Is alternative medicine effective?

Alternative medicine works because of the placebo effect

Question: Is alternative medicine effective?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, alternative medicine is effective
Argument‹4 of 5›: Alternative medicine works because of the placebo effect

The thing that makes alternative medicine 'work' is a simple placebo effect.

The argument

Many alternative treatments seem to work, but this is due to belief that it will work rather than an actual clinical effect. This is called the placebo effect, which is when a patient's condition seems to improve after receiving a treatment with no actual medicinal benefit. The improvement is not imagined or dishonestly reported; it is a real change, produced by something other than the substance that was administered. What produces it appears to be a combination of how the intervention is administered and the expectations the patient might have of the treatment itself. The beneficial health outcome results from a person's anticipation that an intervention will help — which means the circumstances surrounding a treatment, rather than its contents, are doing work that would ordinarily be credited to the remedy. When the belief in the value of an alternative therapy is strong, this can account for the success of a treatment even if scientifically it may not be accepted. How placebos work is still not quite understood, but it involves a complex neurobiological reaction that includes everything from increases in feel-good neurotransmitters, like endorphins and dopamine, to greater activity in certain brain regions linked to moods, emotional reactions, and self-awareness. All of it can have a therapeutic benefit. Proponents of this position therefore argue that alternative medicine is effective in the sense that matters to the person receiving it, measured by whether their condition improves — while accepting that what is responsible is the placebo effect rather than any medicinal property of the therapy itself.

Premises

[P1]The placebo effect produces real therapeutic benefits through neurobiological responses triggered by a patient's belief and expectation that a treatment will work. [P2] Alternative medicine treatments strongly engage patient belief and expectation, thereby reliably triggering the placebo effect. [P3] A treatment that reliably produces beneficial health outcomes for patients counts as effective, regardless of its underlying mechanism. [C] Therefore, alternative medicine is effective, because it works through the placebo effect.

Counter-arguments

It is the alternative therapy that makes the difference - it is not simply a placebo. Additionally, orthodox medicine has been shown to have a placebo effect also.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The placebo effect occurs with orthodox medicine too. [Rejecting P2] It therefore does not disprove the benefits of CAM.

The argument

Premises

Counter-arguments

Rejecting the premises

Further reading