Magic or Medicine?: An Exploration of the World of Healing

by Robert Buckman, Karl Sabbagh

Modern medicine is one of the most successful branches of science, with a distinguished history of conquering many of the twentieth century's deadliest diseases. Yet today people are turning in record numbers to alternative therapies that have little or no scientific basis. What accounts for this flight from reason in the face of hard evidence that medical doctors do a better job of treating disease and alleviating suffering than their alternative counterparts?In Magic or Medicine? Dr. Robert Buckman and Karl Sabbagh offer a response to this question by critically evaluating both alternative and conventional medical approaches to patient care. The authors argue that healing has always been partly the science of clinical treatment (medicine) and partly an art (magic). Medicine may make the patient get well, but often it is magic that makes the patient feel well.With all the pressures under which they work, modern medical doctors often neglect the magic in their dealings with patients. Alternative therapists, however, frequently offer nothing but magic. Buckman and Sabbagh look closely at the claims made for both medical science and alternative treatments and discover a gap between the promises and the reality of each approach.Magic or Medicine? is vital reading for anyone conerned about the effective delivery of healthcare.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Mary Karpel-Jergic · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting discussion about alternative/complementary medicine and orthodox/traditional medicine. Written by the late medical doctor Rob Buckman it is a fairly even handed account of the merits of alternative treatments albeit that they do not have a tremendous amount of evidence to back them up. It does put things into perspective and helps to understand the confusing plethora of alternate options.

It is clear that alternative therapists give patients a greater sense of personal significance which assuages the loss of personhood that illness often creates. It is also very clear that there is a link between mind and body in the discussion about placebos. However, the extent of the threat of random illness is often met with the immense power of our ability to believe. This power to believe can warp our ability to understand and accept facts and makes us susceptible to exploitation.