Evaluating complementary medicine: methodological challenges of randomised controlled trials

Therapists who attempt to treat patients who “feel tired”, “lack
energy” and are “unhappy” when no physical cause can be found for their
conditions are practicing psychology, not medicine. I think that
discipline has been trying for quite a long time now to find ways to
evaluate and develop effective treatments for those and similar problems
although I’m not aware of their having succeeded.

Your article states that “for homeopathy and herbalism - the
traditional blinded randomised controlled trial is appropriate.” I agree
with that. However, since alternative practitioners prescribe all kinds of
herbal and homeopathic remedies for which there are no studies showing
safety or efficacy as well as remedies for which there are good studies
showing lack of one or both, I have to conclude that such practitioners do
not value the type of objective evidence afforded by scientific studies.
If they did, they would conduct them themselves before they prescribed
treatments and not expect others to do it for them after the fact.

Rosemary Jacobs