20 Questions: Paul Offit, MD

[owlegrad]

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http://studentdoctor.net/2013/08/20-questions-paul-offit-md/

 

[secants]

TL;DR Qoute:

"But there’s no such thing as alternative medicine. it either works or it doesn’t. If it works, it’s medicine, if it doesn’t, it’s not."

 

[deleted307836]

TL;DR Qoute:

"But there’s no such thing as alternative medicine. it either works or it doesn’t. If it works, it’s medicine, if it doesn’t, it’s not."

This is often repeated on SDN, but is it really that simple? What about meditation - some woud consider that a "complementary/alternative therapy" that can certainly provide tangible benefits. Does that make meditation "medicine," for example?

 

[Lya]

This is often repeated on SDN, but is it really that simple? What about meditation - some woud consider that a "complementary/alternative therapy" that can certainly provide tangible benefits. Does that make meditation "medicine," for example?

He primarily discussed about vaccine, dietary supplements, and alternative medicine. I would perceive meditation more as complementary rather than alternative, I am not sure; however, from the interview, I think he would mostly agree that meditation is not "medicine" when the doctor is trying to treat cancer directly, but it might be "medicine" to certain extent when "tangible benefits" include lowering blood pressure and this is what exactly the patient needs for a long-term goal.

Someone could correct me if I am wrong. At least this was how I understood it from what I've read.

 

[Lee]

Meditation can be medicine when prescribed for a condition such as anxiety disorder. Proven benefit.

Amoxicillin would be alternative medicine if prescribed for anxiety. No proven benefit.

 

[neglect]

Paul Offit is a hero, but I would quibble with the "medicine" "quackery" divide. Chondroitin doesn't work in placebo controlled trials and it is thus bunk, but it makes people feel better through the well established power of placebo (something that is very much Western, very much medicine). It isn't like Amoxicillin for anxiety, which is potentially harmful on an individual and a societal level. What is entirely objectionable is a doctor prescribing meds that don't work.

 

[DrCharlemagne]

This is often repeated on SDN, but is it really that simple? What about meditation - some woud consider that a "complementary/alternative therapy" that can certainly provide tangible benefits. Does that make meditation "medicine," for example?

Meditation and mindfulness training are beneficial when used properly, say for anxiety disorders. It's when CAM practitioners try to argue that meditation confers other benefits in the absence of "Western" (read: efficacious) medicine that the problem becomes manifest. There's a bog of literature out there suggesting positive attitudes improve cancer survival rates, and meditation is conscripted as a potential modality to improve mental wellbeing. However, a closer read of the literature reveals that beyond potentially improving adherence to the medication protocol and improving "soft" quality of life measures in the short term, positive affect does not improve cancer survival times overall. Thus meditation should not be recommended to extend lifespans in the terminally ill, but that doesn't stop CAM practitioners from aggressively promoting their modalities in the service of extending life in cancer patients.