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Psychosomatic ethics
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by Taleniekov
on 2007-12-03 22:28:53
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Is it ethical to 'treat' patients with a placebo? Also, how much of the psychosomatic response is physical, and how much is 'mind over matter'?
Headshot(TM)
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Re: Psychosomatic ethics
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by
on 2007-12-04 11:08:56 |
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If the placebo helps the patient, it would seem fine to me. On the other hand, if the patient is likely to find out, and be angry of loose trust in you, then maybe it's not such a good idea. Also, if you publish your placebo treatment under false pretenses in a medical journal, then you've committed scientific fraud, which I say ought to be punishable by death. In short, placebo is a viable treatment method, but risky, and should only be implemented if it's critical to the patient. A psychosomatic disorder is a disorder of the body caused by unhealthy psychological processes. For example, being stressed out can lower your immune system and lead to increased likelihood of illness. The question of "how much" of the psychosomatic response is physical is not a good question and has no good answer. The question "what is the most radical way in which the brain effects our overall health?" is a better question, but still ambiguous. If I decide it would be a good idea to jump out a plane without a parachute, you might say I have a psychological disorder. This psychological disorder lead me to engage in poor reasoning, and poor decision making, resulting in death. Nobody would call this a psychosomatic disorder, though, because it was my BEHAVIOR that resulted in injury. One trait of psychosomatic disorders is that they effect the body INDEPENDENT of OUTWARDLY VISIBLE BEHAVIOR. The distinction of "outwardly visible behavior" is due to the presence of the human social perspective. We see a person's skeletal muscular movements as being the result of their "choices" with the exception of "reflexes". We DON'T see the chemicals released as a person's anxiety level raises, for example. It is my opinion that our internal thought processes are as much BEHAVIOR as our skeletal muscle movements, if not MORE so! My opinion is that the psychosomatic response is a made up term, and when you begin to ask serious questions about it, the term becomes less useful. The bodily effects of stress are enormous. The bodily effects of irrational thought are even more enormous, because they effect our everyday life choices. The bodily effects of psychological or other brain trauma can paralyze a person. That's not to say a stern talking to won't get your kid out of bed in the morning. 
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Re: Psychosomatic ethics
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by
on 2007-12-05 13:11:58 (edited 2007-12-05 13:13:12)
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Placebos are in effect magic candy, they are whatever you believe them to be. If a doctor handed you a placebo and said your disease will go away, you may believe that, take the pills, feel better for a while because you're not worrying about it but really does nothing to help. So no I don't think it is ethical to use placebos as viable treatment. However in testing, you need a control so I understand that point of view. More to the point, do you realize how many drugs out there probably are little more than placebos. Many, but not all, diet pills are legit, but some do exactly what the others say mainly because the "patient" followed directions and took the pills along with a healthy exercise program. So my point is that whether I think they are ethical or not, doctors will prescribe them, drug companies will make them, and the average joe will take one. Placebos provide the one thing that many people crave more than anything, hope.
Just a small town nerd, living in a teched out world, took the world wide web going a...ny...where.
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Re: Psychosomatic ethics
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by
on 2007-12-23 00:59:06 |
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so psychosomatic disorder is a kind of illness, isn't it? is there any thing to cure this?  visit aolas.soup.io for your usual dose of seiyuu pics |