Goldacre - Bad Science Chapters

Homeopathy Overview

Homeopathy is a controversial alternative therapy that emerged in the late 18th century.
Developed by Samuel Hahnemann, homeopathy operates on principles that lack scientific proof.

At the time of its inception, mainstream medicine employed ineffective practices such as blood-letting and purging.
Hahnemann proposed that symptoms of diseases could be treated by administering substances that induce similar symptoms in healthy individuals.
Example: Hahnemann used Cinchona bark to create a remedy for malaria by experiencing its effects himself.

Like Cures Like: Hahnemann believed that substances causing symptoms in healthy individuals can treat similar symptoms in sick individuals.
Dilution and Potentization: Homeopathy involves creating remedies through extreme dilutions, often resulting in no molecules of the original substance remaining in the dose.
- Common dilution used is 30C, which equates to one part of the original substance in a solution that has been diluted 1:100, 30 times (1 in 1 million million million million).
Succussion: The process of shaking the solution after each dilution, believed to enhance the remedy’s efficacy.

Homeopathic remedies have been shown to perform no better than placebo in clinical trials.
Studies have indicated that people often attribute improvement in their condition to homeopathy rather than considering natural recovery or placebo effects.

Homeopathy supports its claims using anecdotal evidence and flawed studies.
Proper clinical trials involve randomization and blinding to ensure accurate results.
Despite methodological flaws in homeopathy trials, proponents continue to cite them as valid evidence.
Findings often depend on the design and execution of the studies; well-designed studies tend to show homeopathy's ineffectiveness.

The placebo effect is a potent phenomenon wherein patients perceive improvement in symptoms due to believing in the treatment's effectiveness.
Factors affecting the placebo effect include consultation experiences, treatment expectations, and the nature of the interaction with the healthcare provider.

Homeopaths often argue that the specificity of their remedies works, despite negative predictive evidence.
Claims such as ‘water has memory’ have been debunked through physics, where patterns formed in water do not persist after naming molecules are removed.

Cognitive biases lead individuals to cling to beliefs despite contradictory evidence; this is common among proponents of alternative therapies.
Homeopathic claims often thrive in environments devoid of rigorous scientific evaluation, perpetuated by social influences and community reinforcement.

More rigorous studies should focus on the holistic therapeutic environment while evaluating outcomes beyond the efficacy of the pills alone.
Public funding could facilitate the execution of pragmatic trials comparing homeopathy with standard medicine.
An increase in systematic research will be crucial in understanding the true impact of homeopathic practices on patients.