DO YOU know what they call alternative medicine that鈥檚 been proved to work? Medicine. So says Tim Minchin in his poem 鈥淪torm鈥�, in which he makes the case for evidence-led treatment.
We have a long history of therapies that first seemed bananas, only to be proved marvellous medicine. In the 1980s, two Australian scientists showed that stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria, not stress. As a result, simple antibiotics could treat a problem once considered incurable. But the medical establishment took some persuading.
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The pair won a Nobel prize, for having the 鈥渢enacity to challenge the prevailing dogma鈥�. Tenacity is just what is needed now, in identifying the place of hypnosis in mainstream medicine (see 鈥�What hypnosis does to your brain, and how it can improve your health鈥�).
People are right to be sceptical, given its fantastical origins, but evidence is accumulating that hypnosis has real promise as a medical therapy 鈥� helping doctors perform surgery with fewer side effects and at lower cost, minimising chronic pain, improving weight loss techniques and potentially aiding an international addiction crisis.
But no establishment should accept any alternative medicine until we have solid evidence of what works, and what doesn鈥檛. Tenacity only gets you so far. We also need investment and rigorous studies. When it comes to hypnosis, these are still in short supply.
鈥淭he jury may be in on therapies like homeopathy, but that shouldn鈥檛 stop us exploring other unusual treatments鈥�
For instance, despite its popularity as a means to quit smoking, a recent review found no good evidence that hypnosis helps. But this doesn鈥檛 mean it doesn鈥檛, says Jamie Hartmann-Boyce at the University of Oxford, because relevant research has been so poorly designed it makes it impossible to say for sure either way. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such an important issue that we need鈥� bigger, better trials,鈥� she says.
Hypnosis may be hard to define and difficult to study, but the pay-offs could be huge. With suggestions that it can potentially reduce reliance on opioids, drugs which kill 130 people in the US every day due to overdose, surely it is worth taking seriously.
The jury is in on alternative remedies like homeopathy, but that shouldn鈥檛 stop us from exploring other unusual treatments 鈥� you never know, it might just lead to a Nobel prize.
