PTSD And Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): Quackery

"Today we're going to unravel a specific type of psychotherapy, and it's one that presents the researcher with formidable walls to scale of both support and criticism. Some psychotherapists are firm believers; some are firm detractors. The therapy is called EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is controversial as the day is long, and yet it enjoys broad recommendations in most of the world's major guidelines. It also has plenty of criticism of its effectiveness. And it has a wildly unscientific origin story, which never bodes well for any kind of treatment. So now let's dive in and find out if EMDR is for real or phony.

"EMDR is one of a number of treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a potentially serious and debilitating condition in which certain traumatic memories can trigger anything from nightmares and anxiety to an uncontrollable emotional breakdown to a complete dissociative episode. The idea is to reduce the emotional distress associated with traumatic memories, and when used as an adjunct to other therapies, EMDR does this by attempting to get the brain to reprocess those memories via bilateral stimulation. Whether bilateral stimulation can actually do that is mainly where the controversy around EMDR lies. The stimulation is usually guided eye movements back and forth, but can also be tactile or auditory: tapping or holding a buzzer in each hand, or hearing tones played through headphones alternating between left and right. A typical EMDR session would include the patient recalling and talking about their traumatic memory while the therapist moves a pointer from side to side in front of them, for the patient to follow with their eyes. If you were uninitiated and saw this happening, you might well be inclined to wonder what kind of freaky woo you had just walked into."

Click on the link below for more:

EMDR: Looking Past the Pain

Enneagrams: Another Failure Of A Horoscope Wannabe

"Today we're going to open a drawer in our cabinet of New Age psychometric modalities — as one does — and flip to the folder for enneagrams. For years, this has been growing in popularity as a way to understand our own personalities, and the personalities of those around us, and how we might interact. Some would argue that it's like a blending of Myers-Briggs, numerology, and horoscopes; others would claim that it has solid science behind it. What is the truth of enneagrams? Do we each have an enneagram number that tells us useful things about ourselves, or can it be dismissed as glorified numerology?"

Click on the link below for an analysis of an ancient pseudoscience that just will not go away:

The Conspirituality of Enneagrams

Red Lights, Cold Lasers, And Other Light For Medical Treatment

" - - - Photobiomodulation is a technique by which light is used to stimulate living things into healing themselves. It has taken the form of handheld lasers, helmets full of LED lights, futuristic tanning beds, and even strange nose clips that shine a light inside the nostril to reach the brain.

"Reviewing the literature on each application of photobiomodulation—from smoking cessation to spinal cord injury, from wound healing to age-related degenerative conditions—would be laborious. Instead, I want to take a bird’s-eye view of the hype around photobiomodulation and point out the sobering context in which it exists: exciting findings in cells and animal models rarely lead to applications in humans, and it is all too easy for overeager scientists to fantasize about how an intervention might work before it has even been shown to work."

Click on the link below for more:

The Hype Around Photobiomodulation

Sacred Frequencies: The Worst Of Quackery?

I was watching one of my favorite YouTube channels and came across this advertisement. It's so bad, it could pass as a parody. I reported it to YouTube.

In my efforts to find out more about it, I found a similar one, here, almost as bad. 

"Sacred Frequencies", my arse. That said, much music is calming and therapeutic, just not in the category of working miracles!!

- - - - - - -

Some reading this may have heard the term "Solfeggio Frequencies." The term was new to me. It was found in researching "Sacred Frequencies" and appears to be similar to such (maybe the same thing?). In any event, below are some links describing it as quackery:

https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4474

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Solfeggio_frequencies

https://glasgowguardian.co.uk/2023/03/29/solfeggio-frequencies-and-making-a-quick-buck/

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/no-evidence-support-claim-solfeggio-frequencies-remove-toxins-from-body/

The Horrors Of A Scientist Doing Pseudoscience

"Few scientists have caused more death and suffering than Trofim Lysenko. He was a Soviet botanist whose ideas around genetics (i.e., he didn’t believe in it) led to massive famines across multiple decades when Josef Stalin promoted his ideas across the country. And yet… He’s becoming popular again. Why? Let’s look at it."

Click on the link below for a video presenting an example of the consequences of even scientists not understanding the scientific method, with horrible consequences:

The Absolute Worst Scientist Of All Time - And Why He’s Popular Again

Can Sanjay Gupta Be Trusted?

"Gupta is known for his many TV appearances on health-related issues. During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, he has been a frequent contributor to numerous CNN shows covering the crisis, as well as hosting a weekly town hall with Anderson Cooper.[3] Gupta was the host of the CNN show Sanjay Gupta MD for which he has won multiple Emmy Awards. Gupta also hosted the 6-part miniseries Chasing Life. He is a frequent contributor to other CNN programs such as American Morning, Larry King Live, CNN Tonight, and Anderson Cooper 360°. His reports from Charity Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina led to his winning a 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Feature Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast. He is also a special correspondent for CBS News." (Wikipedia)

What most folks who have been exposed to him in the media do not know about him is that his advice is not always consistent with the consensus of medical experts on some subjects. Click on the link below for a science-based look at him:

Where Does Sanjay Gupta Register On The Quackometer?

"Big Pharma": The Bad And The GOOD

"Valid criticism of the pharmaceutical industry often snowballs into demonization, leading conspiracy theorists to promote an alternative that is simply hypocritical."

Click on the link below for a balanced presentation of the drug industry, with its warts, but also its tremendous good works:

What the "Big Pharma" Accusation Gets Right (And Wrong) About The Drug Industry

Sex/Gender: The Science, Not The Pseudoscience

 "As with most things in science, the concept of boy versus girl is more complicated than it appears at first glance. It’s not a simple dichotomy. We, humans, like to classify everything into neat pigeonholes, but Nature’s inventiveness outsmarts us at every step.":

Many factors combine to determine sex and gender, and not one of them is simply black and white.

- - - - - - - 

"Antiscientific sentiment bombards our politics, or so says the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW). Chief among these antiscientific sentiments, the IDW cites the rising visibility of transgender civil rights demands. To the IDW, trans people and their advocates are destroying the pillars of our society with such free-speech–suppressing, postmodern concepts as: “trans women are women,” “gender-neutral pronouns,” or “there are more than two genders.” Asserting “basic biology” will not be ignored, the IDW proclaims. “Facts don’t care about your feelings.”

"The irony in all this is that these “protectors of enlightenment” are guilty of the very behavior this phrase derides. Though often dismissed as just a fringe internet movement, they espouse unscientific claims that have infected our politics and culture. Especially alarming is that these “intellectual” assertions are used by nonscientists to claim a scientific basis for the dehumanization of trans people. The real-world consequences are stacking up: the trans military ban, bathroom bills, removal of workplace and medical discrimination protections, a 41-51 percent suicide attempt rate, and targeted fatal violence. It’s not just internet trolling anymore.

"Contrary to popular belief, scientific research helps us better understand the unique and real transgender experience. Specifically, through three subjects: (1) genetics, (2) neurobiology, and (3) endocrinology. So, hold onto your parts, whatever they may be. It’s time for 'the talk'":

Stop Using Phony Science to Justify Transphobia

The World Health Organization: Beware Of Quackery

"In trying to ensure everyone has access to healthcare, the WHO promotes homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, and rhythmical embrocations"

Click on the link below for the details:

The World Health Organization Has a Pseudoscience Problem

Eric Berg DC: Your Arch-Typical All-Around Quack

 "Eric Berg (c. 1972–)^[1] is an American quack, antivaxxer, chiropractor, cholesterol denialist, conspiracy theorist, scientologist and ketogenic diet advocate. Berg promotes pseudoscientific health advice and quackery.^[2][3] Berg is not a medical doctor.^[4] Berg practiced chiropractic for 29 years and is now a full-time YouTube blogger who has made thousands of videos offering health advice. Berg has over 4 million subscribers and claims to have made over 5000 videos.^[5]" (Rational Wiki)

Click on the link above for more.

Like Religion, Alternatives To Medicine Continue To Survive Without Supporting Evidence

Since establishing this blog several years ago, I have focused much of my energy on attacking the two major pseudosciences of religion and alternatives to medicine. Click on the link below for an interesting video on the history of the latter. Ironically, many religious folks will shake their heads and say how silly were those practices. The reality: both are silly and harmful to the informed today.

"Modern medicine has seen more development in the past 50 years than in all of human history combined. Many long-practiced medical treatments now seem completely bizarre in retrospect - things like putting animal dung on a wound, drinking urine, carving holes in your skull, or drinking medicinal potions made of morphine or mercury. But which practices are considered the most peculiar from all of human medical history? Which practices were once used as medicinal treatments only to be later found incredibly dangerous?"

Bizarre Medical Practices From History

The Latest Science of Weight Loss

"Lesley Stahl reports on how obesity is misunderstood, and the struggle to get new weight loss drugs to people who need them."

Click on the link below for a 60 Minutes segment video presenting the latest research on the causes of obesity and the problems get the best treatment for such:

Promising new weight loss medication is in short supply and often not covered by insurance 

(And, then there is this typical pseudoscience.)

More Electromagnetic Quackery

"Today we're going back to our alternative medicine files, and have a look at one of the more expensive and exotic-sounding treatments on the market: Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) devices, promising to end your pain and cure virtually any disease using nothing more than a magnet. If this sounds too good to be true, then you might not be too surprised to learn what the medical consensus is on this. Nevertheless the market is flooded with countless such devices, prompting one to wonder: Is it possible that health and pain-free living are really that easy? Let's find out."

Click on the link below for a podcast delving into this bullsh!t that just will not go away:

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Woo

Metabolism Boosters For Weight Loss?

"It's an adage that gets repeated again and again: you can speed up your metabolism and lose weight by eating certain foods or taking supplements.

"There's just one fairly large problem with that statement. Namely, that it's not true at all.

"No matter what the claims on that bottle of raspberry ketone supplements say, nothing you eat can speed up your metabolism to the point of slimming down. What's more, obese people don't necessarily have slower metabolic rates than thin people. And science can prove it."

Click on the link below for a debunking of one of the most common advertisements on the internet (Sorry, Dr. Oz):

Why "metabolism boosters" are bullshit

Much Of What We Accept As Science Is Not So

"We too readily accept whatever we are taught. Not Tomasz Witkowski! He sets an example that we all should follow: he questions everything! His questions lead him to discover that much of psychology, culture, and even science itself is not supported by credible evidence. This book will challenge you to reconsider some of your most cherished beliefs and to realize that much of what you thought you knew is wrong. Prepare to be discombobulated by his revelations."

Click on the link below for a book review by Harriet Hall, the SkepDoc, of the latest book by renowned debunker Tomasz Witkowski, which exposes the non-science behind much that is passed off as such:

Tomasz Witkowski Busts More Myths

Sports And Pseudoscience

"Earlier this year, the world’s most successful male tennis player, Novak Djokovic, was deported from Australia—not for misconduct on the court or for doping, but for violating Australia’s border policy that mandated COVID-19 vaccinations.1 Djokovic is one of many professional athletes who have refused the vaccine, a list that includes Czech tennis player Renata Voráčová; NBA players Kyrie Irving and Jonathan Isaac; American golfer Bryson DeChambeau; and professional footballers Aaron Rodgers, Cole Beasley, Vernon Butler, and Star Lotulelei."

Anti-vaccination is only the tip of the iceberg of athletes and so-called sports medicine going rogue against science. Click on the link below for the details. If you think this is an isolated article, Google "sports pseudoscience" and you will get an eyeful:

Is Sports A Breeding Ground for Pseudoscience?

Harriet Hall: The "SkepDoc" Continues To Debunk Nonsense

For most of my professional life as a physical therapist, there was no one who gave me more fuel to combat medical quackery than my contemporary-in-age Harriet Hall, MD: "a U.S. retired family physician, former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and skeptic who writes about alternative medicine and quackery for Skeptic and Skeptical Inquirer. She writes under the name The SkepDoc."

Click on the links below for recent examples from her biting commentary that I regularly receive via email (she is no longer accepting requests for such, but, if you would like to get on a "Forward" list that I am creating, send me your email), She also is on Facebook:

Neuroplastic Nonsense

Bobath Cerebral Palsy and Stroke Rehab Nonsense

Supplements: Misguided Marketing

Race and Medicine

Exploding Myths In Culture, Science, And Psychology

"We too readily accept whatever we are taught. Not Tomasz Witkowski! He sets an example that we all should follow: he questions everything! His questions lead him to discover that much of psychology, culture, and even science itself are not supported by credible evidence. This book will challenge you to reconsider some of your most cherished beliefs, and to realize that much of what you thought you knew is wrong. Prepare to be discombobulated by his revelations."

The most important trait of a science-based thinker is to realize that you can be wrong in your beliefs. After all, science is performed by imperfect humans with a limited knowledge base. Ironically, it is this trait that has advanced society through positive change based on objective evidence. Unfortunately, virtually all other worldviews are resistant to change.

Click on the link below for a book review concerning the above realities:

Fads, Fakes, And Frauds

Astrology: Yes, It's STILL A Thing

"It’s a science thingy, but more fun! A recently published study claims that belief in Astrology correlates with some negative personality traits, like narcissism. But, is it a Good Science Thingy(tm)? Or did Mars being in retrograde cause the researchers to overstate their conclusions? It’s definitely one or the other!"

Click on the link below for a humerous analysis of the possible correlation between this belief and negative personality traits:

Does Belief in Astrology Correlate with Narcissism?

New Age Pseudoscience

Click on the links below for an expose of the scam of the New Age/New Thought Movement, which began over a century ago:

The Dark World of New Age Gurus

My Journey into the dark, hypnotic world of a millennial guru

New Age Fraud

I was a self-help guru