 My son is only 11 years old, but aside from teaching him different ways to manage his mental health since he was about Five through different practices like meditation My other goal is to help him become a critical thinker Critical thinking is a skill that needs to be developed through practice And while I'm not teaching my son about all of our inherent cognitive biases and various mental models I have taught him the golden rule of critical thinking which is that if it sounds too good to be true It probably is Recently my beautiful girlfriend, Tristan, and I binge watched the new Netflix docu series unwell And I can't help but think of how different these people's lives would be if they learned the same golden rule of critical thinking In this series, they do a deep dive into the wellness industry and they cover topics from Beasting therapy to 28-day fasting and even people who buy breast milk online But today we're going to be taking a look at a very specific wellness industry and that's essential oils You may have heard of essential oil MLMs like doTERRA and young living When a high school friend of yours reached out to you on Facebook and tried to sell you on their product or gets you into their Downline, but today we're taking a little bit of a different angle We're going to look at essential oils through the lens of critical thinking as it's presented as an alternative medicine As a recovering drug addict who was addicted to prescription medications I often research alternative medications because I can be a little skeptical of the medical industry But if you're like me, we need to learn how to critically think about alternative medications Because there can be dire side effects in the unwell episodes on essential oils We meet a woman who started using essential oils and broke into a rash as the rash became more severe She asked people in the MLM Facebook group and they told her that this was just her body's way of detoxing But she was actually having an allergic reaction This woman was an adult But the episode also shows a family who has made millions from selling essential oil courses and recipes and they even have their Children drink the oils with shakes. There's another woman in this show who is desperate to help her daughter with autism So she has now turned to essential oils those who sell essential oils make big claims such as how these oils can help cure cancer and Decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression when we're desperate for relief from psychological and physical ailments We may bypass critical thinking and take the option that sounds too good to be true Not only can this make our health worse, but we may have a loved one who is considering going down that path Today we're going to discuss how to think about the claims of those who push essential oils And we're gonna ask if the placebo effect is worth it We'll also discuss a common logical fallacy that many wellness industries use to sell these products But if you'd like to hear more about the MLM side of the essential oil industry I highly suggest you check out the two videos from the YouTube channel cruel world happy mind She recently did a two-part series on this specific episode and not only discusses the MLM Aspect, but she makes some excellent points about how the distrust of mainstream medicine Pushes people towards essential oils and other alternative medicines. So can essential oils really cure cancer and mental illness? That's what we're going to discuss in this first section of the video But before we get started if you're new to the rewired soul make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell Here we use critical thinking to improve our emotional intelligence and overall well-being by analyzing a wide range of different subjects Biology and medical science are complex subjects Which is why people go to school for a decade to become a doctor Due to the complexity of these topics those trying to sell us on essential oils try to take advantage of our ignorance They attempt to take the complex subject of health and simplify it to sell essential oils as an alternative medicine One way they try to do this is by giving anecdotal evidence Which is something we should always be skeptical of in this episode of unwell We meet a young woman who is a doTERRA salesperson who makes about $20,000 per month part of her pitch is stating that she's living proof that essential oils can cure Cancer when she was young she developed a potentially fatal form of brain cancer And she was given the option of chemotherapy rather than doing chemo her and her mother Decided to try essential oils over time the cancer went away and the doctor said to just keep doing what she was doing And she's not the only one who tells people that these oils can cure cancer Earlier in the episode we met a man who goes by the name of dr. Z He's a chiropractor who has made millions of dollars selling essential oil courses recipes and remedies and he's also the one we mentioned earlier who feeds essential oils to his kids in This episode he said he'll probably get crucified for saying it But he does believe that essential oils can cure cancer So although dr. Z may just be trying to make money by stating these oils can cure cancer What about the woman who used the oils and her cancer went away? Well, this is why we need to understand the medical testing process and the importance of controlled Experiments a great website to check out sometime is Tyler vision calm It's a great example of how ridiculous Correlations can be here you can see that not only did he find a link between the United States Spending on science space and technology with people taking their life But he also found correlation between people drowning in pools and knit cage movies If you've watched my supernatural psychology series You've learned a bit about why our minds are wired to connect unrelated events when it comes to medical treatments for illnesses like cancer or mental Illnesses like depression and anxiety. We need to realize that we may waste our time in the wrong place a person who spends a year Using essential oils to treat their cancer may be missing out on a treatment that actually has scientific validity While sometimes difficult to find causation Some studies are able to prove higher correlations than others and here are some things We should look out for in these studies has the study been replicated in how many times No matter how many times you do it the average amount of times You'll get heads when flipping a coin is 50% if you only flip the coin five times and it comes up heads every time You may believe that coins always come up heads But if you flip that coin a thousand times you'd see a reduction to the mean This is why studies must be replicated many times for there to be scientific validity Next was there a control group if we're testing a medication we typically need a few groups So if we were testing an essential oil to see if it decreases symptoms of depression We'd want three groups one using the oil one not using the oil and one given a placebo The best type of study is a double-blind study where both the patient and the doctor don't know what group they're in Finally, we should ask how long was the study? Longitudinal studies take place over years, but they're often difficult to fund We typically want to see how people do over time Because there may be side effects that come from long-term use of a medication or more importantly Some people may naturally heal over time in a recent book I was reading by Harvard professor Cass Sunstein It discussed how even doctors are sometimes biased towards treatment Sunstein goes on to say that patients should have the right to choose which type of treatment They're going to get and in the instance of cancer you have three options chemo Surgery or wait and see what happens a doctor who specializes in radiation treatment may nudge you towards chemo a doctor Who specializes in surgery may nudge you towards surgery sometimes cancer goes away on its own But guess how many doctors specialize in that area? Not many Aside from looking at higher quality studies one way we can avoid being taken advantage of by Unproven and potentially dangerous alternative medicines is to look out for the appeal to nature logical fallacy This logical fallacy says this is natural therefore. It's good as we know It's not rational to say that just because something is natural it gives good results Remember plants in nature have evolved over millions of years to fend off animals from eating them So many have toxins that we humans may also have a reaction to in some cases It's quite possible that the cancer will go away on its own for those who struggle with episodic depression When life circumstances get better the depression may go away on its own So when I think about this I often sit and reflect on how incredible the human body is at naturally healing itself in some instances And that's why in this last section of the video We're going to dive into the topic of the placebo effect Our mind is more powerful than many of us give it credit for and it can oftentimes turn belief into reality When you were a child your parents may have kissed your boo boo and it made the pain go away Now there's no scientific research that proves that mommy kisses cure boo boo's But there's something to say about how it can make the pain go away While mommy's kiss didn't cure the boo boo Affection from someone you love makes the brain release endorphins, which is a natural pain reliever But what about essential oils? I'm sure there are plenty of people who have used these oils And they feel less depressed and less anxious in this episode of unwell the mother of the daughter with autism Uses an essential oil diffuser and says her daughter is sleeping better Although her daughter is non-verbal the mother believes the daughter is sleeping better Her belief that the daughter is sleeping better makes the mom happier and less stressed Recently I read an excellent book titled suggestible you the curious science of your brain's ability to deceive Transform and heal by eric vans. It's the best book I've read on the many ways the placebo effect can work and I highly recommend it The author is an ex-christian who becomes fascinated with how the power of belief can have legitimate physiological effects I often contemplate whether the placebo effect is worth it or not If your lucky pair of underwear makes you think that you're having better luck each day Well, as long as you're not getting a rash on your nether regions from not washing them Who am I to tell you that it's a bad idea? Unfortunately essential oils are much different The problem with the essential oil industry as well as other wellness industries is that they sell their product by demonizing medical science And professional medicine as you saw from the woman who had a terrible allergic reaction to the essential oils She turned to a facebook group of other essential oil users rather than a doctor Why because many people sold on essential oils believe that they can't trust doctors In one scene we visit a medical facility where people come for treatment and can also explore Aromatherapy if these people are feeling relief due to the placebo effect more power to them My only concern in instances like this is that insurance doesn't cover aromatherapy And they don't say how much these people are paying for treatment So I'd be worried that some of these people are wasting a lot of money But if the placebo effect is working, how much is it worth to that person? When it comes to the mother who uses an essential oil diffuser to treat her daughter with autism Personally, I don't see it as a big deal Unlike dr. Z. She's not mixing it with her daughter's food. The mother uses a diffuser So not only are the oils diluted by water, but the girl isn't directly inhaling it from the diffuser So best case scenario people are benefiting from the placebo effect of essential oils But in my opinion, there's a much bigger downside From allergic reactions to people being ruined financially by this product This is the exact reason why we need to critically think about alternative medicines Medical science is a complex subject But each of us should take the time to be skeptical when something is presented to us That sounds like it may be too good to be true All right, everybody I hope you enjoyed this video essay and learned a few things Because yeah, this is our health and our mental health that we're talking about So we need to critically think before we just dive into an alternative medicine Like I said, I get it like when we're struggling like we're willing to try anything But sometimes the risk isn't worth it. All right So as always down in the description below I've linked some of the books that I talked about in this video as well as some other books I've been really loving the books by Dr. Steven Novella about Alternative medicines and how to think about them and what we as consumers can do To get better treatments and talk to our doctors about medications and everything like that Because if you're like me, like I'm on antidepressants and things like that But I need to know what I'm taking. What are the risks? What are the side effects? Are there other alternatives? Is this addictive? Can it cause this and all that kind of stuff? So check out those books and if it's a mental health issue Don't be afraid to just talk to a mental health professional like a therapist Actually at the time of recording this tomorrow I got a therapy appointment and I personally use better help online therapy If you want to check it out, there's a link always down in the description and in the pinned comment It's an affiliate link So what that means is that you get affordable online therapy and a little bit comes back to help support the channel All the stuff I do here. All right, but anyways, let me know to in the comments Have you watched unwell? Are there other episodes that you want me to do? Like I think there was like six, but I took notes on all of them So I might do more if you guys are interested or this video, you know, you guys seem to like it So let me know down in the comments if you want me to cover some of the episodes other episodes All right, anyways, that's all I got for this video If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up if you're new Make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell and a huge huge thank you to everybody out there Supporting the channel over on patreon as well as everybody who supports the channel In other ways like getting my books from the rewired soul.com or getting merged from the merch store You're all awesome. All right. Thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time