My ‘Alternative Medicine Hall of Fame’ welcomes Terry Oleson

My ‘ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE HALL OF FAME‘ (the group of people who have managed to publish nothing but positive findings about a dubious therapy) currently consists of 20 members (unless I have forgotten somone, which is possible, of course):

1. Jorge Vas (acupuncture, Spain)
2. Wane Jonas (homeopathy, US)
3. Harald Walach (various SCAMs, Germany)
4. Andreas Michalsen ( various SCAMs, Germany)
5. Jennifer Jacobs (homeopath, US)
6. Jenise Pellow (homeopath, South Africa)
7. Adrian White (acupuncturist, UK)
8. Michael Frass (homeopath, Austria)
9. Jens Behnke (research officer, Germany)
10. John Weeks (editor of JCAM, US)
11. Deepak Chopra (entrepreneur, US)
12. Cheryl Hawk (US chiropractor)
13. David Peters (osteopathy, homeopathy, UK)
14. Nicola Robinson (TCM, UK)
15. Peter Fisher (homeopathy, UK)
16. Simon Mills (herbal medicine, UK)
17. Gustav Dobos (various SCAMs, Germany)
18. Claudia Witt (homeopathy, Germany/Switzerland)
19. George Lewith (acupuncture, UK)
20. John Licciardone (osteopathy, US)

Today, it is time to add the 21st member. My last post was about a weird study co-authored by someone who struck me as truly remarkable. Terry Oleson is employed by the Department of Traditional Oriental Medicine, Emperor’s College of Traditional Oriental Medicine, Santa Monica, CA, USA. On ‘research gate‘, he describes his expertise as follows:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Biological Psychology
• Clinical Trials
• Addiction Medicine
• Allied Health Science

Oleson received his BA in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1967, his MA in Psychology from California State University at Long Beach in 1971, and his PhD from UC Irvine in 1973. He went on to conduct a postdoctoral scholarship at UCLA at that time, where he conducted pioneering research in auricular diagnosis and auriculotherapy. Since many years, Oleson has published on auricular acupuncture and acupressure, at least one book and the papers listed below. This is an oddly dubious and biologically implausible so-called alternative medicine (SCAM). Terry Oleson – whom I never knowingly met in person – and his research are all the more remarkable: in his hands auricular therapy seems to work of just about everything:

1. Effect of auricular acupressure on postpartum blues: A randomized sham controlled trial. Alimoradi Z, Asgari S, Barghamadi S, Hajnasiri H, Oleson T, Griffiths MD.Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2023 Aug;52:101762. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2023.101762. Epub 2023 Apr 10.PMID: 37060791
2. Auriculotherapy stimulation for neuro-rehabilitation.  Oleson T.NeuroRehabilitation. 2002;17(1):49-62.PMID: 12016347
3. Acupuncture: the search for biologic evidence with functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography techniques. Cho ZH, Oleson TD, Alimi D, Niemtzow RC.J Altern Complement Med. 2002 Aug;8(4):399-401. doi: 10.1089/107555302760253577.PMID: 12230898
4. Commentary on auricular acupuncture for cocaine abuse. Oleson TD.J Altern Complement Med. 2002 Apr;8(2):123-5. doi: 10.1089/107555302317371406.PMID: 12013511
5. Clinical Commentary on an Auricular Marker Associated with COVID-19. Oleson T, Niemtzow RC, Pock A.Med Acupunct. 2020 Aug 1;32(4):176-177. doi: 10.1089/acu.2020.29152.com. Epub 2020 Aug 13.PMID: 32913483
6. Comparison of Auricular Therapy with Sham in Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Binesh M, Daghighi MR, Shirazi E, Oleson T, Hashem-Dabaghian F.J Altern Complement Med. 2020 Jun;26(6):515-520. doi: 10.1089/acm.2019.0477. Epub 2020 May 20.PMID: 32434376
7.  Application of Polyvagal Theory to Auricular Acupuncture.Oleson T.Med Acupunct. 2018 Jun 1;30(3):123-125. doi: 10.1089/acu.2018.29085.tol.PMID: 29937963
8. The effect of ear acupressure (auriculotherapy) on sexual function of lactating women: protocol of a randomized sham controlled trial. Barghamadi S, Alimoardi Z, Oleson T, Bahrami N.Trials. 2020 Aug 20;21(1):729. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04663-x.PMID: 32819441
9.  Randomized controlled study of premenstrual symptoms treated with ear, hand, and foot reflexology. Oleson T, Flocco W.Obstet Gynecol. 1993 Dec;82(6):906-11.PMID: 8233263
10. Auricular electrical stimulation and dental pain threshold. Simmons MS, Oleson TD.Anesth Prog. 1993;40(1):14-9.PMID: 8185085
11. Rapid narcotic detoxification in chronic pain patients treated with auricular electroacupuncture and naloxone. Kroening RJ, Oleson TD.Int J Addict. 1985 Sep;20(9):1347-60. doi: 10.3109/10826088509047771.PMID: 2867052
12. Investigation of the effects of naloxone upon acupuncture analgesia. Oleson TD.Pain. 1984 Jun;19(2):201-4. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(84)90872-8.PMID: 6462730
13.  Electroacupuncture & auricular electrial stimulation. Oleson TD, Kroening RJ.IEEE Eng Med Biol Mag. 1983;2(4):22-6. doi: 10.1109/MEMB.1983.5005987.PMID: 19493718
14. An experimental evaluation of auricular diagnosis: the somatotopic mapping or musculoskeletal pain at ear acupuncture points. Oleson TD, Kroening RJ, Bresler DE.Pain. 1980 Apr;8(2):217-229. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(88)90009-7.PMID: 7402685

14 papers about a dodgy SCAM without the hint of a negative finding! I hope we can all agree that this achievement makes Terry a worthy member of my ‘HALL OF FAME’, a group of people who, like Terry, have been able to publish nothing but positive findings about the most dubious SCAMs.

Welcome Terry!