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Post by tomroberts on Apr 22, 2008 18:17:53 GMT
...you know, the national mental health charity. I was looking at their website on Saturday and came across these "information" pages - ah, just discovered the direct links don't work. The pages I was referring to come under "Information" - "Making Sense of Homeopathy", and " Making Sense of traditional Chinese Medicine" www.mind.org.uk/Information/Factsheets/I have been doing a bit of befriending for MIND for over 7 years, and I am a Trustee for my local association. I was absolutely appalled to read these inaccurate, misleading and dangerous pages. I have sent them 2 emails with pages of references showing that homeopathy is at best placebo, and at worst potentially dangerous. TCM, unregulated, is potentially dangerous too. No replies to my emails yet, but if anyone here feels like giving me a bit of support, PLEASE do. Send your comments to - contact@mind.org.uk A mental health charity promoting homeopathy for people with mental health issues? Am I missing something?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2008 18:46:31 GMT
I will email them.
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 22, 2008 18:50:33 GMT
Thanks.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2008 18:54:30 GMT
Have sent a basic email about what they say and how I feel it is wrong and ended it with "look forwards to hearing from you" - if they dont reply I will chase the email up.
They even go as far as to say that it is undecided if prescribed medicines MAY intefere with homeopathy! That is outragous!
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Post by julia on Apr 22, 2008 23:19:08 GMT
This is utterly ridiculous. I'll e-mail them... My late mother suffered from bipolar disorder and I've been treated for clinical depression several times. Vulnerable and/or desperate people deserve a higher standard of information from the leading mental health charity than this sort of nonsense.
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Post by MoonRiver on Apr 23, 2008 0:31:32 GMT
A mental health charity promoting homeopathy for people with mental health issues? Am I missing something? I looked at the Mind website and I cannot see where they are 'promoting' any particular form of medicine/treatment, be it conventional or otherwise. It would appear to me to be an information site, covering all aspects of mental health treatment/therapies and simply explaining what currently is available. It provides information in order that people may make knowledgeable choices, and frequently advises that a sufferer should consult with their GP. It cannot be expected that ONLY formulary approved medicines are featured, that would be limiting and dangerous. It is one thing to educate and advise but we should acknowledge and accept differing beliefs. Have I missed something?
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Post by hellyp on Apr 23, 2008 9:08:40 GMT
They do include this in the homeopathy one -
I agree with MoonRiver, I think.
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 23, 2008 9:14:07 GMT
They do include this in the homeopathy one - I agree with MoonRiver, I think. I quote from “Trick or Treatment” by Dr Simon Singh and Professor Edzard Ernst, published recently, Page 139 - “It has taken several thousand words to review the history of homeopathy and to survey the various attempts to test its efficacy, but the conclusion is simple: hundreds of trials have failed to deliver significant or convincing evidence to support the use of homeopathy for the treatment of any particular ailment. On the contrary it would be fair to say there is a mountain of evidence to suggest that homeopathic remedies simply do not work. This should not be such a surprising conclusion when we recall that they typically do not contain a single molecule of any active ingredient”. Professor Ernst trained as a homeopath after conventional medical school, and practised in a homeopathic hospital in Munich. Eventually he took a step back and began to look at the research into this form of medicine, and he became increasingly disillusioned.
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 23, 2008 9:24:50 GMT
And what about this complete and utter nonsense, from the MIND page on homeopathy?
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Post by hellyp on Apr 23, 2008 9:28:10 GMT
Yeah I agree that homeopathy is as much use as a chocolate teapot, but I'm just not sure that Mind's fact sheet classes as them advertising homeopathy. Ah well. Perhaps they should change the wording to make it clear that basically it doesn't work.
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 23, 2008 10:09:25 GMT
Well, I have had a reply to the 2 brief comments I made on Saturday evening..................Thanks for your comments on both booklets. We will consider your opinion when we next update our booklets.
So, Hayley and Julia, I expect you will be told something similar. No need to correct inaccurate and misleading information.
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 23, 2008 11:47:40 GMT
Well, I've just sent two long emails to Editors of The Times and Guardian, in case they think it might be worth taking up.
Worth a try....
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Post by Meercat on Apr 23, 2008 11:53:30 GMT
"Homeopathy is a safe, effective system of medicine that uses very diluted natural ingredients to help the body to heal itself and to build up its resistance to illness. It's been used successfully, worldwide, for about two hundred years." (my bold)
Would seem a little misleading to me...
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Post by lilith on Apr 23, 2008 12:12:58 GMT
Because mental health services in Britain are so over-stretched, MIND playes a vital role in education and treatment of mental illness. As such, I personally believe that they have a responsibility to ensure that they do not distribute mis-information. The leaflet clearly states that "Homeopathy is a safe, effective system of medicine ". When dealing with people with mental health issues I'm not so sure that is a valid statement and I agree that this is irresponsible.
Someone that I was very close to was diagnosed with depression a while back, but gradually her mental health deteriorated. As she became more and more ill she became convinced that prayer was all she needed to make a full recovery and rejected any from of talking treatment and medication until, eventually, she was admitted to a psychiatric ward and diagnosed as schizophrenic. I do realise that this is anecdotal and so cannot describe the experiences of all people suffering from some form of mental illness. However even if I concede that homeopathy, like prayer, may have occasionally had some limited success (though I would argue merely as a placebo), treatments which have not been proven should not be encouraged when dealing with people whose abilities to make rational judgements are impaired, such as in the case of those suffering from mental illnesses. Taking into account that suicide is the most common cause of death in men under 35 and that people with serious mental health problems are at an increased risk of 10 to 15% of taking their own lives than the genreal population, I find it quite disturbing that MIND should be giving credence to a treatment that has not be proven to offer any real results.
Edited cos my hands are cold and it's typo city
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 24, 2008 17:41:06 GMT
A mental health charity promoting homeopathy for people with mental health issues? Am I missing something? I looked at the Mind website and I cannot see where they are 'promoting' any particular form of medicine/treatment, be it conventional or otherwise. It would appear to me to be an information site, covering all aspects of mental health treatment/therapies and simply explaining what currently is available. It provides information in order that people may make knowledgeable choices, and frequently advises that a sufferer should consult with their GP. It cannot be expected that ONLY formulary approved medicines are featured, that would be limiting and dangerous. It is one thing to educate and advise but we should acknowledge and accept differing beliefs. Have I missed something? Moonriver, I see what you mean. But, the article itself is biased, inaccurate, misleading and contradictory. It appears on the MIND site, so some people might view that as "promoting". You don't, fair enough. For example, the article recommends spending time on a proper consultation with a homeopathic practitioner, not just popping into the pharmacist and buying over the counter, which "may be a waste of time and money". Then what do we see at the bottom - links to companies selling the "remedies" via the internet. The examples of homeopathic treatment are anecdotal. This is wrong - Potencies of 30C cannot possibly contain a single molecule of the active ingredient. Many other preparations are "stronger" ie weaker. I realise you are not promoting homeopathy, so I'll stop. I just got very rattled. I hope you understand.
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Post by MoonRiver on Apr 24, 2008 17:54:28 GMT
I appreciate your point tomroberts, I obviously did miss something. I know there are many people who are adverse to taking medication and would probably assume from reading the Mind site that homeopathy is a safe alternative. It is NOT and I agree should not be seen to promote it as such.
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 24, 2008 21:09:26 GMT
In my view, that article on the MIND website is nothing more than an advert for homeopathy, a totally unproved pseudo-scientific scam, offering nothing other than placebo. Official complaint to Advertising Standards Authority just posted.
Worth a try.
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 24, 2008 22:30:54 GMT
.....and more utter b@ll@cks from that article...
Crap. Oh, Mr Very Angry here.
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Post by hellyp on Apr 25, 2008 9:32:26 GMT
Right, never let it be said that I can't admit when I'm wrong. I was wrong.
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Post by tomroberts on Apr 26, 2008 17:48:30 GMT
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