The American College of Orgonomy
Press Release
December 2008
Drugs and Placebos vs. Real Change
USA Today recently reported on a study published in the October American Medical Association journal. The study indicates that up to half of all US doctors regularly prescribe placebos in lieu of real medicines to their patients, and they do this at least once a month.
Even more striking is the report that, as doctors find it difficult to obtain sugar pills as placebos, they sometimes prescribe actual drugs like sedatives or antibiotics to use as 'harmless' pills. No one knows the side effects of using the drugs vs. actual placebos.
Why use fake drugs at all? Well, for one thing, they often work. The Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that placebos treated depression about as effectively as the antidepressant drug paroxetine (Paxil). Think about this: "Current Allergy Asthma Reports" claims that the placebo effect is the largest component of allergy treatments (May 2007).
The fascinating -- and troubling -- thing is that we have a medical industry built upon bedrock of prescribing drugs. We treat patients with pills designed to improve health, and to an extent not fully known (many studies indicate that it is greater than 50%) their effect is purely through psychological means. As noted in the AMA report, medical treatment with placebos is admittedly hit-or-miss, administered by doctors who believe they have no alternative to helping their patients.
The American College of Orgonomy supports a unique treatment approach that reduces, and often eventually eliminates, the use of drugs. Instead of relying on medications and solely only verbal interchange, it effectively treats emotionally based problems with a mind-body treatment. This method was developed by Wilhelm Reich, M.D. and Elsworth F. Baker, M.D., and later by other medical orgonomists.
Writing prescriptions that can only hope to relieve symptoms, and never move one toward a true cure, is an easy way to go. It has obvious benefits to the medical industry, but is a done with great cost to the suffering patient. Even when the doctor is fully aware that drugs will not help the patient, his recourse may be to prescribe placebos, out of lack of knowledge that there are other means of treatment.
Learn more about a drug-free therapy and the treatment theory behind the approach at the ACO's web site and in the scientific journal, The Journal of Orgonomy.
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This press release is created by The American College of Orgonomy (ACO), located near Princeton, New Jersey. The ACO is a nonprofit education and scientific organization devoted to setting and maintaining standards for work in the field of orgonomy. The ACO provides information, training, and research support for those interested and involved in orgonomy. This press release is meant to inform those who may have an interest in the science of orgonomy and the activities of the ACO. The ACO is not affiliated with any website, newsgroup, bulletin board, network, service, or other media that may be reproducing this release. The ACO does not endorse any information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, or other materials transmitted, posted, published, distributed, or otherwise disseminated on any media other than the ACO's website at www.orgonomy.org. Please contact www.orgonomy.org for information
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