Psychiatr Neurol Med Psychol (Leipz). 1982 Feb; 34(2): 115-9.

[Critique of so-called outsider methods in medical therapy]

Quandt J.

The manifold forms of the therapy always are of a complex nature. In pharmacological animal experiments, one can determine the parameters of the effect of a drug exactly, in humans there is often a discrepancy between these results and the actual therapy effect. Here the psychophysical mode of reaction has to be taken into account. For humans, not only the word is psychophysically effective because of its semantic property, similar effects are brought about by symbols, objects and pictures. These effects are known from the field of pre-scientific medicine and are in most cases the basis of the so-called miracle cures. Analogue effects can be seen in the field of outsider methods. They can be tolerated as long as they are not understood otherwise than as psychotherapeutic techniques with certain instrumental aids or as a psychophysical therapy with harmless substances or so-called placebos. Problems will arise when a thought process is developing.