1.1.2 SEE-I Model

State

There are no homeopathic remedies that have documented and proven medical effects because homeopathy is a pseudoscience and not a legitimate medical practice.  

Elaborate

Homeopathy is a therapy based on two principles – the Law of Similars and the Law of Minimum Dose. This means that homeopaths believe that a very minuscule dose of the substance that causes a person’s symptoms will in fact be the cure for that very same illness. However, other than the fact that the non sequitur logical fallacy comes into play with the Law of Similars, another key flaw in this argument is that the dosage of homeopathic remedies is “so diluted as to be indistinguishable from pure water.” In other words, homeopathy uses the placebo effect to create the illusion that it is effective, but in reality, there is no basis for this approach to medicine.

The only documented instances of success with homeopathy consist of isolated, unconvincing testimonies with little to no scientific explanation for the reported success. Homeopathy is not medicine, but rather a therapy based on coincidental results alone. Real, effective medicine works in the form of antibiotics with the knowledge that the body cannot always heal itself (as homeopaths believe). Antibiotics fight bacterial infections in the body by “attacking the wall or coating surrounding bacteria” and “blocking protein production in bacteria,” while vaccines use antigens to imitate an infection and essentially train the body how to fight it. Homeopathy, on the other hand, does not share any of these principles.

• Medical Lens: An example of homeopathic treatment with allegedly successful results was found in a long-term study published by BMC Public Health. Between 1977 and 1999, nearly 4000 people were recruited for a study in which their severity of pain and quality of life were measured before and after 8 years of homeopathic treatment for conditions like allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis. In 2006, a total of 2,722 patients responded to the study with a perceived decrease in pain and an increase in quality of life. There is a major logical problem with this study: severity of pain and quality of life are both incapable of truly being measured. They are subjective, they can change every day, and they vary from person to person and illness to illness. Asking participants to grade their own pain and quality of life with no means of accurate or consistent measurements is not a valid method of study.

• Psychological Lens: As in Kolbert’s article “Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds,” our brains are trained to believe what we are told. If people are told that homeopathy is supposed to make them feel better, they are most likely going to believe that they feel better regardless of whether or not their health status has even changed. This placebo effect is the largest contributor to alleged documented medical effects of homeopathy, and there is no scientific backing to reports of medical success with homeopathy outside of the placebo effect, meaning that the only true curing homeopathy does is completely psychological.

• Ethical Lens: Since homeopathy can reasonably be categorized as an alternative medicine with no biochemical and physiological effects, this means that when a person buys homeopathic treatments, thinking they are saving money, choosing a safer treatment, and/or making an autonomous decision outside of the mainstream medical world, then on the first two points they have been greatly deceived. On the third point, the biggest ethical issue is that if a patient chooses alternative medicine as a means of feeling independent in their decision, they risk their health if their condition requires effective treatment.

Illustrate

In terms of the aforementioned study, picture this: a child falls off a bike and scrapes her knee. You ask how she feels, and she responds poutingly that she doesn’t feel good at all. Then you give them a candy bar and once again ask how they feel a little while later. Suddenly, both their day and their pain have drastically improved because of your candy bar. Is it now a reasonable hypothesis to say that candy bars can cure skin abrasions? Of course not. This is an example of the placebo effect, which allows the mind to determine how the body feels. This is what causes the so-called “success stories” of homeopathic treatment rather than legitimate data. Sugar does not have the same effect that Neosporin, a Band-Aid, and a little bit of time have on a knee scrape, although the results may be perceived as the same. That is why homeopathy is a pseudoscience.