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:
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 where he was in charge of conducting and analyzing randomized clinical trials involving acupuncture's effectiveness for pain relief. He has also served as a consultant to Prevention and Discover magazines.
"Hang up your lantern Diogenes, an honest man has been found.
Barker Bausell, a biostatistician, has stepped out of the shadows
to give us an insider's look at how clinical evidence is
manipulated to package and market the placebo effect. Labeled as
"complementary and alternative medicine," the placebo effect is
being sold not just to a gullible public, but to an increasing
number of health professionals as well. Bausell knows every trick,
and explains them in
clear language." --Robert L. Park, Ph.D., Professor of Physics,
University of Maryland, and author of Voodoo Science: The Road from
Foolishness to Fraud
"At Skeptic magazine there is no topic for which we receive more
requests to comment on than alternative and complementary medicine.
It is big business with big claims and big demands on it to
produce, but there is very little science behind most of it.
Unfortunately, what has long been lacking is a well-written, clear,
and concise analysis of its major claims to which we can direct our
readers. That problem has now been remedied by R. Barker
Bausell's
authoritative and highly readable analysis Snake Oil Science, which
should be read by anyone contemplating the use of any of the
hundreds of alternative and complementary medical treatments out
there that
promise hope but usually deliver disappointment."--Michael Shermer,
publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific
American, and the author of Why People Believe Weird Things
"Anyone who reads Bausell's rigorous scientific analysis of the
risks and benefits of complementary and alternative medicine will
be left wondering why they are spending so much on so many useless
products."--Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D., Tufts University School of
Medicine, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, New England Journal of
Medicine, and author of On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with
Big Business Can Endanger Your Health
"The book is aimed at the consumer, and it is written in a simple,
entertaining style such that the consumer will understand it and
enjoy reading it. So the consumer should and, I'm sure, will buy
this book. But in addition I would also warmly recommend it to
healthcare professionals who work in CAM or have an interest in
this area. They will not easily find a harder hitting, more
eloquent, or smarter critique of CAM!"--Edzard Ernst, M.D.,
Ph.D.,
Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, UK
"Readable, entertaining and immensely educational...[Bausell]
writes with a sense of humor and palpable compassion for all
involved."--New York Times
"...An overview of alternative and complementary treatments.
[Bausell] explains why most such treatments can't possibly do what
their proponents claim, but he rarely takes on the scoffing tone
that many skeptics use when discussing these
issues."--ScienceNews
"His book is highly informative, easy to read and full of
entertaining wit and humor...I warmly recommend it to healthcare
professionals who work in CAM or have an interest in this area. One
would have to search hard and long to find a more eloquent or
intelligent critique of CAM!"--Focus on Alternative and
Complementary Therapies
"Hang up your lantern Diogenes, an honest man has been found.
Barker Bausell, a biostatistician, has stepped out of the shadows
to give us an insider's look at how clinical evidence is
manipulated to package and market the placebo effect. Labeled as
"complementary and alternative medicine," the placebo effect is
being sold not just to a gullible public, but to an increasing
number of health professionals as well. Bausell knows every trick,
and explains them in
clear language." --Robert L. Park, Ph.D., Professor of Physics,
University of Maryland, and author of Voodoo Science: The Road from
Foolishness to Fraud
"At Skeptic magazine there is no topic for which we receive more
requests to comment on than alternative and complementary medicine.
It is big business with big claims and big demands on it to
produce, but there is very little science behind most of it.
Unfortunately, what has long been lacking is a well-written, clear,
and concise analysis of its major claims to which we can direct our
readers. That problem has now been remedied by R. Barker
Bausell's
authoritative and highly readable analysis Snake Oil Science, which
should be read by anyone contemplating the use of any of the
hundreds of alternative and complementary medical treatments out
there that
promise hope but usually deliver disappointment."--Michael Shermer,
publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific
American, and the author of Why People Believe Weird Things
"Anyone who reads Bausell's rigorous scientific analysis of the
risks and benefits of complementary and alternative medicine will
be left wondering why they are spending so much on so many useless
products."--Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D., Tufts University School of
Medicine, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, New England Journal of
Medicine, and author of On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with
Big Business Can Endanger Your Health
"The book is aimed at the consumer, and it is written in a simple,
entertaining style such that the consumer will understand it and
enjoy reading it. So the consumer should and, I'm sure, will buy
this book. But in addition I would also warmly recommend it to
healthcare professionals who work in CAM or have an interest in
this area. They will not easily find a harder hitting, more
eloquent, or smarter critique of CAM!"--Edzard Ernst, M.D.,
Ph.D.,
Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, UK
"Readable, entertaining and immensely educational...[Bausell]
writes with a sense of humor and palpable compassion for all
involved."--New York Times
"...An overview of alternative and complementary treatments.
[Bausell] explains why most such treatments can't possibly do what
their proponents claim, but he rarely takes on the scoffing tone
that many skeptics use when discussing these
issues."--ScienceNews
"His book is highly informative, easy to read and full of
entertaining wit and humor...I warmly recommend it to healthcare
professionals who work in CAM or have an interest in this area. One
would have to search hard and long to find a more eloquent or
intelligent critique of CAM!"--Focus on Alternative and
Complementary Therapies
"....[a] readable study of the science behind the placebo
effect..."--The New York Times Book Review
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