Quote:
Originally Posted by Schroeder
Actually I've never taken anything homoeopathic. But I know some people who did and they had great relief from it. It even works on animals as far as I know which would rule out the placebo effect as animals don't believe in our medicine.
I actually think that if it does help people in one way or another it has a right to exist.
Just my 0.02$.
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the problem with animals is that they cannot tell you they feel inner, mental relief - it's very much in the eye of the beholder that they "feel" better, and those cat owners I knew back then definitely interpreted things into it. The cat did not chnage at all. At that time,I visisted them several times per week, we were close friends from university. The cat I never saw as "depressed", it was always kind and friendly. The point is that the couple itself was in stress in the beginning, and then settled down and relief came over them - and that was when they started to perceive that change for the better in their cat! But the cat did not change although being treated with Bachblüten over "depression". The couple itself had changed, and so did it's perceptions. Possible that this change also fed back on the cat, but I did not perceive that. After all, it was a cat - kind, but lazy as hell.
and it still is possible that there is an
indirect placebo effect in place, too. We have had dogs ourselves, when I lived at my parents. They used to boost their temper or became more alive" when one of us felt ill, and then became better, or something that worried us fell off our shoulders. the dogs perceived that improvement in us, and responded to it with relief by themselves. After all, a dog is in trouble when the big huge Alphadog is angry or ill and cannot lead the pack in the regular boss manner.
Children also can change their behavior in response to the expectations of their parents: mother thinks the cure is effective, child subconsciously perceives a change in her mother's behavior - and alters own behavior in reply. Animals do that for sure, too, especially dogs, cats, probably also horses - all those animals that live close together with humans since long and maybe even have a genetically founded ability now to interprete and understand basics of human gestures, mimics, and behavior/body language. For dogs, this is now strongly assumed to be the case. and it is not even a great surprise if you consider the principles of genetic evolution.