Witchcraft Resurgence

[HelpfulNatureHopeful]

Why are so many people today shunning real medicine, vaccines etc for hoaxes and gimmicks like essential oils, weight loss powders, etc? Any ideas why so many are turning away from actual medicine?

[Lorri Cook, ADN, RN]

Not all non-medical treatment is witchcraft. You should probably point out the articles showing the mass move away from medicine to witchcraft, I'm afraid I've missed that.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

7 hours ago, HelpfulNatureHopeful said:

No, I was just raised to believe in science. I was taught growing up that religion was for the clinically insane. My dad always said “if someone has to be threatened with hell to do the right thing, they are clearly a psychopath”

I think you know perfectly well that billions of people on this planet who believe in some type of religion or deity are neither clinically insane nor psychopaths.

I don't know if you are trolling or are sincere, but you are old enough to start questioning everything you were told growing up and start calling out your father on his BS. Many people raised in a religious household do start questioning it. Many end up rejecting their parents' religious views and come to form their own opinions, sometimes rejecting religion altogether, sometimes embracing a different denomination or entirely different religion, or after much thought or contemplation, coming back to the fold. But the point is that they use their maturing minds to question the "party line"-i.e., their parents' values and beliefs, in order to come into adulthood as an independent thinker. Sounds like it's time for you to do the same. Not that you need to become religious, but you need to learn to understand that intelligent, reasonable, and "sane" people can have belief systems that are completely different from yours, not test-able by science, that you can just agree to disagree on. Things like medical treatments can be tested (though don't discount the placebo effect), so take your scientific mind into nursing or the medical field, but do understand that being disdainful of people for philosophical or religious differences (or even their rejection of scientific facts) will not only make you a less effective caregiver, but also a crappy human being. Stop the cycle of arrogance that you apparently have going on in your household and think for yourself.

You don't have to respect the religious beliefs themselves, but disparaging the people who hold them is just bad behavior and has no place in nursing/medicine.

[Queen Tiye, RN]

“Hocus Pocus Care”? Holistic medicine and holistic nursing are Legitimate fields. Whole cultures believe that prevention is very important and their doctors practice to prevent illness. The field of medicine is broad and varies from country to country. The way “Western” countries practice medicine isn’t the only way or even necessarily the best. I recommend reading up on the history of world medicine. You’ll discover how medicines were made through the millennia, how other countries contributed to our practices, beliefs that were accepted for hundreds of years before they were proven wrong. There’s a wealth of information available.

[HelpfulNatureHopeful]

I’m pretty sure I said before that I don’t tell them I think their beliefs are stupid to their faces. It makes me mad when my dad does it

[2BS Nurse, BSN]

I think we're continuing to beat a dead horse here. Time to end the notifications.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

11 hours ago, HelpfulNatureHopeful said:

No, I was just raised to believe in science. I was taught growing up that religion was for the clinically insane. My dad always said “if someone has to be threatened with hell to do the right thing, they are clearly a psychopath”

I'm sorry, but your daddy doesn't sound like a person that many of us would like to be around. Attitudes come out, and patients don't want or need him to judge

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

1 hour ago, HelpfulNatureHopeful said:

1 hour ago, HelpfulNatureHopeful said:

I’m pretty sure I said before that I don’t tell them I think their beliefs are stupid to their faces. It makes me mad when my dad does it

Believe me, your attitude about their beliefs will show through eventually, if they don't already

[HelpfulNatureHopeful]

It’s just something I cannot conceptualize. Why would it be odd if an adult has an imaginary friend, but if you call it religion it’s normal?

[mystcnurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

On 1/12/2020 at 11:45 PM, MunoRN said:

It should be noted that neither one of those articles suggested much less proved that essential oils can be substituted for conventional treatments for bacterial or fungal infections.

Steroid use can increase fungal infections, as well as bacterial and viral infections, and yet they are given for EVERYTHING including bacterial and viral infections. Ciprofloxacin is not a go to for every type of infection, and IMO, should not even be given orally without good information regarding kidney function, and yet it is prescribed for every type of infection, at times, by well meaning "science-based" providers. Good nutrition (i.e; hokus pokus) can prevent many long term chronic illnesses. Vitamin D3 has been shown to prevent influenza as well as, if not BETTER than the vaccine (not that this is saying much, since generally a coin flip has a better record... science much?) as well as colon cancer - aspirin has been touted for years, since before I even became a nurse, as being effective for preventing heart attacks... and after all this time -science has determined that the science was wrong? Think statin drugs.... many of which most likely contribute to type II diabetes, and are not effective in preventing heart attacks, EITHER. Yet they are prescribed daily and many who start them begin to have aches and pains that prevent them from activity... which DOES prevent health problems, including CV disease. Probably medicine and alternative medicine should not be lumped into boxes, as there are instances where either or both might come into play. I think it is a good idea to keep the old witchcraft handy, as many of our modern cures come from herbs and other plants, as well as nutrition, concoctions, heat and cold, exercise and manipulation (think fractures, dislocations) (whiskey for wound cleansing) etc. In a pinch, such as a survival situation (no hospitals or healthcare available) the witches will be the go to. Just sayin' ?

[TriciaJ, RN]

14 hours ago, HelpfulNatureHopeful said:

Well if this therapy was that effective we definitely need to do some scientific research and start implementing it.

No, I was just raised to believe in science. I was taught growing up that religion was for the clinically insane. My dad always said “if someone has to be threatened with hell to do the right thing, they are clearly a psychopath”

So do people that pray LITERALLY hear voices? Or do they “feel” something telling them to do the right thing? I mean I have that feeling but I thought that was a conscience?

I just don’t understand.

If you have a conscience, where does that come from? What makes you different from someone who has no conscience? Why does it have to be "scientific" vs "not scientific"?

Science is a wonderful thing and has explained a lot of things that were previously unknowable. But it hasn't explained everything, at least not yet. Until it does, then we have to make do with our own explanations for things. For some, this is fulfilled by some denomination of organized religion. Some people have developed their own belief system. Some prefer to limit themselves to the experiences of their five senses.

It's a function of becoming an adult to put aside the need to divide everything into either/or. Learn to live with ambiguity and uncertainty.

[TriciaJ, RN]

3 hours ago, HelpfulNatureHopeful said:

It’s just something I cannot conceptualize. Why would it be odd if an adult has an imaginary friend, but if you call it religion it’s normal?

Why would it be odd if an adult had an imaginary friend at all? Might not be something you'd want to disclose to anyone, but then, if you had anyone to disclose things to, you wouldn't need an imaginary friend.

In the movie Castaway, Tom Hanks, who was marooned on an island, made an imaginary friend out of a volleyball. Most of us aren't ever going to be as isolated as someone on an island, but there are times in life where someone might feel very alone for various reasons. Some people take comfort "conversing" with departed friends or relatives whom they still miss.

If you've not had to deal with much tragedy or loss yet in your young life, you have no idea how you'll cope when you do. I hope you get to go on having a sheltered life because I don't want tragedy happening to anyone. But there may come a time when your self-assuredness isn't enough. Then you may surprise yourself with the creative ways you come up with to weather the storm.

[TriciaJ, RN]

1 hour ago, mystcnurse said:

Steroid use can increase fungal infections, as well as bacterial and viral infections, and yet they are given for EVERYTHING including bacterial and viral infections. Ciprofloxacin is not a go to for every type of infection, and IMO, should not even be given orally without good information regarding kidney function, and yet it is prescribed for every type of infection, at times, by well meaning "science-based" providers. Good nutrition (i.e; hokus pokus) can prevent many long term chronic illnesses. Vitamin D3 has been shown to prevent influenza as well as, if not BETTER than the vaccine (not that this is saying much, since generally a coin flip has a better record... science much?) as well as colon cancer - aspirin has been touted for years, since before I even became a nurse, as being effective for preventing heart attacks... and after all this time -science has determined that the science was wrong? Think statin drugs.... many of which most likely contribute to type II diabetes, and are not effective in preventing heart attacks, EITHER. Yet they are prescribed daily and many who start them begin to have aches and pains that prevent them from activity... which DOES prevent health problems, including CV disease. Probably medicine and alternative medicine should not be lumped into boxes, as there are instances where either or both might come into play. I think it is a good idea to keep the old witchcraft handy, as many of our modern cures come from herbs and other plants, as well as nutrition, concoctions, heat and cold, exercise and manipulation (think fractures, dislocations) (whiskey for wound cleansing) etc. In a pinch, such as a survival situation (no hospitals or healthcare available) the witches will be the go to. Just sayin' ?

Don't even get me started on statins. I don't know why the ambulance-chasers haven't caught up with that one yet. Maybe they all bought stock in the companies instead.

And anyone remember when any woman over the age of 45 had to start on horse pee as a rite of passage? When they actually got around to studying it, they had to abort the study. And that was supposed to be the scientific fountain of youth.

Then there was Rezulin, the magic treatment for diabetes. It actually made it onto the market before it started frying livers left and right.

Thalidomide? Phen-Fen?

So, "witchcraft" vs "science"? It really comes down to the people actually practicing.