Bach flowers: what are they and how do they work? – AssoCareNews.it

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That miraculous plant. Bach flowers: what they are. What the studies say. Do they really work?

Bach flowers are an alternative medicine conceived by the British doctor Edward Bach between 1928 and 1930. In this regard, Bach argued the need for this form of therapy to be simple and accessible to everyone, as he said anyone would have the potential and the sensitivities necessary to carry out self-diagnosis and self-practice.

He also argued that the therapy should be preventive and free from side effects. At the basis of Bach’s flower therapy is the principle according to which, in the treatment of a person, only his emotions and personality must be taken into consideration, which would determine the symptom manifested in the physical: the single flower would be able to give the way to the transformation process of the negative emotion into its positive trait, with a consequent disappearance of the physical symptom, the latter being considered the final disturbance of a discomfort originating at another, much deeper level.

However, repeated and in-depth medical and scientific researches have not shown any therapeutic effect of Bach flowers, other than the self-suggestive one of the placebo effect. According to supporters, the flower remedies discovered by Bach release their energy or memory into the water, if properly treated. Bach flowers are also employed by psychologists and doctors who adopt alternative therapies, such as homeopathy.

“But do these flowers have any real effectiveness or do they just tend to suggest?”

In order to answer these questions in an exhaustive manner, it is obviously necessary to read up on the research carried out. In order to test the effectiveness of a therapeutic method, the method of choice is the randomized controlled trial (RCT). It is a study in which patients are randomly assigned to receive a clinical intervention. One of these interventions will be the standard of comparison or control. Control can be standard practice, placebo, or no intervention at all.

A 2010 article published in the Swiss Medical Weekly magazine examined the seven RCTs conducted to date on the effectiveness of Bach flowers. Four RCTs evaluated the efficacy of flower therapy in reducing anxiety in different types of subjects and mainly in students struggling with examinations or patients undergoing surgery. The experimental group took the appropriate Bach flower while the control group took plain water. None of the four studies found differences between those who took the flowers and those who took water. Among these, only one study found that there was a decrease in exam stress in both groups.

It was therefore concluded that Bach flowers acted as a placebo but without a real specific effect. However, it should not be overlooked that the placebo effect is present in every type of therapy. Any drug, as well as any psychological intervention, produces changes not due to the therapy itself but to the fact that the person is taking something or is following a therapeutic path. This is the placebo effect: an improvement induced by the patient’s positive expectations.

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