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"People who attend hypnosis demonstrations," he says, "talk about something called the hypnotist's aura. At every show there are a few people in the audience whose expectations are so high that the moment the hypnotist comes out onstage, they fall into a trance. If belief in a hypnotist is enough to do this, belief in a cure is enough to help you get well."
Not surprisingly, conventional researchers see this as dancing away from the question. "Weil wants you to believe that you don't need the scientific approach, that you don't need to demand evidence," says Dr. Arnold Relman, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and emeritus professor at Harvard Medical School. "I resent well-educated people exploiting irrational elements in our culture, and that's what he's doing."
The debate between alternative and mainstream medicine will not get settled anytime soon, but even if Andrew Weil the scientist does not prevail, it's clear that Andrew Weil the crusader has already made his impression. What's less clear--at least for now--is whether Weil and other alternative healers are selling real cures or, like the hypnotist, just casting good spells.
--With reporting by Alice Park/New York
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