Marcelo Saad

Spiritist Medical Association of Sao Paulo

Marcelo Saad, MD, PhD (Brazil), is a physician, board certified in acupuncture. He has a doctorate in the Sciences of Rehabilitation from the Federal University of S. Paulo. He is also current director member of the Spiritist-Medical Association of S. Paulo. He has been invited to the upcoming postgraduate course in Interfaith Hospital Chaplaincy, Santa Marcelina Medical School. Besides his work as a medical acupuncturist in private practice, he is also engaged in scientific publications, editorial collaborations with journals and books, medical lectures, and participation in scholarly tasks. His main interests are religiosity in healthcare, acupuncture, and complementary therapies.

5books edited

6chapters authored

Latest work with IntechOpen by Marcelo Saad

Acupuncture may have about 4000 years of history, but it has only been clinically accepted in the West for some 40 years. Acupuncture receives both praise from its users and skepticism from its critics. High-quality scientific studies have advanced, but the technique of acupuncture in health services has stagnated. In this current scenario of contrasts, Acupuncture - Resolving Old Controversies and Pointing New Pathways intends to be a modern reference for scholars, without totally exhausting the subject. The editors expect this work to assist with the advancement of the scientific understanding and clinical usage of acupuncture. The authors are well versed in the subject and, along with literature reviews, are able to add their own impressions. In this book, some traditional fundamentals of ancient Asian medicine are translated into the current scientific knowledge of neurophysiology and mechanisms of action. Specific variations of acupuncture, such as the scalp microsystem technique, are discussed and explained. Practical aspects, such as education on acupuncture, are enriched with descriptions of novel treatments. The therapeutic use of acupuncture and related techniques is explored regarding their incorporation into a comprehensive integrative medicine approach. As editors, we thank the contributing authors for their exquisite work, and we congratulate IntechOpen for its efforts in book production. For you, the readers, we hope to match the trust you put in this work, and we hope you find it useful.

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AcupunctureResolving Old Controversies and Pointing New PathwaysEdited by Marcelo Saad

By Marcelo Saad, Mario Sergio Rossi Vieira, Liliana Lourenço Jorge and Roberta de Medeiros

Part of the book: Acupuncture

Distant Healing by the Supposed Vital Energy – Scientific Bases

By Marcelo Saad and Roberta de Medeiros

Part of the book: Complementary Therapies for the Contemporary Healthcare

Spiritual-Religious Coping – Health Services Empowering Patients’ Resources

By Marcelo Saad and Roberta de Medeiros

Part of the book: Complementary Therapies for the Contemporary Healthcare

Complementary Therapies – Considerations Before Recommend, Tolerate or Proscribe Them

By Roberta de Medeiros and Marcelo Saad

Part of the book: Complementary Therapies for the Contemporary Healthcare

Distant Healing Techniques and Distant Intercessory Prayer – A Tentative Scientific Conciliation

By Marcelo Saad and Roberta de Medeiros

Currently there is a lack of a universally accepted theory that would constitute the base for the DH paradigm, and some fundamental issues about the mechanisms of DH remain non-responded. Even so, there is sparse documentation that intentions of one person can remotely influence mental and body functions of another person. With the available data, it becomes difficult to formulate an opinion about the validity of such techniques in healthcare. The question of DH may be put under the frame "Is the glass half empty or half full?". People who look at the issue of DH and see a half empty glass usually raise these points: Scientific evidence of benefit is poor, from scarce studies, many of them with methodological limitations; There is a lack of a coherent theory aligned to the ordinary reality based upon Newtonian science; Practical obstacles for healthcare include high variability of outcomes and low relevance of clinical effects. People who look at the issue of DH and see a half full glass usually raise these points: the positive results from some serious and well designed researches may indicate a possible hidden reality; emerging understanding of the mind and its non-local properties may explain the gap of distance; commitment to the patients' claims for a humanistic, comprehensive and integrative healthcare. We may cite two poles of ignorance and the balanced position related to the discussion of DH. The first pole is the obstinate skepticism (arrogant and prejudiced attachment to materialism), that denies the full half. The opposite pole is the naive mysticism (unrealistic trust on paranormal potentialities), that denies the empty half. The balanced position is called here the option for the open-minded scientificism. Some opportunities of advancement in this field would arise from these points: new and adequate research designs complying with limitations of the phenomenon; the progressive consolidation of a new, post-materialist scientific paradigm; optimizing the efficacy of the phenomenon knowing better its interfering factors.

Part of the book: Complementary Therapies for the Body, Mind and Soul

Introductory Chapter: Acupuncture - What Controversies? What Pathways?

By Marcelo Saad and Roberta de Medeiros

Part of the book: Acupuncture

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Marcelo Saad

Latest work with IntechOpen by Marcelo Saad

Acupuncture

Books edited

Complementary Therapies for the Body, Mind and Soul

Complementary Therapies for the Contemporary Healthcare

Acupuncture

Acupuncture

Chapters authored

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