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One wonders about possible connections between two stories in the July 17 issue of Psychiatric News-the front page account of APA's efforts to retain and recruit members and the report of a panel on homeopathy as an "adjunct" to "traditional" psychiatric treatment (page 13). Can it be that, in an effort to be all things to all people, APA is on the way to abandoning the profession's "traditional" commitment to its scientific base?
Surely there needs to be no further demonstration of the manifestly unscientific nature of homeopathy and the irrationality of its theoretical foundations. Psychiatry, like the rest of medicine, is no stranger to placebo "cures" and to the efficacy of strongly-held belief systems in relieving all sorts of distress. Are we now to legitimize the laying on of hands, the King's touch, and the exorcism of evil spirits? How ecumenical (or is the proper term "holistic"?) are we going to get in our effort to embrace the wide range of "alternative" medicine so that we can "retain" and "recruit" members? APA has no business jumping on the bandwagon of pseudoscience, however fashionable it may be nowadays.
Aaron H. Esman, M.D.
New York, N.Y.