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3. Humans tend to feel better when other humans take care of them, pay attention to them, touch them

It’s not that crazy, and it’s based in empirical observation and consistent with our biological/medical understanding.

See also: the ASMR trend. A lot of the videos are emulating personal attention and ‘social grooming’ (someone doing your makeup, haircare, shaving, etc). And reiki, crystals, tarot, palm reading, and so on are all popular subjects too! Some section of the population, those who experience ASMR properly, have a unique physical reaction to this sort of attention and touch; and it’s obvious that large sections at least find it relaxing and calming in a way that enhances their wellbeing and gives them a feeling of social connectedness. To say it’s all debunked mumbo jumbo that won’t cure cancer is to miss the point!

A lot of people still have the mindset that the body is a system with clear inputs and outputs and predictable outcomes. But in many cases the brain plays a big role so things like people feeling good and getting attention helps a lot. A lot of regular medicine feels very rushed and if you have a complex problem it's hard to get anybody to listen. I bet for things like chronic pain or chronic fatigue they would get better results if they slowed down a little and listened.

Reductionism is just one methodology of many, and has shortcomings regarding complexity, subjective experience and 3-many-body problems.

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