“Just because you suck doesn’t mean alternative medicine sucks too”
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People on a listserv I’m on kept hating on alternative medicine (specifically reiki), so I wrote a response. I’m tired of having to justify my interests to all my “strictly rational” science friends, so I’m posting this here.
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I’m an ex-pre-med, neuroscience major and I did research at HUP – I know science and I know how to review scientific papers. I also took a grad class at Penn in the bioethics department about Unorthodox Medical Systems. I signed up to learn how to do reiki because I like to use what you’d call “new age” practices as tools of self-exploration: yoga, meditation, etc. They work for me; I physically feel better by practicing them; I’ve gotten to know myself better through these practices. Done.
I also signed up to take a reiki course because I, like many people, have become disillusioned by the current health system. Without dismissing the advancements of modern medicine for treating acute ailments (emergency care, strep throat), there is severe lack of proper treatment for dealing with more subtle chronic illnesses (everyone’s fucking depressed, you’ve got “chronic fatigue syndrome” when doctors really just don’t know what the hell is wrong). Medicine is great, but it’s still in the beginning stages, and there is an insane amount of stuff we don’t know (especially when it comes to the mind – neuroscience is in its infancy) —> most doctors will be the first to admit these things. Leaders in the medical field have begun recognizing the merits of some (not all, but some) key ancient healing systems and many have been incorporated in conventional health care. Acupuncture and chiropractic work are covered in many health insurance plans and while yes, we don’t understand the mechanisms of action behind these practices, doctors regularly prescribe drugs whose mechanism of action is yet to be discovered (speed for ADHD and lithium for BPD). The logic is the same: we use them because they’re scientifically proven to work and they don’t seem to hurt. 100 years ago we didn’t know about DNA – just because we can’t explain something doesn’t mean you have to question its efficacy. Neuroscientists and doctors are now prescribing meditation, a former “hoo-ha” spiritual practice, to alleviate chronic illnesses and alleviate anxiety (see Kabat Zinn and his work on mindfulness meditation, a form of meditation google urges its employees practice in order to enhance productivity (…hm!)). They’ve got MRIs and an overabundance of studies that now justify some healing practices people have been doing for centuries. Also, speaking specifically about reiki: two of the people in my class are nurses because HUP has not only started offering reiki in the hospital, but they also fund two nurses each term to learn how to practice it on patients. I don’t think HUP would be wasting their time and money on a system that was complete “snake medicine”.
The reason you’re not finding any legit studies on reiki is because a) you’re looking at extremely biased “studies” and b) there isn’t a huge amount of funding devoted to reiki since it’s a little-no risk procedures. Experiments are fucking expensive and alternative medicine has just recently gained attention from NIH (ONLY because taxpayers made a fuss about wanting the government to pay attention to it … hm). Many people that practice reiki aren’t personally invested in proving its efficacy to disbelievers – the results they receive speak for themselves. My guess is that in the next five-ten years, we’ll see better studies actually evaluating reiki and other alternative health systems.
There’s a gross new age stigma surrounding alternative medicine because some unintelligent and/or unethical people have abused some healing arts in the past (also the 60s psychedelic aesthetic is totally woof, in my opinion). Just as in any “helping/betterment” industry - political systems, medicine, pharmaceutical companies, non-profits – corruption exists; it’s sad when people are taken advantage of and a field’s credibility is tainted because some people suck. Yes. Now, you’re worried about people getting swindled? The people who actually use alternative health care are actually extremely affluent – it’s not the ‘victimized/ignorant’ lower class (these folks can’t afford it). I read a few studies demonstrating that the largest population of people using alternative health care are actually people with higher level degrees (hm…). It makes sense, though: alternative medicine is sort of a luxury item. Argue that these people have better ways to spend their money, sure, but that’s a different argument within itself. People aren’t getting swindled - they’re making educated decisions to use these health systems (and they continue to use them because they work!). Also, reiki hasn’t been exploited by the capitalist system because anyone can do it. It’s actually really easy to learn (I can show you sometime, if you’d like).
**** I see reiki, meditation, yoga, positive thinking, and prayer all as different means to the same end; they feed your mind and they make you centered and happy. The placebo effect has negative connotations because you don’t want it in your drug trials, but at the end of the day, it is a real thing. It’s proven that positive thinking and mindfulness have incredible healing potential. Many alternative health practices focus on balancing your body to best allow it to heal itself and these practices aim to make you more mindful. In my opinion, you go to a reiki practitioner for the same reason you go to a car mechanic: you don’t have the time to invest to get to know your car or body/mind well enough and you’d rather have a “professional” do the work for you.
Reiki isn’t science and it doesn’t pretend to be. Yes, some “spritualize” it and some may personally believe in chakras or chi, but regardless of its mechanism of action: it works on some level. If people choose to use these healing systems as a form of spirituality, it’s none of your business and it’s arrogant of you to judge them. From a secular perspective, no one is asking you to invest money in your mental health (or implicitly your overall physical wellbeing), and if you don’t need it or can “heal yourself,” absolutely: more power to you. But don’t knock the people who find reiki or any other healing system helpful just because “you know everything” and “science is god”. Barf.
