THE ETHICS OF NEW AGE MEDICINE
Patients who face serious illnesses sometimes are attract- ed to alternative medicines, also referred to as “holistic” or “new-age” medicines. These may include treatments such as homeopathy, hypnosis, “energy therapies” like Reiki, acu- puncture, and herbal remedies, to name a few.
These approaches raise various medical and ethical con- cerns. An important 1998 article in the New England Journal of Medicine sums it up this way:
“What most sets alternative medicine apart, in our view, is that it has not been scientifically tested and its advocates largely deny the need for such testing. By testing, we mean the marshaling of rigorous evidence of safety and efficacy, as required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the approval of drugs and by the best peer-reviewed medical journals for the publication of research reports.”
Beyond the fact that their clinical efficacy has not earned a passing grade using ordinary methods of scientific investi- gation, the basic premise behind some alternative medicines also can be highly suspect, raising concerns about supersti- tious viewpoints or misguided forms of spirituality motivat- ing certain therapies.
If we consider acupuncture, this technique appears to pro- vide benefit in certain cases of pain control. Yet similar re- sults have been reported using “sham” needles — tapping the skin in random places with a thin metal tube. Brain scans have demonstrated that treatment with genuine needles, as opposed to the sham needles, causes detectable changes in the brain. But when researchers ignored acupuncturists’ rec- ommended “meridian placement” of needles, and instead did random placement in the skin, the same brain effects were observed. Hence, it is unclear whether the results seen from acupuncture arise mostly from the well-known “placebo ef- fect.” Further research should help resolve this question.
Even if the observed effects are not placebo-related, acu- puncture’s non-rational justification for its purported effec- tiveness remains a concern. It is based on energy principles that neither science nor faith affirm. Dr. Glenn Braunstein described it critically in the following way:
“Ch’i, the invisible nutritive energy that flows from the uni- verse into the body at any one of 500 acupuncture points, is conducted through the 12 main meridians (channels) in (ideally) an unbroken circle. Meridians conduct either Yin energy (from the sun) or Yang energy (from the earth). All maladies are caused by disharmony or disturbances in the flow of energy.”
Clearly, then, some alternative therapies, beyond the basic is- sue about whether they work, raise serious spiritual concerns.
Another new-age therapy known as Reiki, developed in Ja- pan in the late 1800s, claims that sickness can be caused by a disruption or imbalance in a patient’s “Reiki” or “life energy.”
Reiki practitioners try to heal a patient by placing their hands in certain positions on the body in order to facilitate the flow of Reiki from the practitioner to the patient.
A 2009 docuмent from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says, “In terms of caring for one’s spiritual health, there are important dangers” that can arise by turning to Reiki. The docuмent notes that because Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evi- dence, it would be inappropriate for Catholics to put their trust in the method, because to do so would be to operate “in the realm of superstition, the no-man’s-land that is nei- ther faith nor science.”
Scientific investigations of another new-age therapy, the popular herbal remedy known as echinacea (taken early to ward off a cold) have revealed no difference between echina- cea and a placebo in controlled studies involving several hun- dred subjects. While some herbal remedies may be harmless, inert placebos, others may have more serious health conse- quences if ingested above certain dosages due to ingredients of unknown potency derived from natural substances.
Sometimes a remedy can be borrowed from Chinese, In- dian, or other medical traditions, but it should be chosen for its efficacy, safety, and reasonable mode of action, and not be in conflict with principles of sound medical science or Christian teaching.
Health improvements that arise from alternative remedies may be due not only to the placebo effect, but also to the fact that patients usually are given more time, attention, and focused concern by alternative practitioners than by tradi- tional physicians. This can translate into modified habits and changed lifestyles, leading to various health benefits.
Modern medicine can be legitimately faulted for downplay- ing this dimension, so that, in the memorable words of pedia- trician Jay Perman, “Doctors tend to end up trained in silos of specialization,” in which they are taught “to make a diagnosis, prescribe a therapy, and we’re done. But we’re not done.”
The famous Greek physician Hippocrates once noted the same point: “It is more important to know what sort of per- son has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.” Today’s physicians in training, fortunately, are seeking to incorporate more and more of these “patient-centric” and “holistic” aspects into their own traditional medical practices to improve patient care and outcomes.
Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD, earned his doctorate
in neuroscience from Yale and did postdoctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, Massa- chusetts, and serves as director of education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcen- ter.org.

Just avoid any guy who's into Chinese religion and is doing incantations.  As per the CMF article above, the practice itself is not an occult ritual, but there might be some who try to blend that in, and you need to avoid those.

Classic! 
You know, there are actually people who practice what is called (in some dark circles) Sex Magik.  Maybe that means no one -- even the lawfully married -- should have marital relations ever again?  
In all seriousness, human beings have an incredible capacity to misuse/abuse anything and everything.  That some, many, or even all misuse or abuse an indifferent or good thing does not change reality one bit.

I am not a fan of the way this αnσnymσus section works.  Eventually, I will get used to it but this is the second post today where I accidentally posted without checking the silly box.  Maybe the default should be visibility and anonymity should require checking the box?

Happens to me all the time.  Problem is that you can't edit the post and change that sɛƖɛctıon.  I understand it being off by default; otherwise, you could accidentally post something non-αnσnymσusly.  But it should be able to be changed on a subsequent edit.

Bigger problem is abuse of the Anonymous Forum.  People post stuff here all the time that has no reason to be here.