Documentary Lifestyle

Programme running: 3 x 60 mins Production: BBC Executive Producer: Anne Laking

Alternative MedicineThe science behind the treatmentAre alternative medicines really more effective or is this global industry one big con?

Alternative Medicine Attempting to uncover the truth behind the world’s most ancient medicines, this series challenges our views of who we are and how best to treat ourselves.

The claims made for alternative medicines are often extraordinary. Many people believe that they are the most effective treatment for chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s and back pain; some even propose them as frontline treatments for cancer and HIV.

Globally, this is a 60 million dollar business but what are the facts? Are alternative medicines really effective?

Programme One – Acupuncture Starting in China, we see some powerful evidence that acupuncture works. The most astonishing is a scene in which doctors perform open heart surgery on a young woman – using acupuncture instead of a general anaesthetic. In China, acupuncture is used alongside western medicine and, at times, instead of it.

So what does western science make of these claims? We meet key scientists in the UK and the US who have put them to the test. And we discover that for most conditions and illnesses, acupuncture cannot be shown to work. But intriguingly, scientists have found a number of conditions relating to chronic pain in which they can be fairly certain acupuncture is having a powerful effect.

A team of top scientists and acupuncturists explore how this is possible. Over several months, they devise a series of tests, from which they hope to find some answers and finally uncover the secrets of acupuncture. Their conclusions challenge current understanding of the workings of the brain and throw new light on this ancient practice.

Programme Two: HerbalismThis programme investigates the ancient practice of herbalism. We find that not only do herbs have potent healing properties but that some of them may also provide answers to medical conditions that continue to baffle modern science.

We look at the distinct herbal traditions of a number of countries including South Africa, Germany and Britain. Each has their own particular plants and unique practices. But one claim underlies them all – herbs have remarkable features that make them powerful medicines.

In South Africa, we learn about a herb that is being hailed as a new weapon in the fight against HIV/Aids. And we hear from patients and their carers who claim it is saving lives.

So what is the secret of herbs? Working with scientists, we discover that plants contain much more than a single active ingredient – sometimes even more than two or three. They are enormously complex chemical cocktails that have medicinal properties that modern pharmaceuticals simply cannot reproduce.

Programme Three: Healing Although there is no evidence that healers have any special powers, their patients do sometimes appear to recover. It is a mystery that we can finally solve only when we discover that each of us has a powerful self-healing mechanism that some people have found a way to manipulate. We explore this extraordinary human capacity and find the key to triggering it.

Our journey begins in the UK at a rally given by world-famous spiritual healer Benny Hinn. Here we find dozens of people who claim to have been cured of a range of conditions from back pain to cancer.

We meet other healers who describe their methods and powers, and doctors who are so impressed they have even invited healers into their surgeries and hospitals.

In the United States, we talk to a knee surgeon who has made an amazing discovery. In an experiment, he gave a group of his patients a fake operation. He opened them up but instead of carrying out the usual procedure, simply sewed them back up again having done nothing at all. Incredibly, this group of patients did as well as those who had the real procedure.

So, could the power of the mind explain the benefits people experience from healers? And have healers learned how to stimulate this power in each of us? The conclusion throws new light on all healing processes, and has a surprising and inspirational message for every practitioner and patient.

Alternative Medicine

Documentary Lifestyle

Programme running: 3 x 60 mins Production: BBC Executive Producer: Anne Laking

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