More Harm Than Good

This book reveals the numerous ways in which moral, ethical and legal principles are being violated by those who provide, recommend or sell ‘complementary and alternative medicine’ (CAM). The book analyses both academic literature and internet sources that promote CAM. Additionally the book presents a number of brief scenarios, both hypothetical and real-life, about individuals who use CAM or who fall prey to ethically dubious CAM practitioners. The events and conundrums described in these scenarios could happen to almost anyone. Professor emeritus of complementary medicine Edzard Ernst together with bioethicist Kevin Smith provide a thorough and authoritative ethical analysis of a range of CAM modalities, including acupuncture, chiropractic, herbalism, and homeopathy. This book could and should interest all medical professionals who have contact to complementary medicine and will be an invaluable reference for patients deliberating which course of treatment to adopt.

In More Harm Than Good, Carter, Boyd and MacPherson take a critical look at the current state of Canadian drug policy and raise key questions about the effects of Canada’s increasing involvement in and commitment to the “war on drugs.” A primer on Canadian drug policy, the analysis in More Harm Than Good is shaped by critical sociology and feminist perspectives on drugs and incorporates insights not only from individuals who are on the front lines of drug policy in Canada — treatment and service workers — but also from those who live with the consequences of that policy on a daily basis — people who use criminalized drugs. Finally, the authors propose realistic alternatives to today’s failed policy approach. “Your book really expanded thinking and understanding and had a big influence on students critical and reflective thought. Readings sparked rich conversations about their own hopes and wishes for the field, broader social and political responses and the impact on youth and families affected by substances.” - Stephanie McCune, University of Victoria Please note: an error occurred with the printing of this book, and one of the sidebars was not printed. It is available to download here. We sincerely apologize for this oversight.

Are the world’s major spiritual traditions sources of greater discord than harmony? Or are conflicts widely blamed on faith differences fundamentally social and political? In this succinct but richly reflective book, Rupert Shortt offers even-handed guidance on one of the most disputed questions of our time. Among much else he sheds light on the contrast between good and bad religion, and on why the distinction is of urgent relevance in an era increasingly described as post-secular.

Why is psychiatry such big business? Why are so many psychiatric drugs prescribed – 47 million antidepressant prescriptions in the UK alone last year – and why, without solid scientific justification, has the number of mental disorders risen from 106 in 1952 to 374 today?The everyday sufferings and setbacks of life are now ‘medicalised’ into illnesses that require treatment – usually with highly profitable drugs. Psychological therapist James Davies uses his insider knowledge to illustrate for a general readership how psychiatry has put riches and medical status above patients’ well-being. The charge sheet is damning: negative drug trials routinely buried; antidepressants that work no better than placebos; research regularly manipulated to produce positive results; doctors, seduced by huge pharmaceutical rewards, creating more disorders and prescribing more pills; and ethical, scientific and treatment flaws unscrupulously concealed by mass-marketing.Cracked reveals for the first time the true human cost of an industry that, in the name of helping others, has actually been helping itself.

Don't mess with a tough guy with time on his hands. Especially if you have secrets to keep. A head injury requires a mandatory health check. That's Naval Intelligence's standard procedure. Covert operative David Trevellyan doesn't like procedure. But he goes along to get along. He agrees to a hospital stay and an MRI. Then someone steals his boots. Mistake. Trevellyan decides to keep himself in the hospital until justice is served. His bosses don't share his priorities, so - in trademark fashion - he takes matters into his own hands. The trap he sets slams shut with ruthless efficiency. But Trevellyan finds he's caught more than a thief. He's stumbled into a complex, multi-layered conspiracy designed to cause incalculable diplomatic damage. For the first time in his career Trevellyan must operate in his home territory. He approaches the task with his customary vigor. But between criminals on one side and regulations on the other, he's more isolated than ever. And as a virtual stranger in his own land, with the body-count rising and his time running out, he's soon facing the soul-searching question: Is he doing MORE HARM THAN GOOD?

A Christian response to the question, 'Does religion do more harm than good?'

Is the treatment we're getting really what we need?

Most people would consider a knife wound to the stomach a serious health risk, but a similar scalpel wound in an operating room is often shrugged off. In Doctors Are More Harmful Than Germs, Dr. Harvey Bigelsen explains how today’s medical doctors overprescribe surgery and ignore its long-term health implications. Any invasive medical procedure, he argues—including colonoscopies and root canals—creates inflammation in the body, leading to serious and long-lasting health problems. Inflammation, according to Dr. Bigelsen, is the real cause of all chronic disease (persistent or long-lasting illness). Noting that Western medicine has yet to “cure” a single chronic disease, Bigelsen points to a new paradigm: one that treats each patient as an individual (rather than as a set of symptoms), avoids further damage to the body through surgery, and looks for the root cause of chronic disease in past damage done to the patient’s body—whether caused by a bad fall or a scalpel. Provocatively written and radical in its approach, Doctors Are More Harmful Than Germs challenges readers to rethink everything they believe about illness and how to treat it.