Magical Beliefs
The ideas of homoeopathy are very similar to "correspondence" in ancient sympathetic magical beliefs. For example, a folk healer would prescribe walnuts for a brain disorder due to the fact that the walnut resembles the brain. Ferns, however, were believed to be useful in treating arthritis, simply based on the fact that fronds unfurled as they grew. The general idea was that there was some kind of causal link between the two objects. How this link worked, though, is never fully explained.
In the case of homoeopathic remedies, there is actually no real substance left, because it has been diluted to the point of being basically just water. But the wacky idea postulated is that "water has a memory". However, Research published in 2005 on hydrogen bond network dynamics in water, demonstrated that "liquid water loses the memory of persistent correlations in its structure" within fifty-millionths of a nanosecond.[7]
Similarly, the use of voodoo dolls is another form of imitative/sympathetic magic. The theory that "like produces like" is behind the idea that, whatever happens to the doll, will happen to the person. So, if you stick a pin in the doll, then there is supposed to be some kind of magical link between it and a particular person. How a material that is shaped to resemble a human shape could possess such power, is again, never fully explained.
Many people "believe" in the power of homoeopathy and voodoo dolls. However, homoeopathy has been found to be no more effective than a placebo, or a sugar pill. Behind both the effects of the placebo and the nocebo effect is belief .
The placebo effect is a medical treatment that is inert (inactive), such as a sugar pill, which causes a measurable or felt improvement.
Similarly, the use of voodoo dolls is another form of imitative/sympathetic magic. The theory that "like produces like" is behind the idea that, whatever happens to the doll, will happen to the person. So, if you stick a pin in the doll, then there is supposed to be some kind of magical link between it and a particular person. How a material that is shaped to resemble a human shape could possess such power, is again, never fully explained.
Many people "believe" in the power of homoeopathy and voodoo dolls. However, homoeopathy has been found to be no more effective than a placebo, or a sugar pill. Behind both the effects of the placebo and the nocebo effect is belief .
The placebo effect is a medical treatment that is inert (inactive), such as a sugar pill, which causes a measurable or felt improvement.
The nocebo effect is when a harmless substance creates harmful effects in a patient who takes it.
Books To Read
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time, by Michael Shermer.
