Holistic Feathers

Book Review: Suckers – how alternative medicine makes fools of us all

“… “Suckers” reveals how alternative medicine can jeopardise the health of those it claims to treat, leaches resources from treatments of proven efficacy and is largely unaccountable and unregulated. In short, it is an industry that preys on human vulnerability and makes fools of us all. “Suckers” is a calling to account of a social and intellectual fraud; a bracing, funny and popular take on a global delusion.”

So says the write-up on Amazon.co.uk for Rose Shapiro’s “expose” on CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) and as soon as I spied this in my local library, it was a foregone conclusion I would have to read it.

Not for me the willing “blindness” which takes hold of some, keen to try out the latest therapies on the say-so of some fantastic marketing; as a natural beauty therapist, having trained originally as a holistic massage therapist, for me it is really important that I can experience the benefits of treatments that I offer, so that I can truly – hands on heart – give a brutally honest opinion.

The consumer’s sense of responsibility of Self seems to have dwindled over the past few years and yes, I too have trotted along to an “alternative” practitioner and hoped they would offer a magic prescription of some kind to banish my aches and pains, achieving miracles that my doctor has not been able to produce. So I celebrate what some would consider as a ‘character assassination’ of a broad spectrum of CAM treatments and therapies, as to my mind anything that gets us – as individuals – thinking and making rational decisions on all the knowledge we can find, has to be a good thing.

It has to be said that a fair proportion of Rose’s points left me reading with eyebrows raised … yet it also highlighted just how dangerous some therapies are. On page 148, I cried while reading how vulnerable patients had DIED from ‘chiropractic strokes’ after visiting chiropractors for what seems, in the scheme of things, relatively minor complaints.

Relatively few CAM treatments escape unscathed: acupuncture, TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), Chinese herbal medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, homeopathy, colour therapy, Vega testing, kinesiology and chiropractors are of notable mention. I really have no desire to give away the secrets of this book but do get hold of a copy and enjoy the read; it will either confirm to you that CAM is a load of rubbish or have you spitting feathers over how facts have been portrayed in relation to your preferred CAM treatment or health issue!

If you are really into expanding your mind and feel on shaky ground while considering how effective CAM treatments are in practice, then we highly recommend Dr Candace Pert’s “Molecules of Emotion”:

For more comments on Rose Shapiro’s “Suckers” book then you may be interested in this article from The Times:  Suckers

Happy reading and do let us know what you thought of Suckers, too!