It was a BBC journalist who alerted me to this website (and later did an interview to be broadcast today, I think). Castle Treatments seem to have been going already for 12 years; they specialise in treating drug and alcohol dependency. And they are very proud of what they have achieved:
“We are the U.K.’s leading experts in advanced treatments to help clients to stop drinking, stop cocaine use and stop drug use. Over the last 12 years we have helped over 9,000 private clients stop using: alcohol, cocaine, crack, nicotine, heroin, opiates, cannabis, spice, legal highs and other medications…
All other treatment methods to help people stop drinking or stop using drugs have a high margin for error and so achieve very low success rates as they use ‘slow and out-dated methods’ such as talking therapies (hypnosis, counselling, rehab, 12 steps, CBT etc) or daily medications (pharma meds, sprays, opiates, subutex etc) which don’t work for most people or most of the time.
This is because none of these methods can remove the ’cause’ of the problem which is the ‘frequency of the substance’ itself. The phase signal of the substance maintains the craving or desire for that substance, once neutralised the craving/desire has either gone or is greatly diminished therefore making it much easier to stop drinking or using drugs as per the client feedback.
When compared to any other method there is no doubt our treatments produce the best results. Over the last 12 years we have helped over 9,000 clients the stop drinking, stop cocaine use or stop using drugs with excellent results as each client receives exactly the same treatment program tailored to their substance(s) which means our success rates are consistently high, making our advanced treatment the logical and natural choice when you want help.
Our technicians took basic principles in physics and applied them to new areas to help with addiction and dependency issues. Our treatment method uses specific phase signals (frequency) to help:
- neutralise any substance and reduce physical dependency
- improve and restore physical & mental health
When the substance is neutralised, the physical urge or craving has ‘gone or is greatly diminished’ therefore making it much easier to stop drinking or using drugs. The body can also absorb beneficial input frequencies so physically and mentally our clients ‘feel much better‘ and so find it much easier to ‘stop and regain control’…
The body (muscle, tissue, bones, cells etc) radiate imbalances including disease, physical, emotional and psychological conditions which have their own unique frequencies that respond to various ‘beneficial input frequencies’ (Hz) or ‘electroceuticals’ which can help to improve physical and mental health hence why our clients feel so much better during/after treatment…”
END OF QUOTE
Sounds interesting?
Not really!
To me this sounds like nonsense on stilts.
Bioresonance is, as far as I can see, complete baloney. It originates from Germany and uses an instrument that is not dissimilar to the e-meter of scientology (its inventor had links to this cult). This instrument is supposed to pick up unhealthy frequencies from the body, inverses them and thus treats the root cause of the problem.
There are two seemingly rigorous positive studies of bioresonance. One suggested that it is effective for treating GI symptoms. This trial was, however, tiny. The other study suggested that it works for smoking cessation. Both of these articles appeared in a CAM journal and have not been independently replicated. A further trial published in a conventional journal reported negative results. In 2004, I published an article in which I used the example of bioresonance therapy to demonstrate how pseudo-scientific language can be used to cloud important issues. I concluded that it is an attempt to present nonsense as science. Because this misleads patients and can thus endanger their health, we should find ways of minimizing this problem (I remember being amazed that a CAM journal published this critique). More worthwhile stuff on bioresonance and related topics can be found here, here and here.
There is no good evidence that bioresonance is effective for drug or alcohol dependency (and even thousands of testimonials do not amount to evidence: THE PLURAL OF ANECDOTE IS ANECDOTES, NOT EVIDENCE!!!). Claiming otherwise is, in my view, highly irresponsible. If I then consider the fees Castle Treatments charge (Alcohol Support: Detox 1: £2,655.00, Detox 2: £3,245.00, Detox 3: £3,835.00) I feel disgusted and angry.
I hope that publishing this post somehow leads to the closure of Castle Treatments and similar clinics.
This is indeed another rich vein of quackery. Trading Standards is effectively shutting down Energise UK Ltd, which I picked up via your post on alkaline salts, and I’m sure we can do the same here.
yes please!
Any idea of the broadcast details?
I think it’s ‘you and yours’
Yes it’s ‘You and yours’ 12.15 UK time Radio 4.
I’ve just caught upon a few John Benneth posts which I’d missed. I’m intrigued by his delusion that he ever leaves a gap between his fifths of drink. I don’t really think he bothers with the intervals. If he’d whipped in a few decades earlier, he’d have been celebrated by some as an equivalent of Ginsberg or Burroughs. The hatred of homosexuals might have been a tad awkward, so a bit of an outsider, but I expect homeopathy will soon announce a cure for that. Whether he’ll agree to take it, or even remember where he put it, we’ll have to see.
The quoted prices are indeed extraordinary. But, since some chiropractors believe that heavy jewellery can cause back problems, maybe this outfit is working on the same evidence- free belief that a full wallet places additional strain on people, and they’re doing their best to provide relief by emptying as many as they can.
The Paxil/GSK quack-cam certainly reduced the wealth of patients and insurers, didn’t it? As long as “modern medicine” profits, there are no complaints by the intellectual plebians who persistently promulgate pseudo-postulates about the profession of chiropractic. I addressed on 3/16/17 some of “Barrie Leeb’s” presently mentioned peeves, referenced in a previous thread regarding the BCA:
“It seems as though someone is getting desperate to find fault with paramedical disciplines when common-sense suggestions are criticized for a “lack of evidence.” As a PM&R, it shouldn’t be too difficult to comprehend the correlation between behaviors, use of heavy backpacks, inadequate footwear, and resultant postural changes, and spinal stress/potential pain.
Non-supportive shoes don’t resist pronation in people who naturally over-pronate; this increses serial postural strain and promotes an increased lumbar lordosis which can exacerbate facet joint arthrosis, spondylolisthesis, and disc-disorder pain. A similar situation exists for some who wear high-heeled shoes.
The use of heavy backpacks by college students is commonly seen in young adults who present with MBP and LBP. This is nothing new to professionals who treat NMS conditions. Does one really need to provide evidence for such an obvious claim?
Virtually every one of the suggestions noted in this article is sensible. Yet Edzard views the article as a “pure promotion of chiropractc.” Contrary to Edzard’s opinion, the article really did not appear to be promotional in the least, as it provided information which might help keep patients OUT OF chiropractic offices, not attract patients to them.”
It’s unfortunate the Barrie has both a short and selective memory. I note that he has retreated from commenting on the IMATCH program which is imbibing $30K+ from patients and insurers for expensive medical services which have at best limited evidence. Yet he here complains about and makes fun of simple, common-sense suggestions from the chiropractic profession as though the suggestions were farcical. Barrie truly seems to march in lockstep with Edzard. Nothing surprising here.
Heard the broadcast – a brief item but quite enough to make any reasonable person understand that this is yet another nutty so called cure. It involves a pendant which the sufferer has to wear next to the skin. A BBC engineer broke it open (with a hammer) and found it to be solid plastic, and not capable of emitting any kind of ‘resonance’. Salford University acoustic engineers (some of the best in the world) could not get it to emit anything, even in a chamber designed to pick up the smallest discharge of energy. And the prices charged for the ‘therapy’ are astronomical.
and yes, I loved Edzard’s description of it all – b*** s***.
the pendant and the pills are not part of the original bioresonance protocol. they seem to be Castle Treatments way of maximising cash flow.
Edzard,
The use of a pendant as part of the original bioresonance protocol is, I think, irrelevant because bioresonance is based in many things, including radionics, in which dowsing using a pendulum or a pendant was their predecessor — hence proponents of bioresonance espouse the use of only sine waves in both the analysis and the cure of a plethora of health problems.
I’m extremely grateful for your article, and your replies to the readers, because you have enabled me to figure out the answer to a profound mystery that has been both puzzling me and worrying me for a few decades. In my comment on Sunday 04 September 2016 at 18:35, I stated:
At last, I am able to fully understand the ‘secret trick’ that underpins applied kinesiology. But, I think it best to refrain from divulging it to the general public; I shall instead continue to use this trick for the purposes of entertainment and education 🙂
Another despicable deception is magnet therapy.
Retailers of “health” products the world over often stock trinkets, mattresses, pillows, bandages, joint supports and other paraphernalia that are said to contain special magnets that influence your well-being in various wonderful ways. The texts are usually cleverly written to avoid regulations attempting to protect consumers.
One such example of many is a small plastic brick for women to fix in their underpants. There is one version for menstrual cramps, another for menopausal suffering. There is also a version cleverly branded “4pain” that you can stick wherever you feel pain.
This particular product seems to be american in origin: https://www.ladycareusa.com/
I came across this in a chain store in Sweden that has also been selling mattresses and pillows with inlaid magnets and promises of improved sleep and other wonders. The owner wasn’t impressed when I pointed out that next door you could buy a good orthopedic pillov for one fifth of the price and some magnets for small change in the hobby shop on the other side. She claimed the product contains a special patented circular type of magnets as stated on the boxes. When I started photographing the packages she threw me out shouting and cursing 🙂
The general agent for this junk in Scandinavia was founded by a pharmacist and among other snake-oil products it distributes ~~~~:drumroll!:~~~~ Oscillococcinum and sports a pharmacist 😀
Three letters to the Swedish consumer protection agency resulted in nothing, not even a thank-you note, even if they have two companies on record having been slammed with heavy fines some years ago for selling magnetic magic with unsubstantiated promises.
@Geir
I agree that some deceptions are despicable:
Danielle Delango expected weight loss surgery to change her life, not take it.
The 25-year-old mother underwent Lap-Band surgery at Lawrence Hospital Center for Advanced Surgery in Bronxville, N.Y., in January 2008.
Allergan, the Irvine, Calif., pharmaceutical giant, produces the Lap-Band, one of the most popular gastric bands on the market. The surgically-implanted device cinches the stomach and severely restricts food intake, making patients feel full quicker.
Lap-Band manufacturers and bariatric surgeons insist the device saves more lives than it takes, but mounting evidence suggests that the dangers of the procedure aren’t adequately known.
On Feb. 16 the Food and Drug Administration lowered the weight requirement for the procedure, expanding Allergan’s potential customer base by 26 million, according to The New York Times. The lower restrictions apply only to those with conditions such as diabetes, which are more threatening when combined with excess weight.
Before the expansion, overweight individuals with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above or a BMI of 35 with an existing obesity-related health problem such as diabetes qualified for surgery. Under the new guidelines, prospective patients can qualify with a BMI as low as 30 if an underlying complication is present. A person who is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 186 pounds, for example, has a BMI of 40.
Though Delango suffered from severe constipation after the operation, she couldn’t immediately get a follow-up appointment.
Over the phone, doctors advised her to take laxatives and an enema. Delango collapsed five weeks after her surgery, just days before her scheduled appointment. She suffered a 104 fever due to extreme infection and died six days later on March 3, 2008. Delango’s official cause of death was a “fever of unknown origins followed by Lap-Band.”
“She wasn’t morbidly obese or suffering from life-threatening health issues,” said Delango’s mother, Joan Delango.
Joan Delango said her daughter had struggled with her weight since junior high school, but insists she wasn’t heavy enough to qualify for surgery. She is unsure of how her daughter qualified for the surgery, unless her medical records were incomplete or erroneous.
“The tragedy is that she didn’t need the surgery in the first place,” said Joan Delango. (IMAGINE THAT!)
Geir complains about the sale of magnets when people are dying resultant to aesthetics-driven procedures performed by bariatric surgeons. Perhaps he should focus more of his attention on “more despicable” deceptions than magnets?
Just sayin’…..
You can find bungling amateurs with MD-degrees all over the world. America has plenty and that is the types who have to advertise in popular press and use simple outdated procedures like lap-band.
I almost scrolled past this blurb as I do with most of L-B’s opuses, but the words Lap-band caught my eye so i suffered through reading it.
This obsession of L-B with bashing me over bariatric surgery is interesting in a way. Difficult to believe it stems only from personal disgruntlement with me, even if I am much smarter and more clever 😀
Excuse my boldness but I cannot help wondering if the poor soul is suffering from the problem bariatric surgery deals with.
If so L-B should have a look at the larger European, namely the Scandinavian bariatric centres. Their results and safety is well documented (as I have shown before) and certified by public health authorities. It is well on par with e.g. gallbladder and hernia surgery as safety and complication rates go.
No bariatric centres who value their patients offer Lap-bands anymore, it gives poor weight loss and is complication prone. Other types of bariatric procedure provide much better and safer results. The value of bariatric surgery in prolonging life expectancy and alleviating obesity related morbidity is well known and documented.
@Geir
You stated, “You can find bungling amateurs with MD-degrees all over the world.” I agree that such can be said for all professions, including chiropractic. Which is more perilous to public health, a chiropractic physician who is treating painful lumbar joint dysfunction or a bungler of a surgeon performing a bariatric procedure on a trusting patient?
Geir has averred that there are “bungling amateurs with MD degrees all over the world.” One would think that such a reality, given an MD’s large scope of practice, would surely be a greater public health risk than conservative chiropractic care or most paramedical procedures.
😀
Dr. Ernst, would you care to comment on this study?:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5339524/
I am afraid to drown in BS while reading it
I’ll comment. Three words. NOT A STUDY. That is loosely speaking an opinion article. At best it forms a hypothesis. It isn’t even a systematic review since there is no methodology or attempt to cover the area in an unbiased way.
One of its authors is Deepak Chopra.
The paper Epigenetic Mechanisms of Integrative Medicine states:
QUOTE
Competing Interests
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.
END of QUOTE
“One of its authors is Deepak Chopra.” “The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.” That’s reasonable; Deepak Chopra can’t possibly comprehend epigenetics!
Nor conflicts of interest!
I have coined a term for papers like the one I cited above…..”word salad” .
‘Word salad’: a confused or unintelligible mixture of seemingly random words and phrases, specifically (in psychiatry) as a form of speech indicative of advanced schizophrenia.(Google)
I think you should start your search for another term to use for the article that you cited.
They tried running the same exact scam on me, Gary. I bit, or rather nibbled, only up until the time they wanted me to pay the talent agency they were going to have me work with out of a bogus check they sent me. I said, “Whaaaaattt?!” I don’t think so. Same story…Complex Media.