Discussion from the Delhi Freethinkers group, moved here.
Ankush Mittal
It's all in the mind!
James Randi explains homeopathy
http://www.youtube.com
If you believe that homeopathic medicine can treat ailments better than medicine that has been scientifically proven to work, you are acting irrational. In t...
15 hours ago · Like · · Unsubscribe
Aditya Manthramurthy and Kunal More like this.
Ankush Mittal Advantages: Homeopathy has no side effects
Disadvantages: It has no effect at all.
Except on the bank balance!
15 hours ago · Like
Naveen Niverthy haha good comment ankush :-)
15 hours ago · Like
Ankush Mittal

I actually quited Randi, not word to word off course. Also, Homeopathy Sleeping Pills have Caffiene in it! Go figure!
15 hours ago · Like
Rajesh Kher Homeopathy is Placebo. But we know placebo works fairly effectively. The difference is that we must study the range in which it is safe and effective. Dont forget even pharma cos. use it in terms of names,color and size
14 hours ago · Like · 1 person
Ajita Kamal The placebo effect is often misunderstood. It cannot be used as a justification of homeopathy. Many people seem to think that the placebo effect constitutes a benefit as far as treatment of the disease/disorder. This is not true. All that the placebo effect does is, in some cases, improve the patient's perception of their suffering, thus making them feel better.
Here is Steven Novella, Yale medical researcher, blogger at Science based medicine, and host of the skeptics guide to the universe podcast:
"A common belief is that the placebo effect is largely a “mind-over-matter effect,” but this is a misconception. There is no compelling evidence that the mind can create healing simply through will or belief. However, mood and belief can have a significant effect on the subjective perception of pain. There is no method to directly measure pain as a phenomenon, and studies of pain are dependent upon the subjective report of subjects. There is therefore a large potential for perception and reporting bias in pain trials. But there are biological mechanisms by which mental processes can affect pain. There are many non-specific factors that can biochemically suppress pain. For example, increased physical activity can release endorphins that naturally inhibit pain. For these reasons the placebo effect for pain is typically high, around 30%.
But the more concrete and physiological the outcome, the smaller the placebo effect. Survival from serious forms of cancer, for example, has no demonstrable placebo effect. There is a “clinical trial effect,” as described above – being a subject in a trial tends to improve care and compliance, but no placebo effect beyond that. There is no compelling evidence that mood or thought alone can help fight off cancer or any similar disease."
Read more here:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=24
and here:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=4304
And Ankush, it is technically correct that homeopathic "medicines" have no side effects, but the practice of homeopathy is very harmful to individuals and society as a whole. Here are a small sample of reasons why:
http://whatstheharm.net/homeopathy.html
9 hours ago · Like
Ankush Mittal Ajita, yes I agree with everything you mentioned, and I didn't want to elaborate, but I agree it has side effects on society as a whole. I was just quoting Randi.
9 hours ago · Like
Ajita Kamal Yes, Ankush. I also agreed with what you said in your comment. I only pointed out what you didn't say- the harms, because you didn't mention them under disadvantages! I don't think the fact that homeopathy doesn't work is the biggest disadvantage of homeopathy. The biggest problem is that so many people believe that it works, and our government actively promotes it and India has the largest network of homeopathy institutions and practitioners in the world.
9 hours ago · Like
Ajita Kamal Also, fyi, we have discussed this subject a little on our forums:
http://nirmukta.net/Thread-How-can-we-go...Homeopathy
9 hours ago · Like
Rajesh Kher Ajita you cannot use placebo effect as justification for Homeopathy, but it cannot wish away "Placebo Effect" and its efficacy. Homeopathy and other so called alternative medicine are nothing but subset within Placebo universal. Remember our evolutionary past has given us the ability to deal extraordinary diseases using tissue repairs and immune response. Sometimes placebo offered in a specific context can trigger body response and repairs can take place.Just like a GP we have to understand the limits of Placebo and modern medicine and provide the patient the needed specialized scientific care.
14 minutes ago · Like
Rajesh Kher See Dawkins interview with Prof. Nicholas Humphrey and article on Placebo
3 minutes ago · Like
Ajita Kamal "Remember our evolutionary past has given us the ability to deal extraordinary diseases using tissue repairs and immune response. Sometimes placebo offered in a specific context can trigger body response and repairs can take place.
Mr Kher. I am aware very well about how the immune response works, and have even done research on it, its not related to the placebo effect in any way. Until a year ago my idea about the placebo effect was similar to yours. I am still a supporter of using the placebo effect in proper ways to alleviate the subjective perception of pain. But as mentioned in my comment, my position on this is informed by the scientific consensus. Please note what Dr. Novella has said on this and what the scientific consensus is. The placebo effect cannot cure diseases of the body. It is only a subjective effect.
But that is no reason why this conversation should not continue. But as we have agreed, in order to prevent such conversations on contentious issues from interfering with the tone and atmosphere of the group, I am removing this conversation and reposting on our forums. Ankush and Siddharth are with me on keeping this group to less debate-oriented discussions.
about a minute ago · Like
Ajita Kamal Dawkins is not a medical doctor. Dr. Novella is an authority on this subject amongst the skeptical community.
a few seconds ago · Like