine. The school in which I was trained, The Institute of Healing Arts & Sciences LLC, is accredited by the Connecticut State Department of Education and works with five of the local hospitals, incorporating energy healers into the treatment plans for patients. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Saranac Lake, with its well-known history of being on the cutting edge of blending alternative and traditional medicine, could begin taking some serious steps in this direction? There are a significant number of professional practitioners of complementary medicine in this town — many of whom are afraid of being too public simply because of the judgment they can run into. And yet, people do seem to be finding us, working with us and experiencing positive results. It’s very fulfilling to be bringing this body of information to a younger population, such as with the high school Wellness Day.

Just to clarify a few things: “Chakra” is a Sanskrit word literally meaning “wheel or disk” and refers to the centers of energy, mostly along the spine, that help us organize, receive, assimilate and express our life force. I was not “dangling a charm” but using a crystal as a pendulum, to hook into the spinning rotation of each energy center to give a visual representation of the activity of the energy center. For someone trained in interpreting how the energy flows, this can provide a wealth of information regarding how we are functioning on all levels: physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. In my healing practice, I offer everyone a free, half-hour private session, which can include a chakra reading, and I invite Mr. Sayles to contact me so he can have a firsthand experience and also have the opportunity to ask further questions. He may be pleased to find out that we are not as far apart as he perceives us to be and that we all have the same intention — to help bring health and healing to people in a professional, ethical and legitimate manner.

Pat Dionne-Dickson, of Saranac Lake, is a spiritual healer, counselor and minister at Healing Adventures in Saranac Lake.

Todays Entertainment

SAT Examiners Can Be Fooled

Below is a paragraph from the writing portion of an SAT exam. The essay was scored a 5 out of a possible 6.

In the 1930’s, American businesses were locked in a fierce economic competition with Russian merchants for fear that their communist philosophies would dominate American markets. As a result, American competition drove the country into an economic depression and the only way to pull them out of it was through civil cooperation. American president Franklin Delenor Roosevelt advocated for civil unity despite the communist threat of success by quoting “the only thing we need to fear is itself,” which desdained competition as an alternative to cooperation for success. In the end, the American economy pulled out of the depression and succeeded communism.

This essay was an "experiment" by MIT professor Les Perelman who coached a student on how to "fool" the SAT examiners into giving a good score on a not so good essay. Prof. Perlman's goal was to prove that the new writing portion of the SAT is crap.

Read more here.

How Dare They?

Chutzpah: audacity, effrontery, nerve, cojones etc. G.W. Bush accuses Democrats of playing politics in trying to determine the truth about why 8 US Attorneys were fired, especially after the Bush administration has given several different reasons for the firings. This from an administration that has made the use of politics an ARTFORM in obtaining power, keeping power and in "running" government. Should we laugh or cry?

G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney slam Democrats for not supporting the troops. This from two guys (both of whom refused to fight in Vietnam) who basically mislead us into a stupid unwinable war with too few troops that were not equipped with personal armor or vehicle armor and still are not to this very day. These two men are directly responsible for the deaths of over 3,000 soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

These men want Democrats to "join" them in doing the peoples business. Quite a change in tune from the last six years when Democrats were basically treated as though they were not around in Congress. Does anyone accept the notion that oversight of the excutive branch might be doing the peoples business?

D. J. Dionne asks why are the principles that the Republicans held so dear during the Clinton administration no longer operative? The Pew poll results released last week indicate that people no longer support the Republican "resurgence" of the last decade. And, G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney are likely the reason.

# 10,000

10,000th visitor at 10:55 PM from West Hartford, Connecticut. They evidently came to see the picture of the mass of Ascaris worms published quite some time ago. Nice.

Today I also had visitors from Spain, Canada, Poland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Egypt, Slovakia and the Russian Federation.

Someone spent an hour and 43 minutes looking through 30 pages. What's that all about? Maybe they forgot to shut down their browser.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Rosina (Joyce DiDonato), Count Almaviva (Juan Diego Flórez) and Figaro (Peter Mattei) onstage at the Met.

I'm listening to the Barber of Seville by Gioacchino Rossini on NCPR. I'm not a big opera fan but I definitely like this opera. Who isn't familiar with Largo al Factotum performed below by Tito Gobbi.

World TB Day - How We Are Doing?

Today is World TB Day. It commemorates March 24, 1882, the day Robert Koch presented his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculsosis as the cause of Tuberculosis. Koch received the Nobel Prize for this discovering in 1905.

TB is very prevalent worldwide and almost 3 million persons a year die from the disease (when including those dually infected with HIV). TB has been treatable with drugs up until a drug resistant M. tuberculosis strain appeared some years ago. Now the health care system has to catch up in combating the new TB strain.

10,000th Visitor

This blog should have its 10,000th visitor sometime later today or maybe tomorrow as weekends are usually pretty slow. It's nice to know people read this blog, although I don't really understand why. It's really a pretty eclectic mix of comments and rants. My original idea was to make this blog specifically about goings on in the Adirondacks. But, thankfully, this is a pretty sleepy area of the country as far as interesting material for commentary. We can only hope it stays that way. I like to comment on national politics, science and religion. Of course, politics and religion are usually not polite topics for conversation, at least at the dinner table. The 10,000th visitor will win....well nothing.... other than my heartfelt thanks for stopping by.

BTW...if you do want more coverage of Adirondack and North Country issues definitely visit Adirondack Almanack.

Democrats Can't Handle the Truth

That's why people in the Bush administration have to lie. Here's AG Gonzales several days ago:

I was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on … That’s basically what I knew as attorney general.

Now new email communications show that he was involved.

Several documents released by the Justice Department tonight, including Gonzales's appointment calendar, show that the attorney general and his deputy, Paul McNulty, participated in an hour-long meeting about the firings on Nov. 27. Another e-mail provided new evidence the White House was involved in the firings.

See, this is why Bush advisors can't appear before Congress under oath and with a transcript being taken. If that happened, they'd have to tell the truth. Democrats can't handle the truth so I guess they are doing us a favor.

Does anyone believe that Rove and Miers would tell the truth before Congressional committees if they were not first sworn in? Is anyone that gullible?

Universal Health Care

Is Universal Health Care coming to the USA in the near future? I sure do support it. I could retire tomorrow if I had free healthcare. Tomorrow, in Las Vegas, a forum called "A New Leadership on Health Care" will be held. Most of the Democrat candidates for president will be there to tell us what their ideas are for the future of health care in the USA.

We have 47 million people in the USA without health insurance. Over 1/4 of those uncovered individuals live in families that make between $25,000 -49,999 a year. Nine million children are uninsured.

Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden have single payer national health insurance, Great Britain and Spain have national health services and France and Germany have highly-regulated, universal, multi-payer health insurance systems. Yet the richest, most powerful nation on Earth can't do the same?

The USA ranks 40th in infant mortality rate! Cuba has a slightly better infant mortality rate than does the USA! Yet we spend almost twice as much per person on health care as do most developed nations.

G.W. Bush: His legacy

What has G.W. Bush done to the Republican party? A year after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the number of people willing to identify themselves as Republicans started dropping. Why is that? Is it because of the non-stop intolerant cultural differences many Republicans like to preach? The mismanagement of the so-called "War on Terror"? Or have Republicans realized that you can't cut taxes and continue to pay billions of dollars a month to run a war in Iraq. Just take a look at the little cost of the war in Iraq clock in the upper right corner of this blog. See how many seconds it takes to spend what you make in a year. It's good that many Republicans are coming to realize what a disaster this President has been for their party and our country.

James Randi: A Great Skeptic

James Randi (The Amazing Randi) is a "magician" and the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Randi has a standing offer of $1 million to anyone who can prove, in a controlled setting, that they have extraordinary or supernatural powers. Below you can watch Randi expose James Hydrick, Gung Fu man extraordinarie. Hydrick has cool hair, huh?



Click "here" to watch YouTube videos of other people James Randi has exposed.

Wellness Fair: An Opportunity for Critical Thinking

Here is the letter I wrote to the Editor of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. It was published yesterday. It concerns an article that was published a few days ago.

Well over 120 years ago in Saranac Lake, NY, Dr. E. L. Trudeau was carrying on experiments using the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. Trudeau was utilizing a technique in the relatively new field of microbiology called the scientific method. Dr. Trudeau did these experiments at a time when a large number of physicians in the USA did not believe in the germ theory of disease. There is no question that he was a man ahead of his time.

Fast forward to the year 2007. Saranac Lake High School Wellness Class students organize a Wellness fair that includes “Chakra” readings. The front page of our newspaper features a picture of a Chakra practioner (?) dangling a charm (?) over a persons body to give them a reading (?). Chakras are an ancient Eastern wellness belief based on energy systems throughout a body. We can only hope that this opportunity was used to educate students about the scientific method. The scientific method is based on gathering observable, empirical, measurable evidence that is subjected to principles of reasoning.

Maybe Chakra is what our system of medicine has been lacking. If so, what is the measurable evidence that Chakra techniques can measure energy systems? What experiments are being done to show that these techniques are actually effective in accomplishing their goals? These are serious questions that can enhance a student’s capacity to think critically.

The National Institutes of Health actually has a center dedicated to investigating alternative and complementary medicine. It’s called the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Yes, they are doing studies on “Energy Medicine”. Unfortunately, putative energy fields (such as Chakra) have thus far defied measurement by reproducible methods.

It is of concern that we as a nation are becoming less and less knowledgeable about the natural world. How can people make intelligent decisions in today’s world without an understanding of science? Students should be taught to distinguish between real science and pseudoscience.

Maybe I'll be accused of not being open minded. But being open minded means being open to all ideas, which I think I am. It refers to someone who considers ideas based on their merits and rejects ideas that do not appear to be rational. Being open minded does not mean you cannot reject bad ideas. If you believe all ideas without any basis or proof, you are just being credulous. I think our students should be taught to be skeptical. They should be taught to examine claims in an objective, scientific manner. Skepticism is all about testing ideas for their validity.

Psycho Dad

You might have guessed that I was a "Married with Children" fan. I especially liked "Psycho Dad".

White House Advisors Testify

Pres. Bush will allow Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to testify before Congress (concerning US Attorney firings) but in private, not under oath and no transcript can be kept. Why would they need these conditions? Obviously, because they don't want the public to see how they dodge questions or tell lies. Considering the lies (misstatements, mischaracterizations) already told by members of this administration, it would be a waste of everyones time if these two testified without being sworn. Are you willing to give Bush and/or his advisors the benefit of the doubt?

President Clinton allowed 31 of his aides to testify before Congress on 47 different occasions. What do you think Republicans were saying when Bill Clinton claimed executive privilege?

The White House has to claim executive privilege here because they know that more investigations of the executive branch are coming down the pike. Investigations that they fear much more than "Purgegate".

Leonidas

I saw the movie and I liked it a lot.