Medical Controversies- Vocabulary and Discussion

Medical controversies vocabulary and discussion

Discuss the questions below, starting with the most interesting:

• How interested are you in hearing about the latest medical research? Has that level of interest changed over time?
• Where do you mostly hear about medical developments from?
• How interested are you in medical controversies such as anti-vaccine campaigns?
• Do you tend to form a viewpoint on medical controversies such as alternative medicines? Why/ Why not?
• Are there any medical controversies which you are really not sure about? What would help you decide?

Give your (strong or weak) opinion on a medical controversy below and see if others agree:

• Abortion
• Acupuncture
• ADHD (over)diagnosis
• Animal testing/ Vivisection
• Brain training
• Chiropractors
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• (Male) circumcision
• Cloning
• DNA testing
• Epigenetics
• Fertility treatment for post-menopause women
• Gender reassignment surgery
• Gluten-free foods
• High protein diets
• Homeopathy
• Human genetic manipulation
• Hydrogen water
• Mind over body
• Nature therapy
• Prescribing placebos like sugar pills
• Surrogate parents
• Treatment for preventable diseases caused by patients' bad lifestyles
• Vaccines (e.g. vaccines and autism)
• Water fluoridation

Ask about any which you don’t understand, giving your opinion once you understand.

Use these phrases to give your views, preferably on related topics, and see who agrees:

• … is (not) a controversial topic.
• … is (not) solid science.
• There is (not yet) incontrovertible evidence that...
• … has (not) been clearly shown.
• I would argue strongly that/ against...
• Some people argue strongly that/ against..., but...
• … has (a few/ some/ many/ mostly) detrimental effects.
• People are (increasingly/ mostly/ fairly/ totally) open to...
• … is (all/ mostly/ partly/ not just) in the mind.

How much influence could the mind have on someone with one of these physical problems?

• Addiction
• Allergies such as Lyme's disease and lactose intolerance
• Alzheimer's
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Chronic pain such as back pain
• Constipation
• Dementia such as
• Diabetes
• Headaches
• Heart disease
• High or low blood pressure
• Hormone problems
• IBS/ Irritable bowel syndrome/ Diarrhoea
• Insomnia
• Nausea
• Parkinson's disease
• Recovery from surgery
• RSI/ Repetitive strain injury
• Stomach ulcers
• Virus
• Weak immune system

If there is a mind over body effect, how could that change medical treatments?

Choose one physical problem which you think could be affected by the mind, make up imaginary research to support that conclusion, then decide what future action should be taken because of that.

Present your ideas and listen to other groups describing the same three things, then vote on which is most convincing of the other groups’ ideas and evidence.