study. Menopause2006; 13 :185–96. Relevant, too, a study indicating a small stimulating
effect on the growth of the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line compared with untreated cells:
Nuntanakorn P, Jiang B, Einbond LS et al. Polyphenolic constituents of Actaea racemosa.
J Nat Prod2006; 69 :314–18.- For background to use of placebo in the past: de Craen AJM, Kaptchuk TJ, Tijssen JG,
Kleijnen J. Placebos and placebo effects in medicine: historical overview. J R Soc Med
1999; 92 :511–15. Kaptchuk TJ. Intentional ignorance: a history of blind assessment and
placebo controls in medicine. Bull Hist Med1998; 72 :389–433. - Godlee F. Reclaiming the placebo effect. BMJ2008; 336 :966.
- Hagar S. Micmac magic and medicine. J Am Folklore1896; 9 :170–7. Hagar seemingly
did not consider whether or not the ‘directions’ for preparing the seven sorts incorpo-
rated, knowingly or unknowingly, empirical advice long recognised among Euro-North
Americans for collecting herbs, e.g. barks are still said to be best collected in the spring
time (in part because this is the time when peeling is easiest), and roots to be gathered in
the autumn (when before winter, nutrients are at maximum concentration). - Specifically for Conne River, a well-known healer Kitty Burke was said to be successful
in making the plaster. For details: John J, Benoit S (c.1985). Traditional Medicine,
unpublished manuscript (copy kindly provided by Dr Margaret Mackey). See also
Lucey^21 (pp 111–12). Testimony to an oral tradition can be found in Wallis WD, Wallis
RS. The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada. Minneapolis, MI: University of Minnesota
Press, 1955: 124. - Schiff JW, Moore K. The impact of the sweat lodge ceremony on dimensions of well-
being. Am Indian Alsk Native Ment Health Res2006; 13 :48–69. - A list of conditions is given by a physician supporting the value of the sweat lodge cere-
mony: Aung SKH. Brief report – ethnomedicine: the sweat lodge healing experience: an
integrative medical perspective. Rose Croix J2006; 3 :14–27. Available from http://www.
rosecroixjournal.org/issues/2006/New%20Folder/vol3_14_27_aung.pdf (accessed October
2008). Aung generally follows the language commonly used, namely in terms of benefits
from physical, mental and spiritual purification that discharges emotional and other
forms of pollution. - To reinforce that ‘ritual events’ span all areas of healthcare, the following references are
useful: Montagne M. The metaphorical nature of drugs and drug taking. Soc Sci Med
1988; 26 :417–24; Kaptchuk TJ. The placebo effect in alternative medicine. Can the
performance of a healing ritual have clinical significance? Ann Intern Med
2002; 136 :817–25; Green SA. Surgeons and shamanism: the placebo value of ritual. Clin
Orthop Relat Res2006; 450 :249–54. This includes quality time with patients, which
embraces active listening, empathy, and communication of confidence and positive
expectation, for which, see: Kaptchuk TJ, Kelley JM, Conboy LA. Components of
placebo effect: randomised controlled trial in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
BMJ2008; 336 :999–1003. For analyses of placebo results in clinical trials of drugs, and
theoretical approaches to explaining placebo effects, see: Moerman DE. Meaning,
Medicine and the Placebo Effect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
64 |Traditional medicine