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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Dear All, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial> I want to remind folks about the
presence of at least a thousand claims by alternative healing proponents about
different nutrients and other programs. It is convenient to assume the paranoid
stance that big drug companies are suppressing the truth, but we should note
that long before big pharma this cultural trend has been prevalent. Even granted
that 50 of the 1000 might be absolutely true and would represent
fundamental revolutions in not just treatment, but also in the understanding of
disease, we would still have the problem of assessing which 50 out of the
thousand those valid approaches were.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial> This requires the
hard work of science, of asking, "but is it so?" and being aware of the many
rhetorical devices, logical pitfalls, and other errors that ordinary scientists
have to wrestle with. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial> Could it be that
many claims have been tested and re-tested and not found valid, such as the
aforementioned "ortho-molecular" psychiatry approach?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial> It is also true that
even after repeated tests and evaluations by panels truly trying to be
impartial, such as those evaluating the idea that autism is caused by
immunization, and finding no connection, that a significant portion of
parents---perhaps a fourth---continue to believe it does. Ditto a certain
percentage of people who continue to believe that President Obama is not really
an Americn by birth. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial> So the recent exchange
about alternative healing approaches and diet, while peripheral to our common
interest, nevertheless is useful in reminding us that many psychotherapists view
psychodrama as a similarly unproven methodology and that the research basis for
our work could use further support. All fields have occasions to be reminded to
resist the lure of short-cuts and the challenge of critical thinking.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial> Warmly,
Adam</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>