BMJ 2003;326:881 ( 19 April )

Letters

Spirituality and clinical care

    Placebo or not---we may never know
    Spiritual care based primarily on happiness is dangerous
    Spirituality is not everyone's cup of tea for treating addiction

Placebo or not---we may never know

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---I agree with Culliford that knowing your patients better makes for a better therapeutic relationship.1 Often---for example, in terminal care or when physical measures do not have an impact on any disease---being able to relate in "wider" terms can increase the potential for healing. But I disagree with Culliford on the question of methodology.

Most religions and other arenas of spirituality use ritualised gestures, incantations, prayers, symbolism, and rites. Unless you believe that these processes have effects through a perceived extracorporeal being, power, or energy, the effect is presumed to come from within patients themselves. But the placebo effect is inherently based on its own camouflage. Once you know you're taking placebo then the magic is lost.

The entire effect is dependent on your "faith" in the procedure. Although I might deliberately use the placebo effect in my pharmacological treatment of patients, is it not an . . . [Full text of this article]
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Spirituality and clinical care
Larry Culliford
BMJ 2002 325: 1434-1435. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

'Spirituality' a euphemism.
Anne Shaw
bmj.com, 26 Apr 2003 [Full text]
Humility: a risk factor in clinical care?
Richard G Fiddian-Green
bmj.com, 9 Aug 2004 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ