Rescue Remedy?

[fearofmediocrity]

I'm just wondering, has anyone here used rescue remedy? Does it help? They're really expensive, like nearly $20 for a small vial. I don't know if I should go out and buy it. I mean, if it's useless, I'd rather just buy a CD.

 

[Daniel E.]

rescue remedy?

I read about it when researching for a sedative for my cat. I didn't give it to my cat, and I certainly wouldn't waste money on it for myself when prescription medications are available. The only "natural" product I use is omega-3s (from fish oil pills) and a daily multivatimin.

For anxiety and depression, the top 3 proven remedies are therapy, prescription antidepressant/antianxiety medications, and exercise.

Bach Remedies

These are homeopathically prepared (highly dilute) products said to have been developed during the 1930s by Edward Bach, a British bacteriologist and homeopath [11,12]. Ellon USA, Inc., of Lynbrook, New York, states that Bach "believed that the only way to cure illness was to address the underlying emotional causes of disease." This company markets an "emergency rescue formula" for "calming and stabilizing emotions" and a line of 38 "flower remedies" said to alleviate negative emotions. The Rescue Remdy is also said to be "of great benefit to all animals, no matter how large or small" and "useful in easing the trauma of transplanted plants, falling flowers, or injured trees." [11] The various remedies can be selected using Ellon's 116-item "self-help questionnaire." Someone who feels overwhelmed with work, for example, is advised to take the product called Elm, whereas someone who has strong opinions and is easily incensed by injustices is advised to use Vervain. An Ellon competitor describes its Rescue Remedy as "the one product you need to take care of all kinds of emergency emotional stress." This company's catalog states that this product "helps center the emotions until the crisis is past" and depicts it as useful for: (a) a woman under stress because her computer "froze," (b) a mother coping with a cranky toddler, (c) the partner of a doubles tennis player who missed a few shots, (d) participants in a minor auto accident, and (e) a man racing to board a plane who suddenly realizes he forgot to pack his suit and left his keys and ticket at home. A few companies market additional products they say are based on Bach's principles.

Flower remedies are also promoted through books, seminars, private practitioners, and telephone consultations. Some proponents state that the remedies can "balance out the body's subtle energy fields" and "prevent disease before physical symptoms develop." Of course, neither the theories nor the products make any sense.

QuackWatch: Questionable "Self-Help" Products by Stephen Barrett, M.D.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

rescue remedy?

I would agree with what Daniel said. There's little evidence that the flower remedies actually do anything, beyond a placebo effect.

Buy a CD )

 

[Daniel E.]

rescue remedy?

More info:

I have become accustomed to seeing claims like "Vitamins A, C, and E will reduce your risk of heart problems" and "Garlic can lower your cholesterol." In an health-food store most of the claims are for physiological benefits. But the flower-remedies booklet made psychological claims, often bold and sweeping ones: "Mustard can make you more cheerful." "Olive will give you peace of mind." "Rock rose will reduce night terrors in children." "Insomnia sufferers need only take vervain." "Got an addiction? Walnut will take care of it." "Want a warmer relationship with others? No problem, just get out the water violet." I counted 238 psychological claims, an average of 6.26 for each of the 38 remedies. To become a marvelously well-adjusted person just add a few drops a day to a glass of water or juice.

...[Bach's] eccentricities included the belief that heart disease is caused by the failure to develop love for humanity (Bach 1977a), the notion that bathing in hot water opens the skin and allows dirt in (Bach 1977a)...

Bach wrote (1976:109): "As all these remedies are pure and harmless, there is no fear of giving too much or too often. Nor can any remedy do harm should it prove to not be the one needed for the case." Were it not for the high alcohol content I would wholeheartedly agree with these statements - a placebo can't do any harm.

...In summary, there seems to be no reliable, unambigous evidence to support any of the multitude of claims made by Bach and his followers.. The Bach Remedies that I "inherited" when I bought my health-food store are currently under the counter where they can't be seen. If people come in and ask for them I will sell them, but I don't intend to reorder; and I have instructed my employees to make no claims whatsoever about their usefulness. Perhaps the time has come to wake up and stop smelling the flowers.
Bach Flower Remedies: Time to Stop Smelling the Flowers? (Skeptical Inquirer, 1995)

 

[fearofmediocrity]

rescue remedy?

Well, placecbos don't really work when you know it's a load of crap... I guess music can be kind of theraputic... thanks
And while I'm at it, I was recently given a box of herbal sleeping pills. They smell absolutely foul and they don't seem to work. How do these companies survive?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

rescue remedy?

They survive largely because they make claims about their products with bad or poor or no data to back up the claims but which at first glance may seem credible. And because they tout the products with words like "natural", as if that means "safe" and "effective". In truth, most are neither safe NOR effective. But the myths are hard to dispel.

 

[Daniel E.]

rescue remedy?

BTW, there is clinical evidence that music is helpful:

Subjects listened to their choice of music for 2 weeks...Those subjects who received the combination of antidepressant and music appeared to have the greater response to treatment.

Effects of music on major depression in psychiatric inpatients (Oct. 2004, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing)

As for music's emotional impact, there is some indication that music can affect levels of various hormones, including cortisol (involved in arousal and stress), testosterone (aggression and arousal) and oxytocin (nurturing behavior) as well as trigger release of the natural opiates known as endorphins. Using PET scanners, Zatorre has shown that the parts of the brain involved in processing emotion seem to light up with activity when a subject hears music.

Time Magazine Reports: Music on the Brain

 

[David Baxter PhD]

rescue remedy?

No doubt about the benefits of music.

My guitar and my music were all that allowed me to make it through adolescence with a portioin of my sanity intact!

 

[fearofmediocrity]

rescue remedy?

So music does help. But people say some music makes people depressed and suicidal... I read somewhere that this kid's parents blamed some heavy metal band for causing their son's suicide. I think they even tried to sue the band....

 

[David Baxter PhD]

rescue remedy?

That has happened more than once (attempted litigation). It doesn't make it fact.

The most notorious was probably Ozzy Osbourne's Suicide Solution. I think he won that law suit. Ironically, the song is actually against suicide, not for it.

Look at the power of the blues or sad love songs... they don't generally encourage despair (or suicide)... rather they serve as an outlet for expressing such feelings, thereby reducing the need for other outlets like suicidal or parasuicidal acts.