It therefore represented a significant advance in medical practice. Since then conventional medicine has improved beyond recognition, while homeopathy is still equivalent to doing nothing. 12, no. 1, Fall 1987, pp. A belief that the essential oils of various flowers have therapeutic effects. After all, if people do it and feel better then that is a real effect, whether it occurred because of suggestion or because the flowers contain a powerful psychoactive drug.
Reflexology is an alternative therapy based on massage of the feet.
The idea is that parts of the body can be mapped onto areas of the feet. Iridology is a remarkably similar notion. Diseases are detected and diagnosed by examining the iris of the eye. It does not appear that the effect can be explained simply by pain caused by the needles. However it is possible to achieve similar effects by suggestion alone, suggesting that acupuncture is no more than a placebo.