POSTMODERNISM & THERAPEUTIC OCCULTISM
The popularity of alternative therapy now probably has reached a level
rivalling that of medieval or primitive times. While this phenomenon has a
great deal to do with the gullibility of humans and the successful invocation
of the placebo effect, the medical and pharmacological professions also have
a great deal to do with its modern rise to eminence. The latter, in setting
themselves up as the demigods on all therapeutic matters, created great
expectations among the public, who naturally expected consistent healing
miracles to emerge from their kingdoms of health and happiness.
PROBLEMS IN THE MEDICAL WORLD
Instead, the spectacular general advances in medical science, surgery and
technology have been matched almost every step of the way by an increased
awareness that the world of medicine is rife with iatrogenic illness and
death; lack of understanding of some of the simplest of disorders, vast
commercial exploitation of the sick by doctors, drug companies and insurance
companies; unwillingness of many medical professionals to admit their
inadequacies; proliferations on endlessly contradictory theories of major
diseases (such as heart disease and cancer); the carrying out of many
unnecessary procedures (such as Caesarian sections and appendectomies) and
the dubious management of mental disorders.
While one can appreciate that every discipline is replete with imperfections
and incompleteness, the medical profession, in setting itself up as a virtual
messiah of healing has created a situation in which the public eventually had
to question the messiahs. The medical profession generally has closed ranks
on itself and its pharmacological partners instead of encouraging a
‘glasnost’ or openness that would have welcomed the involvement of concerned
members of the public. Often the twin-pronged fork of litigation has been
responsible for this closed-door management of medicine and pharmacology, so,
just as companies like General Dynamics have been loath to admit errors in
their aerospace products, the medical professionals have also been corralled
into a similar box.
Consequently, public suspicion and dissatisfaction has led to fairly
widespread, but often unfair, distrust of the medical profession, which has
done little to address the sociopolitical, psychological and anthropological
issues which are leading to an increased reliance on alternative therapies.
The fact that increasing numbers of the medical professions themselves are
also turning to alternative therapies reveal that the medical edifice itself
is aware of a need for repair.
PROBLEMS IN THE EDUCATIONAL WORLD
Part of the blame also needs to be laid on our educational systems which
place inadequate emphasis on science education, the scientific method,
linguistic analysis and critical thinking, in general. This is revealed in
the USA by studies which show that science, mathematics and language
standards have dropped dramatically over the past few decades. Scientists
all too often are regarded like specially gifted or genetically endowed
creatures who really are something different from the average person.
Science thus tends to become the calling of some sort of earth-based alien
elite, certainly not something for everyone.
As a result, advertising, marketing and pseudoscience rarely are questioned,
and personal testimonials, misinterpreted reports based on science releases
by Reuter, and TV infomercial claims come to be accepted as accurate.
Methods developed by public figureheads or therapeutic experts come to be
proliferated more because of the hero status of their creators than their
underlying science (e.g. Maitland, McKenzie, McConnell, Bobath).
PROBLEMS IN ALTERNATIVE THERAPY
Many alternative therapists tend to categorise most allopathic medicine or at
best tolerate it for major surgical reasons, while referring to their own
narrow world as “holistic”. Paradoxically, this attitude reveals that their
methods are partialistic and not holistic. All too often, diseases and
injuries are opportunistic and need opportunistic or ad hoc approaches from
many disciplines for their successful resolution, not just some magic
antibiotic bullet, acupuncture technique or homeopathic potion. The term
“alternative” is not a synonym for “holistic” or “complementary” therapy, and
flags should always be raised when the term “holistic” is bandied about by
medically untrained “holists”. Holism implies the complementarity and
adhocracy of the full spectrum of physical and mental, allopathic and
traditional, therapeutic approaches which have emerged from valid empirical,
theoretical or laboratory research and clinical experience.
In understanding the value of any therapy, the possibility of the decisive
role of the placebo effect must never be ruled out, so that we can always
remain aware that the actual healing process may have little to do with our
presumed models. This can be exceptionally difficult for doctors,
herbalists, chiropractors, physios, psychiatrists, chemists, religious
healers and others to accept, because a great deal of the success in each
case still remains scientifically unexplained and healing validity may often
rely more on the faith of the practitioner than any known science.
It is especially important not to regard placebos as something akin to hoaxes
or deceipts - if and when they work they should teach us more about the more
holistic nature of our therapies. If something can elicit a powerful placebo
effect to facilitate a healing, be it therapeutic touch, a sugar-coated pill,
a spinal mobilisation or bogus surgery, then, by all means use it, but don’t
attribute it to proven science prematurely or overcharge the trusting public!
DUBIOUS DEFINITIONS
The world of “alternative” therapy is replete with its unique collection of
definitions and neologisms to describe the host of ostensibly innovative,
ancient or ‘secret’ healing techniques and mysteries. Among the most misused
of all terms is the concept of “energy” in its many therapeutic forms, such
as “energy fields”, “energy balance”, “bioenergetics”, “healing energy”,
“life energy” and so forth. Its original definition in physics is all but
forgotten, even though most folk have some sort of vague recollection that
energy is related to matter by Einstein’s famous equation, energy E = mass
times the velocity of light squared (mc^2).
Some alternative healers somehow think that energy in the mind and
materialisations of matter follow this same equation to substantiate why
gurus like Sai Baba allegedly can create matter out of thin air and why
cancerous growths may appear from disruptions of “energy fields” in the
human aura. They seem blissfully aware that the apparent interchangeability
of energy and matter according to the Einstein equation refers to atomic
fission and fusion situations and not ordinary bodily or mental processes.
(We could also comment at length on the huge misuse of “fields” and “energy
fields” by therapists, some of whom believe that they are somehow sensing
and orchestrating changes in the body’s “energy fields”, even though the
stray electromagnetic fields bathing their premises undoubtedly are of far
greater intensity).
Try telling this to Deepak Chopra and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of TM fame,
who explain all human mysteries on the basis of conjectural quantum energy
effects acting at all levels of human consciousness. The best-selling Chopra
self help books offer a fascinating mishmash of the same old inspirational
and philosophical aphorisms of the East blended with his medical training and
some impressive terminological borrowings from popular physics books (like
the “Tao of Physics” and “The Dancing Wu-Li Masters”). The result? - huge
hordes of admiring educated, though uncritical, Western followers who do not
seem to realise that not a single method or idea that he has extolled has a
superior track record to any other allopathic or complementary healing or
self management technique. No wonder he is smiling his way to fame and
fortune!
And he is by no means unique - he has simply exploited the truth that it is
easy to fool most of the people most of the time - especially if many of the
people are dissatisfied with the status quo. Therein lies the alpha and the
omega of controlling the minds and money of the masses - understand how they
think, how little they really think and then apply some very much standard
methods of persuasion and mass appeal.
SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES
The following extracts from an interesting article in the Skeptical Inquirer
(July/August 2000: 29-36) are most relevant to this issue of the
“postmodernistic” rise of therapeutic occultism.
BA Gaudiano & JD Herbert ‘Can We Really Tap Our Problems Away? A Critical
Analysis of Thought Field Therapy’
<< Abstract: Thought Field Therapy is marketed as an extraordinarily fast
and effective body-tapping treatment for a number of psychological problems.
However, it lacks even basic empirical support and exhibits many of the
trappings of a pseudoscience.
It is nothing new to find enterprising entrepreneurs seeking to profit from
their novel inventions, which are often claimed to produce miraculous results
for their users. The field of mental health is no exception. In fact, there
has recently been a surge of putatively revolutionary treatments for various
psychological problems that claim to be far superior to standard treatments
in both effectiveness and efficiency. Known as "Power" or "energy" therapies
(Gist, Woodall, and Magenheimer 1999; Herbert et al. in press; Swenson 1999),
these treatments are gaining widespread acceptance among mental health
practitioners, despite their frankly bizarre theories and techniques,
extraordinary claims, and absence of scientific support.
One of the most popular of these power therapies, known as Eye Movement
Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), involves a therapist waving his or
her fingers in front of the patient's eyes while the client imagines various
disturbing scenes that are thought to be related to the patient's problems.
In fact, EMDR, a ‘power therapy' that alludes to neural networks instead of
energy fields for its theoretical basis, has been described as a prototypical
case of pseudoscience within mental health (Herbert et al. in press; Lohr,
Montgomery, Lilienfeld & Tolin 1999; Lilienfeld 1996).
There is another treatment approach on the rise that threatens to overtake
EMDR as the premiere power therapy for the 21st century: Thought Field
Therapy (TFT; Callahan 1985). Roger Callahan, TFT's inventor, claims that he
can train therapists to be over 97% effective using his Ôrevolutionary'
procedures in treating a variety of common psychological problems including
anxiety and depression. Since the history of psychotherapy is replete with
treatments that failed to live up to their initial hype, it seems prudent to
take a closer look at TFT.
Origins and Methods
Callahan (1997) states that he accidentally discovered TFT while treating a
client named Mary, who had a severe fear of water. Inspired by an acupuncture
class he was taking at the time, Callahan instructed Mary to firmly tap the
area under her eye with her fingers, leading to a miraculous and immediate
resolution of Mary’s phobia. Callahan subsequently developed the
comprehensive set of techniques and theory that is now known as TFT. The
therapy is based on the idea that invisible energy fields called "thought
fields" exist within the body (Callahan and Callahan 1997). Environmental
traumas and inherited predispositions are theorized to cause blockages, or
what Callahan terms "perturbations" in the flow of energy in these thought
fields. Callahan theorizes that the commonly observed neurochemical,
behavioral, and cognitive indicators of disorders such as depression are the
result of these perturbations. In other words, the root cause of all
psychological problems are blockages in energy fields.
In order to correct these perturbations, clients are directed by the TFT
therapist to tap on the body's "energy meridians" in specific sequences,
called "algorithms," which vary based on the particular problem being treated
(Callahan & Callahan 1997). . . . . The tapping is theorized to add energy to
the system, which then re-balances the overall energy flow, thereby
eliminating the distress at the source. . . .
TFT also borrows techniques from a procedure known as ‘Applied Kinesiology’
that is used to test muscles for "weaknesses" caused by certain food or
chemical pathogens (Sampson & Beyerstein 1996).
Applied Kinesiology is a scientifically discredited procedure. For example,
Kenny, Clemens & Forsythe (1988) found that those using the techniques did no
better than chance in determining nutritional status using muscle testing.
Finally, TFT even borrows some of its concepts from quantum physics. For
instance, the idea of active information, in which small amounts of energy
can affect large systems, is used to support the existence of perturbations
(Bohm & Hiley 1993). There are obvious problems with the theoretical basis
for TFT, not the least of which is the complete lack of scientific evidence
for the existence of "thought fields."
TFT, as with other new "energy' therapies, is based on misconceptions or
outright distortions of the concept of energy as it is used by scientists
(Saravi 1999). In physics, energy is defined simply as the capacity to do
work, and energy exchanges are observable and measurable. Energy therapists,
in contrast, use the term to describe a kind of universal life force that
influences health, but they provide no direct data to document the presence
of such a force. Saravi concludes that "New Agers' and psychobabblers'
'energy has only a remote relationship with its physical, scientific
counterpart. For them, it is just a word conveniently invoked to explain
phenomena whose very existence is far from certain" (47) . . . . . .
Despite these miraculous assertions, no controlled studies have been
published in peer-reviewed scientific journals to provide evidence for TFT's
claims. Instead, testimonials and uncontrolled case studies are offered to
support these astonishing declarations of success (Callahan 1995). The vast
majority of these claims are made via Internet postings (Lohr, Montgomery, et
al. 1999). Such anecdotes, however, do not constitute probative data on the
question of TFT's efficacy. Callahan often claims that his public
demonstrations of TFT on television shows such as The Leeza Gibbons Show (aire
d October 12, 1996) provide dramatic proof of success, thereby circumventing
the need for empirical research. . . . . .
Serious psychotherapy innovators go to great lengths to conduct studies to
demonstrate that the hypothesized active ingredients of their procedures
outperform these so-called "nonspecific" effects. No such effort has been
made by the promoters of TFT. Callahan, however, dismisses the possibility
that TFT could be explained by such mechanisms. He asserts that "clinical
evidence" has ruled out the possibility of nonspecific or placebo effects
accounting for TFT's results, but fails to support this claim (Callahan and
Callahan 1997). He frequently states that placebo effects cannot be operative
in TFT because some clients express skepticism that the tapping will work
(Hooke 1998a). This argument demonstrates a misunderstanding of the placebo
concept, which does not necessarily require the individual to fully believe
in the practitioner's explanation for why a procedure works (Bootzin 1985;
Dodes 1997). . . . . . .
Since the emergence of TFT, several therapists have recently developed
offshoot therapies based on treating the body's energy fields. The most
successful of these TFT derivatives was developed by Gary Craig. Craig
(1997), who has a degree in engineering and formerly studied under Callahan,
created what he calls Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). EFT is very similar
to TFT, except that it employs one simplified and ubiquitous tapping
procedure instead of applying different algorithms to treat different
problems. . . . .
The objective of a pseudoscience is often persuasion and promotion, in lieu
of responsible investigation of claims (Bunge 1967). Web sites advertise
courses and multilevel training in TFT techniques for thousands of dollars.
The highest level of training in TFT is called Voice Technology (VT), which
supposedly allows the therapist to diagnosis perturbations and treat clients
entirely over the telephone by analyzing their voices. The effectiveness of
VT is said to approach 100 percent (Callahan 1998). Callahan sells this
technique for $ 100,000, and trainees must sign nondisclosure contracts that
forbid them from discussing or revealing any aspects of the technique. . . .
. . . . . thousands of therapists from various professional disciplines
continue to pay for TFT training courses. Much of TFT's marketing success can
be attributed to the prevalence of pro-TFT Web sites that promote strong
claims of its effectiveness. TFT therapists, some of whom have no traditional
training in psychology or psychotherapy, appear to be satisfied with TFT's
vivid anecdotal stories of success, and are not aware of or not bothered by
the overwhelming lack of empirical support for the procedure. Englebretsen
(1995), among others, points to the alarming rise of postmodernist attitudes
currently permeating the mental health field, exemplified by the willingness
of some clinicians to value compelling anecdotal stories over controlled
empirical data. This postmodernist mindset promotes the notion that all truth
is relative and contextual; science is only one of many modes of thinking,
each of which is equally valid. Such attitudes render the mental health field
fertile breeding ground for pseudoscientific therapies such as TFT and its
derivatives. Healthy skepticism competes head-to-head with extraordinary
claims and, as is often the case, many mental health clinicians choose to
ignore the facts in favor of miraculous possibilities. >>
The following website of the Skeptical Inquirer is well worth referring to:
http://www.csicop.org/si/
The following web page also provides links to many sites (right at the end of
this page) that can be invaluable in the realm of the scientific method and
critical thinking: http://24.16.71.95/SPORTSCI/JANUARY/archives2.html
Mel Siff
Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
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