Reading Test 09

|Part 1|

Complementary medicine – an overview

A The term ‘alternative practitioner’ first became common currency in the 1960s as part of a movement in healthcare which espoused a value system quite distinct from orthodox or western medicine. More recently, ‘practitioners of complementary medicine’ have sought to define themselves as distinct from ‘alternative practitioners’ in so far as they seek to work closely with the established medical profession to relieve a patient’s symptoms. In a contemporary setting, the terms are often used interchangeably. But complementary medicine is perhaps a more fashionable term amongst those who aspire to greater integration within orthodox medicine–an attempt to gain respectability in the eyes of the establishment.

B Complementary medicine comprises a range of physical therapies, including reflexology, aromatherapy, shiatsu and acupuncture, which can be used to help ease symptoms associated with a range of conditions. None of these therapies claims to be a panacea. They simply help to relieve symptoms, although in some cases they may result in a permanent cure. The basic principle is that the body ultimately heals itself with the intervention of a particular therapy ‘kick starting’ and, subsequently, speeding up this process. The therapies work on an energetic level to impact on a psychological, emotional and physiological level helping to alleviate short-term stress-induced conditions and, to a greater or lesser degree, chronic problems. All complementary therapies can be used as a preventative measure and to strengthen the constitution. Their common aim is to treat the whole person, with the goal of recovering the equilibrium between the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the individual. The focus is very much on improving overall well-being rather than the isolated treatment of specific symptoms. Where the therapies differ is their particular approach.

C Reflexology is a treatment which was introduced to the West about 100 years ago, although it was practised in ancient Egypt, India and east Asia. It involves gently focused pressure on the feet to both diagnose and treat illness. A reflexologist may detect imbalances in the body on an energetic level through detecting tiny crystals on the feet. Treating these points can result in the release of blockages in other parts of the body. It has been found to be an especially useful treatment for sinus and upper respiratory tract conditions and poor lymphatic and cardiovascular circulation. Anecdotal evidence from various practitioners suggests it can also be effective in treating migraine, hormonal imbalances, digestive, circulatory and back problems.

D Aromatherapy massage is a western medicine invention. The therapeutic effects of the essential oils used were first investigated early last century by a French chemist, René Maurice Gattefosse. Today, the beneficial effects of the oils are dispensed through aromatherapy massage, bath and shower preparations and the burning of oils. Essential oils work by entering the body through both the skin and lungs. Powerful molecules in the oils can affect cells in the nervous and circulatory systems to varying degrees. The effect on the olfactory centres of the brain is both physiological and psychological. Again, anecdotal evidence suggests aromatherapy is particularly useful in alleviating symptoms of respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and asthma.

E Shiatsu is a Japanese healing art deeply rooted in the philosophy and practices of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It is a hands-on therapy which aims to rebalance tensions and weaknesses in the body and mind. Shiatsu incorporates the traditional therapeutic massage of Japan, which in itself is an adaption of ancient Chinese massage therapy. Embracing its original focus of meridian and self-healing, shiatsu is gaining popularity in the West. The term shiatsu comes from Japanese: “shi” meaning finger, and “atsu” meaning pressure. In a shiatsu session, pressure is applied to various parts of the body which correspond with the points and energy lines (meridians) used in acupuncture.

F Shiatsu has been successfully used for treating headaches, neck and upper back tension, lower back conditions such as lumbago and sciatica, other muscular-skeletal problems such as frozen shoulder, tennis and golfer’s elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, and osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis. Along with acupuncture, it can be very effective in treating digestive complaints involving organs from the stomach through to the large intestine and menstrual problems. It is ideal for people who have an aversion to needles or who prefer the hands on body contact that shiatsu involves.

G Acupuncture is a very focused form of treatment which uses needles to rebalance the body’s energetics. According to traditional Chinese philosophy, our health is dependent on the body’s energy—known as Qi moving in a smooth and balanced way through the channels beneath the skin. Disruptions in this flow are associated with illness and pain, which may relate to anxiety, stress, anger, fear or grief, poor nutrition, weather conditions, hereditary factors, infections and other trauma. The insertion of needles into the skin and then energy channels helps to stimulate the body’s own healing response and to restore its natural balance. Acupuncture has over 3000 years of empirical evidence to support its efficacy. It is probably the most effective way of treating a diverse range of conditions. These include conditions of a more emotional focus including anxiety states, depression (including what in the West is known as manic depression), and sleep related disorders. Other illnesses treated by acupuncture include arthritis, asthma, circulatory problems (i.e high blood pressure, facial paralysis (pre- and post-stroke), fatigue, tinnitus, infertility, menstrual problems, rheumatism, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, migraines, sciatica, skin conditions and ulcers.

|Part 2|

Testing Testing Testing 1 2 3 4....

A These are testing times. In both education and the field of work, the prevailing wisdom appears to be: if it moves, test it and if it doesn't, well, test it anyway. I say wisdom, but it has become rather an obsession. In addition to the current obstacles, like GCSEs, A-Levels, GNVQs, ONDs, and HNDs, not to mention the interviews and financial hurdles that school-leavers have to overcome in order to access higher education, students are facing the threat of 'new tests', scholastic aptitude tests (SATs).

B SATs are being imported from the United States, where they have been in use for nearly a hundred years. As a supplement to A-levels, the tests purport to give students from poor backgrounds a better chance of entering university. SATs are intended to remove the huge social class bias that exists in British universities. But, in fact, they are, no more than an additional barrier for students. The tests, which masquerade as IQ tests, are probably less diagnostic of student potential than existing examinations, and, more seriously, are far from free of the bias that their supporters pretend.

C First of all, as for any other tests, students will be able to take classes to cram for SATs, which again will advantage the better-off. At a recent conference of the Professional Association of Teachers, it was declared that school exams and tests are biased towards middle-class children. Further, the content of the tests in question is not based on sound scientific theory, merely on a pool of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), set by a group of item writers.

D The questions in SATs are tested on a representative sample of children. Those which correlate with the school grades of the children are kept, and the rest discarded. This is highly unsatisfactory. There is also evidence that in MCQ tests women are at a disadvantage, because of the way they think, i.e. they can see a wider picture. And it is worth noting that MCQs are only as good as the people who write them; so, unless the writers are highly trained, those who are being tested are being judged against the narrow limitations of the item writers!

E Globalisation has introduced greater flexibility into the workplace, but the educational system has not been so quick off the mark. But there are signs that times are a-changing. Previously, students took exams at the end of academic terms, or at fixed dates periodically throughout the year. Now, language examinations like the TOEFL, IELTS and the Pitman ESOL exams can be taken much more frequently. The IELTS examination, for example, is run at test centres throughout the world subject to demand. Where the demand is high, the test is held more frequently. At present, in London, it is possible for students to sit the exam about four times per week.

F Flexible assessment like the IELTS has been mooted in other areas. It has been suggested that students may in future be able to walk into a public library or other public building and take an assessment test for a range of skills on a computer. The computer will dispense an instant assessment and a certificate. The beauty of this system is the convenience.

G The workplace has been at the forefront of developing in-house schemes to establish whether people are suitable for particular jobs and/or careers. Psychological profiles and hand-writing analysis as well as aptitude tests are now part of the army of the corporate personnel officer; an interview and a curriculum vitae no longer suffice. But, as in the education field, there are dangers here. Testing appears to confirm the notion that certain people are predestined to enter particular careers. All of us have heard someone say: he/she is a born actor, a born teacher, and so on. The recent work on the human genome and the research in genetics adds further credence to this notion.

H How long before psychological profiling is introduced into schools to determine a child’s future? With the aid of psychometric tests, children may soon be helped to make more informed choices about the subjects they choose to study at secondary school, and then university. But people will still be pointed in the wrong direction. In many cases, the result will conflict with the person’s own desires, mainly because he/ she filled in the test wrongly, or the test did not pick up an essential piece of information. Unless the assessors are highly trained experts, many more people will find themselves mid-life in jobs that they did not really want to do.

I Whilst testing achievement is essential and indeed inevitable, it needs to be treated with caution. Tests are, after all, only tools – not an end in themselves.

|Part 3|

Wittgenstein on Freud

Ludwig von Wittgenstein has justly been regarded as one of the major philosophers of the twentieth century, especially for his writings on the philosophy of language and logic. His work on psychoanalysis and criticism of his fellow Viennese, Sigmund Freud, have, however, been generally overlooked.

Wittgenstein is both highly critical of and at the same time greatly admiring of Freud's work. Perhaps it would be fairer to say that he is not critical so much of psychoanalysis as of Freud's claims for it. For Freud, it was essential that his work be regarded as science: that he had developed a new branch of medicine based on scientific principles, having established causal relationships between behaviour in childhood and that in adulthood. Wittgenstein, while accepting the usefulness of Freud's methods, disputes that these relationships are causal, therefore denying Freud's theories scientific validity.

In causal relationships we can at least imagine contradictory cases. For example, I can imagine placing a pan of water on a hot stone and the water freezing (of course I do not expect it to happen, and would be very surprised if it did). With Freud's theory, however, this is not the case. One of the central planks of this theory is the pursuit of hidden meanings in such things as dreams, works of art, even language (the famous 'Freudian slip'). Take the example of dreams. For Freud these are all sexual wish-fulfilments. While it is clear that some are, clearly some at least appear not to be. Freud, however, will not accept any contradiction to his theory, and argues that in these cases the sexual element is camouflaged, or even repressed. This is a strange notion, for how can a dream fulfil a wish if the desire is so disguised that the dreamer does not even recognise it? More importantly, if under no circumstances will Freud allow his hypothesis to be contradicted, how can we verify it? It therefore behoves us to recognise that, despite his assertions, Freud's theories are not causal hypotheses, and thus not scientific.

One might ask, given this analysis, how Freud came to make this mistake, or rather why he believed that his explanations were causal. It is a confusion between what we might call the 'depth-grammar' and the 'surface-grammar' of certain sentences. If we say 'the window broke because the stone hit it' we are outlining a causal relationship between the stone hitting the window and the window breaking, this being designated by the word 'because'. However, if we say 'he hit her because he was angry', whilst it may appear that the word 'because' performs the same function, this is not the case. The similarity lies only on the surface; if we look at the depth-grammar we see that in the first sentence 'because' denotes a causal relationship, whereas in the second we are rather talking in terms of motivations, reasons and other non-causal terms. Freud's mistake, therefore, is to believe that both types of sentence are similar: he confuses the surface-grammar.

Despite all this confusion, I have stated that Wittgenstein was highly appreciative of Freud's work, and this is because he essentially reformulates what Freud was trying to do. Freud believed that he was explaining people's behaviour, while Wittgenstein suggests that he is redescribing it. To him, Freud is providing a 'picture' of human behaviour which may enable us to make certain connections that other ways of looking would not reveal, and by showing these patterns and connections the method may well have therapeutic value. In this case, although the 'picture' described by Freud's method is not a true one (for by Wittgenstein's arguments it cannot be), nevertheless it is unique, enabling the patient to have insights into their problem that no other method could provide.