While science and medicine forge ahead and evolve, as they should, it's important to reevaluate and reconstruct how we approach the practice of it, based on what we have learned. Unfortunately, it means moving mountains in the current paradigm. The salient point in the article is this: Hróbjartsson and Kaptchuk were united on at least one front: they agree that the medical system needs to change.
The misconception in the story is centered around the critics' idea of 'magical thinking?' That discredits the concept from the onset. Powerful thinking (as the title and topic suggested) seems like a more humanistic term. It reminds me of the book, The Wisdom of the Body, which gives credence to the notion, 'mind over matter.' In the book, the experiences demonstrated that the human spirit can and does have a profound effect on the survival of cancer patients.
How many times has this been disclosed in a drug description: Mechanism of action unknown? It seems that science and the spirit may have collided, and as much as science wants to reign, it will have to share the title, and the blame.
