SPED102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Music Therapy, Germ Theory Of Disease, Chiropractic
2 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Health Related Pseudoscience
• Conventional Firefighting
o Based on western assumption that fire involves a chemical reaction
involving the exchange of electrons between atoms to form new
molecules with release of energy
o Rapid oxidization reaction
o Fire tetrahedron
o Firefighting techniques:
▪ Prevention
▪ Cooling (water)
▪ Smothering (water/foam)
▪ Removing fuel
▪ Chemical inhibition
• Alternative firefighting
o Based on the view western firefighting only treats the symptoms of the
fire but not the underlying cause
o Many different systems of alternative firefighting exist
o Homeopathic firefighting
▪ Petrol is subject to multiple dilutions in water, increasing its
potency
▪ Uncontrolled pragmatic trials suggest that most fires will self-
extinguish within a few days with only a few drops of
homeopathically ‘potentialised’ petrol
o Reiki firefighting
▪ Fire is caused by disruption of the balance of subtle cosmic
energy (undetectable to science)
▪ Practitioners approach the fire and move their hands to realign
and balance the cosmic energy, thus extinguishing the fire
• Western Aeronautics
o Science involved in design of flying machines
o Based on analysis of four vector forces that influence flight: thrust, lift,
drag and weight
o Includes analysis of aerodynamics, stability and control in aircraft
design
• Alternative Aeronautics
o Rejects western reductionist views of flight and takes a more holistic
and spiritual viewpoint
o Many different approaches, for example:
▪ Psychics channel angel vibrations and transfer this energy to
common objects, investing them with flight energy
▪ Flight characteristics of angels in ancient texts are studied to
establish the ideal parameters of flight
▪ Transcendental approach where flight can be achieved with
deep mediation
o All natural and chemical free flight designs are being explored
o Both Airbus and Boeing reputed to be using alternative natural
aeronautic design principles for their next generation of commercial
aircraft
• Weird treatments
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Newborn has jaundice – blue green light shine on her
o Have a headache – naturally occurring chemical from bark of willow
tree
o Tummy pain – remove part of digestive tract with knife
o Got tumour – shoot up with radiation beams
o But these are all well researched conventional medical treatments
• Modern Medicine
o Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease
o Vast array of treatments that share some core features:
▪ Evidence-based (mostly)
▪ Plausible mechanisms based in science
• Alternative medicine
o Energy therapies
▪ Reiki, magnetic touch
o Manipulative and body-based
▪ Chiropractic, reflexology
o Biologically-based interventions
▪ Herbs or vitamin supplements
o Mind-body interventions
▪ Enhance mind’s capacity to affect the body e.g. art, music
therapy, yoga, meditation, psychic healing
o Alternative medical systems
▪ Acupuncture, homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine
• Common features?
o Key feature:
▪ Disproven or unproven (proven interventions become
medicine)
o Common features:
▪ Include features of pseudoscience (e.g. anecdotal evidence,
appeal to nature, appeal to authority/antiquity)
▪ Mechanisms implausible or inconsistent with established
scientific principles
▪ Inconsistent with each other
• CAM use in Australia?
o Xue et al. surveyed 1067 adult Australians and estimated that 68.9%
used CAM in the preceding year
o CAM use in US – vegetarian diet, massage, meditation, yoga, tai chi,
progressive relaxation → would not really regard these as alternative
• How much does it cost?
o In 2007, Americans spent $33.9 billion out-of-pocket on CAM
o Xue et al. estimated that 68.9% of Australians used CAM each year
and the total cost was $4.13 billion
o The federal government subsides these costs via the private health
insurance rebate
• Homeopathy
o Invented by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843)
o Developed before understanding of the rudiments of modern medicine
(germ theory, antibiotics, controlled trials, anaesthesia and sterile
surgery)
o Principles:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Include features of pseudoscience (e. g. anecdotal evidence, appeal to nature, appeal to authority/antiquity: mechanisms implausible or inconsistent with established scientific principles. Findings of currently viable cochrane review of studies of homeopathy do not show that homeopathic medicines have effects beyond placebo": uk house of commons report on homeopathy. The systematic reviews and meta-analyses conclusively demonstrate that homeopathic products perform no better than placebos": recommended government should cease funding homeopathy and licensing homeopathic products, nhmrc in australia reviewed evidence on homeopathy: Complementary" medicine: confirmation bias, regression to the mean and self-limiting illness, lack of side effects of ineffective treatment, placebo effect. African government and 35,000 babies were born with aids due to the failure to implement mother-to-child transmission prophylaxis: most importantly, it damages our thinking and we are in danger of making the same mistakes again. Cam is defined in terms of its lack of clear evidence of efficacy.
