Do you suffer from chronic pain? Maybe acupuncture is just what the doctor ordered. Millions of people say that acupuncture has alleviated their suffering and boosted their bodies, but others insist that it's more rooted in belief than scientific fact. Is acupuncture really the cure for what ails you, or does it only turn you into a human pincushion?
New England Skeptical Society
This is nothing more than an argument ad populi and appeal to anecdotal evidence. As I have already argued, blood letting survived for over 2,000 years as the standard accepted practice. The placebo effect is well documented, as well as a variety of psychological effects, such as confirmation bias. There are also statistical effects, such as regression to the mean (the tendency for any ailment to get better if one seeks treatment during an exacerbation). All of these combine to create the illusion that ineffective treatments have some effect.
The scientific method as applied to medicine evolved to address this potential for self-deception. Appealing to anecdotes is a decidedly unscientific approach to any medical question, and defies the well-documented history of medicine – which gives countless examples of treatments that were believed to work but failed to show any effect when properly studied.
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