Monthly Archives: May 2024
Anyone who writes a lively blog like this one is bound to receive all sorts of attacks, accusations, insults, innuendo, etc. I certainly have been claimed or implied to be many things that I am simply and objectively not. Many of them are quite hilarious in their stupidity, in my view. Perhaps it might be fun to list (some of) them.
Here we go (in no particular order).
I am not:
- woke
- anti-woke
- someone who thinks that woke is a useful concept
- against restricting discussions on certain topics (but I may not be interested in some subjects)
- an expert on any subject other than so-called alternative medicine (SCAM)
- like Trump (I think it was D Ullmann who stated that I was like Trump)
- young (recently, I was repeatedly criticised for being an ‘old white man’)
- a woman (recently, I was repeatedly criticised for being an ‘old white man’)
- black (recently, I was repeatedly criticised for being an ‘old white man’)
- an anti-semite
- a racist
- right-wing (I have not even once voted conservative in my life)
- devoid of experience in SCAM as a patient
- a researcher who has never practised SCAM
- someone who has never done any original research
- someone who does not know what he is talking about
- unqualified
- someone who was fired from an academic appointment
- a pseudoscientist
- a man who has falsified his research
- on the payroll of BIG PHARMA
- receiving any money for running this blog
- relying on any finacial support other than my pensions
- a liar
- a fraud
- someone who took the Exeter appointment in order to ditch homeopathy
- out to defame SCAM (I am advocating solid evidence and criticising claims that are not evidence-based)
- running an evil empire
- devoid of self-confidence
- someone who despises women
- suffering from digestive problems
- unable to process feelings
- someone who manipulates data
- the head of a lobby group
- perfect (sadly, that’s the only claim nobody ever made).
Have I promised too much?
The list is long and the claims are as funny as they are unfounded. Evidence that (some of) these allegations have indeed been made can be found here, here, here, and here or, if you are really keen and gifted at doing searches, on X [formerly Twitter].
Many forms of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) involve touch, and touch is of critical importance: many studies have shown that it promotes mental and physical well-being.
A team of researchers conducted a pre-registered (PROSPERO: CRD42022304281) systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis encompassing 137 studies in the meta-analysis and 75 additional studies in the systematic review (n = 12,966 individuals, search via Google Scholar, PubMed and Web of Science until 1 October 2022) to identify critical factors moderating touch intervention efficacy.
Included studies always featured a touch versus no touch control intervention with diverse health outcomes as dependent variables. Risk of bias was assessed via small study, randomization, sequencing, performance and attrition bias.
The results show that touch interventions were especially effective in:
- regulating cortisol levels (Hedges’ g = 0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24 to 1.31),
- increasing weight (0.65, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.94) in newborns,
- reducing pain (0.69, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.89),
- reducing feelings of depression (0.59, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.78),
- reducing state (0.64, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.84) or trait anxiety (0.59, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.77) for adults.
Comparing touch interventions involving objects or robots resulted in similar physical (0.56, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.88 versus 0.51, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.64) but lower mental health benefits (0.34, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.49 versus 0.58, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.73). Adult clinical cohorts profited more strongly in mental health domains compared with healthy individuals (0.63, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.80 versus 0.37, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.55).
The authors found no difference in health benefits in adults when comparing touch applied by a familiar person or a health care professional (0.51, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.73 versus 0.50, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.61), but parental touch was more beneficial in newborns (0.69, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.88 versus 0.39, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.61). Small but significant small study bias and the impossibility to blind experimental conditions need to be considered.
The authors concluded that leveraging factors that influence touch intervention efficacy will help maximize the benefits of future interventions and focus research in this field.
It seems obvious to me that these findings are relevant to several SCAMs, e.g.:
- acupuncture,
- Alexander technique,
- applied kinesiology,
- aromatherapy,
- Bowen technique,
- chiropractic,
- craniosacral therapy,
- cupping,
- Dorn method,
- Feldenkrais method,
- gua sha,
- kinesiology taping,
- lymph drainage,
- massage in all its variations,
- naprapathy,
- osteopathy,
- rebirthing,
- reflexology,
- Rolfing,
- shiatsu,
- slapping therapy,
- therapeutic touch.
This also means that the effects of these SCAMs will be at least to some extend non-specific, i.e. not related to the treatment per se but to touch. Finally, it means that clinical trials testing these SCAMs need to be designed such that the touch element is adequately accounted for.
‘EuroConsum‘ is an organisation that aims “to focus on areas that otherwise receive too little attention. Together with our approximately 6,000 members, member and partner organisations, we find these areas and work on them in numerous projects. We have been entered in the list of qualified organisations for this purpose since 2012 and, as a public body, carry out market inspections with a focus on the retail sector and have maintained the market watchdog Psychomarkt since 2015. We are particularly committed to the principle of scientific rigour and evidence.” (my translation)
‘EuroConsum’ recently published a bizarre statement:
For more than a decade, EuroConsum has worked closely with the Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP e.V.). Under the leadership of Amardeo Sarma and Dr Holm Hümmler, we experienced a fruitful and always respectful cooperation that contributed significantly to the improvement of consumer advice and information. This cooperation was in line with shared values, which manifested themselves in a commitment to an informed public and against quackery and evidence-free advertising promises.
The murder of Halit Yozgat by right-wing terrorists of the so-called “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) and the assassination of the Kassel district president Dr Walter Lübcke, also by a right-wing terrorist, took place during the same period. The racist murders in Hanau, which could have been prevented and in which a right-wing terrorist took the lives of Gökhan Gültekin, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Vili Viorel Păun, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Ferhat Unvar, Kaloyan Velkov and Gabriele Rathjen, also took place during this time. Not only these murders, but also the involvement of state authorities in these events have increased pain and caused suffering. Many of our members know the victims or their surviving relatives personally. These events are fundamental and guiding for us and our work.They remind us every day.
For us, one of the lessons of this terror is that we must clearly distance ourselves from right-wing extremist and neo-right-wing movements. We must also fight to improve social conditions alongside those who share our values; in particular, these are groups in which people who are themselves affected by discrimination and marginalisation organise themselves. Work that does not take into account the perspectives of these people does not meet our own standards; work that is directed against the legitimate concerns of marginalised people and groups is inconceivable for us.
At the GWUP’s general meeting on 11 May 2024, a new election of the GWUP Board was held, which was previously presented as a “directional election”. The decision was close, as ultimately only around 20 votes made the difference. We perceive the result of the election as a decision on the future positioning of the GWUP in terms of content and as a commitment to a new direction for the GWUP and recognise it in this respect.
With this election, the GWUP has declared that it is taking a new course, which we do not want to follow against the background of our own association identity and cannot follow for personal reasons. EuroConsum will therefore terminate its cooperation with the GWUP immediately and finalise joint projects promptly. A statement to this effect was sent by post today.
This decision was not taken lightly, particularly in view of the long-standing good relationship and the considerable overlap within the groups and circles supporting our two associations. However, after an intensive discussion, there is no alternative for us.
EuroConsum would like to continue to engage in dialogue and cooperation with all sceptical people who share our values and want to work towards a fair and inclusive society.
(my translation)
_________________
WHAT?
ARE THEY SERIOUS?
‘EuroConsum’ seems to be disappointed with the result of the recent election of the GWUP-Board – I did previously mention the contest between ‘TEAM HUEMMLER’ and ‘TEAM SEBASTIANI’. The latter group won, and several Huemmler fans, including ‘EuroConsum’, have since left the GWUP. Nothing wrong about that! Everyone is free to do what they think is right, of course.
To associate the new GWUP leadership with a series of right-wing murders, is however an entirely different matter. In my view, this is not just extremely bad taste and utterly unjustifiable; it is slanderous and potentially actionable.
PS
What is perhaps also worth mentioning in this context an exchange that occurred on ‘X’ when ‘EuroConsum’ made the announcement. Here is the part of it that I could retrieve (my translation):
- Holm Gero Hümmler: Surprised. Not.
- Jörg Wipplinger: Wow, listing the right-wing extremist murders creates a context that, in my view, borders on character assassination. It doesn’t imply any affinity with right-wing ideas, but puts you in the neighbourhood of right-wing extremist murderers. Don’t you realise that or do you think it’s okay anyway?
- Holm Gero Hümmler: If that is your only worry…
- Jörg Wipplinger: What kind of answer is that? I find it extremely disturbing when a club, a board that has never worked a day, is portrayed in this way. I’m not with the club, but if that happened to me, I’d be pretty upset.
- Jörg Wipplinger: It’s not about all the gwup stories at all, zero. It’s about Euroconsum’s explanation, which provides no real explanation, but a list of murderers as ‘context. Holm shared this and I want to know if he thinks it’s good. I find it shocking.
- Holm Gero Hümmler: Euroconsum has always clearly positioned itself against anti-democratic tendencies.
So I think it’s only natural that we don’t want to have anything to do with people who are in favour of the GWUP spreading the narratives of enemies of democracy and using their rhetoric.
Vertebral artery dissections (VAD) pose a significant risk for strokes, particularly in young adults. This case report details the presentation and management of a 48-year-old patient who was diagnosed with an extracranial VAD following cervical spine manipulation (CSM).
The patient’s symptoms included:
- acute right-sided ataxia,
- giddiness,
- vertigo,
- nausea,
- vomiting,
- persistent pain behind the right ear.
They prompted immediate evaluation. After ruling out acute intracerebral hemorrhages, a computed tomography angiogram (CTA) of the head and neck identified a severe narrowing of the right distal vertebral artery with a string sign at the level of the right C1 loop (V3 segment), indicating an extracranial VAD. This finding was further supported when ultrasound (US) imaging revealed a high resistance flow pattern in the right distal vertebral artery. Furthermore, T2 and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed a 1.8 cm VAD/hematoma and a 1.4 cm acute/subacute infarct in the right posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) territory.
The authors concluded by stressing the importance of recognizing and addressing that neck pain can be a symptom of musculoskeletal dysfunction or could have neurovascular origins. In this case, the patient’s neck pain may have been musculoskeletal or could have been due to a previous dissection. Thus, differentiation should be considered before cervical spine manipulation.
The link between CSM and arterial dissection is hard to deny. On this blog, we have discussed these issues with depressing regularity, e.g.:
- Cervical Arterial Dissections and Association With Cervical Manipulative Therapy
- Double-sided vertebral artery dissection in a 33-year-old man. The chiropractor is not guilty?
- A ‘Self-Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation’ that resulted in death
- Chiropractic spinal manipulations are safe!!! … Or aren’t they?
- Another case of stroke due to chiropractic
- The death of Mr Lawler highlights the scandals of chiropractic
- Another serious complication after chiropractic manipulation; best to avoid neck manipulations altogether, I think
- Ophthalmic Adverse Effects after Chiropractic Neck Manipulation
- New review confirms: neck manipulations are dangerous
- Upper neck manipulations (by chiropractors) regularly cause serious harm. Why are they still used?
- Evidence for a causal link between chiropractic treatment and adverse effects
- More on the risks of spinal manipulation
- Another serious complication after neck manipulation + a reminder of the importance of informed consent
Whether the CSM was the cause of the dissection of a previously intakt artery, or whether the CSM made a pre-existing problem worse, might often be difficult to decide in retrospect. What is crucial in both scenarios, is that CSM carries serious risks. This insight is all the more important, if we consider that the benefits of CSM are minimal or unproven. The inescapable conclusion, therefore, is that the risk/benefit balance of CSM is not positive. In other words, the only sensible advice here is this:
don’t allow chiropractors (who use CSM more often that any other profession), osteopaths, physiotherapists, etc. perform CSMs on your neck.
I have attended numerous ‘Skeptics in the Pub’ (SITP) meetings, either as a member of the audience or as a lecturer. They can be splendid occasions to learn, be entertained, to discuss, and to socialise in a relaxed atmosphere.
The usual format of a SITP meeting includes an invited speaker (often a renouned expert with an international reputation) who gives a talk on a specific topic, followed by a break where people can re-fill their glasses, followed by a long question-and-answer session. Meetings are usually scheduled on a monthly basis. The SITP movement started in 1999 in London. The concept soon spread, and now there are SITP meetings in many countries across the world.
The organisers of the meetings are local enthusiasts who run them on a shoestring. Each attendee pays a small entrance fee or gives a donation. Speakers usually get their expenses paid. As the meetings take place in pubs, there is no expense for room hire.
As I already stated, the concept of SITP is great, no question.
Unfortunately, however, there is also a ‘BUT’.
I have been to SITP meetings that were run perfectly – but I have experienced also the exact opposite, both as a lecturer as well as a attendee. For instance:
- I have attended meetings where the room was too small and stuffy.
- I have sat on chairs that seemed like medevial torture instruments.
- I have suffered through lectures where the technical equipment did not work properly.
- I have been at meetings that were attended by embarrassingly few people.
- I have, as an invited speaker, been told retrospectively that my (very modest) expenses could not be paid.
Here is my plea to the organisers of SITP worldwide:
I know you volunteer for this job with enthusiasm and dedication. But PLEASE, do it also with competence. Your speakers are as dedicated as you; often they are top experts. They have a right to be met not just with kindness but also with competence.
So, please advertise each SITP meeting as best as you can; for example, go to your local papers, radio, social media etc. Do not humiliate your speakers by having them lecture in front of a half empty room. Make sure that your technical equipment works and test it thoroughly before your speaker arrives. Do not use locations that are unsuited for such events because they are too small, uncomfortable or poorly ventilated. If you are unable to organise meetings that are good in every respect, it might be better to not run any at all.
Yes, SITP is a great idea in theory. But even a great idea can be destroyed by deficient practice.
Contrary to popular belief, it is evident that, apart from adverse events caused by contamination and adulteration, certain commonly used herbal components have inherent hepatotoxicity. This narrative review updates our current understanding and increasing publications on the liver toxicity potential of commonly used herbs in traditional Indian systems of medicine (Ayush), such as:
- Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Hook.f. & Thomson (Giloy/Guduchi),
- Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal (Ashwagandha),
- Curcuma longa L. (Turmeric),
- Psoralea corylifolia L. (Bakuchi/Babchi).
The review also highlights the importance of the upcoming liver toxicity profiles associated with other traditional herbs used as dietary supplements, such as:
- Centella asiatica (L.) Urb.,
- Garcinia cambogia Desr.,
- Cassia angustifolia Vahl (Indian senna),
- Morinda citrofolia L. (Noni fruit).
Fortunately, most reported liver injuries due to these herbs are self-limiting, but can lead to progressive liver dysfunction, leading to acute liver failure or acute chronic liver failure with a high mortality rate. The review also aims to provide adequate knowledge regarding herbalism in traditional practices, pertinent for medical doctors to diagnose, treat, and prevent avoidable liver disease burdens within communities, and improve public health and education.
The authors concluded that Turmeric, Ashwagandha, and Giloy are herbs with a high risk of hepatobiliary toxicity that are consistently reported in the medical literature. Furthermore, beyond the scope of this review, various other herbal and dietary supplements that are part of both traditional and nontraditional over-the-counter use have been reported to have severe hepatotoxic potential.
Efforts must be made to educate the public as well as practitioners of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) to remain vigilant of avoidable disease burdens within the community by practicing critical thinking towards evidence-based health-seeking behavior and following rationale and logic driven by empirical evidence in the context of preventive and therapeutic management, respectively.
I could not agree more!
- the intervention group participants received reiki remotely for 20 minutes for 4 consecutive days,
- the control group participants received no intervention.
A controlled clinical trial has the purpose of comparing outcomes of two or more treatments. Therefore, intra-group changes are utterly irrelevant. The only thing of interest is the comparison between the intervention and control groups. In the present study, this did not show a significant difference. In other words, distant Reiki had no effect.
This means that the bit in the conclusion telling us that Reiki helps students cope with test anxiety is quite simply not true.
This leaves us with the first part of the conclusion: Reiki is a safe and easy-to-practice method. This may well be true – yet it is meaningless. Apart from the fact that the study was not aimed at assessing safety or ease of practice, the statement is true for far too many things to be meaningful, e.g.:
- Not having Reiki (the control group) is a safe and easy-to-practice method.
- Going for a walk is a safe and easy-to-practice method.
- Cooking a plate of spagetti is a safe and easy-to-practice method.
- Having a nap is a safe and easy-to-practice method.
- Reading a book is a safe and easy-to-practice method.
(I think you get my gist)
To make the irony complete, let me tell you that this trial was published in Journal of Nursing Education. On the website, the journal states: The Journal of Nursing Education is a monthly, peer-reviewed journal publishing original articles and new ideas for nurse educators in various types and levels of nursing programs for over 60 years. The Journal enhances the teaching-learning process, promotes curriculum development, and stimulates creative innovation and research in nursing education.
I suggest that the journal urgently embarks on a program of educating its editors, reviewers, contributors and readers about science, pseudoscience, minimal standards, scientific rigor, and medical ethics.
I normally don’t like to use stupid expressions like WOW – but in this particular event, it might be well-suited:
It has just been reported that the German Medical Association wants homeopathy to be removed from the GOÄ (the official schedule of doctors’ fees in Germany). The decision was made on Friday afternoon in Mainz after a lengthy debate, with 116 votes in favour and 97 against. The decision is also linked to the Medical Council’s demand to “end the legal assessment of homeopathic remedies as medicinal products” and the pharmacy obligation. The motion called on legislators to take measures to ensure “that homeopathy can neither be billed as a statutory health insurance benefit nor mentioned as an entity with special status in the German Medical Fee Schedule”.
The delegates’ arguments varied:
- Some doctors argued against the motion frearing that this ban could then be extended further to other treatments.
- Delegates Dr Stefan Schröter from North Rhine and Dr Joachim Suder from Baden-Württemberg cautioned of a professional ban that could threaten doctors.
- Dr Klaus Thierse from Berlin did not accept this. No-one is forbidding “sprinkling lemon juice or sugar on wounds”, he said, anyone can do as they please. “But we don’t have to do it any more”, and the special status of the homeopathic initial anamnesis with a fee of 120.65 euros at 2.3 times the rate could not be justified any further. In contrast, GOÄ No. 34 for a medical consultation in the case of a lasting life-changing or life-threatening illness only brings in 40.22 euros for 2.3 times the rate, for 20 minutes.
- Angela Schütze-Buchholz from Lower Saxony in turn appealed to the delegates: “Let’s not point fingers at each other, but treat each other with respect.” She criticised the envy that compassion-oriented medicine is rewarded in homeopathy.
- Schütze-Buchholz warned of where it would lead if ideology dominated actions too much.
- Finally, Dr Jürgen de Laporte from Baden-Württemberg warned of supply problems as a consequence of a decision against homeopathy and “humbly” appealed to the delegates to reject the motion.
The motion for a second reading of the ban was also rejected.
Confused?
What exactly does it mean?
Here a more understandable version of what has just happened:
- The 128th German ‘Aerztetag’ (Medical Assembly) states that the use of homoeopathy in diagnostics and therapy does not constitute rational medicine.
- Legislators are urged to take measures to ban homoeopathy as a health insurance benefit and to abolish the special status it enjoys in Germany.
- The legal assessment of homoeopathic remedies as medicinal products and the pharmacy obligation should be ended.
And what do the German homeopaths say to this?
Predictably, they are upset (to put it mildly):
“Now a motion is being submitted here that seeks to ban part of our colleagues’ medical field of activity,” said Dr Michaela Geiger, 1st Chair of the DZVhÄ (the German Association of Homeopathic Doctors). “This motion does not do justice to our understanding of democracy, the fundamental right to professional freedom, or our commitment to pluralism and tolerance within the medical profession! The question is whether this motion should be scrutinised by lawyers for constitutionality.”
The Federal Association of Patients for Homeopathy (BPH) also criticised the resolution. According to them, the motion is a direct appeal to politicians to ban homeopathy from the healthcare system. “Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach will be pleased to have such a strong ally.”
_________________
Personally, I have always known that, in any battle between scientific evidence and even the most generously funded lobby work of interested parties, the former will win. It can (and certainly did) take plenty of time, but eventually the evidence must be victorious.
It had been reported that five infants under three months of age have died from whooping cough this year, as cases continue to spread across the country.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has reported 1,319 cases of whooping cough in England in March, up from 900 in February and bringing the total for 2024 so far to 2,800.
But there is help!
The “Leading Holistic Health Portal” (LHHP) informs us as follows:
As far as therapeutic medication is concerned, several remedies are available to treat whooping cough that can be selected on the basis of cause, sensations and modalities of the complaints. For individualized remedy selection and treatment, the patient should consult a qualified homeopathic doctor in person. There are following remedies which are helpful in the treatment of whooping cough:
- Cuprum met – in whooping cough accompanied with convulsions, or when the paroxysms are long and interrupted…
- Coccus cacti – this remedy has paroxysms of cough with vomiting of clear, ropy mucus, extending in thick, long strings even to the floor…
- Belladonna – in sudden violent paroxysms of whooping cough, without any expectoration, and the symptoms of cerebral congestion…
- Spongia Tosta – excellent remedy for whooping cough; dryness of all passages; cough dry, barking croupy like a saw driven through a pine board…
- Corallium Rubrum – violent spasmodic cough, whooping cough; a very rapid cough, the attacks follows so closely as to almost run in to each other…
- Aconite – clear ringing whistling whooping cough, excited by burning sticking in larynx and trachea…
- Arnica Montana – paroxysms of whooping-cough excited by a creeping and soreness in trachea, bronchi or larynx, generally dry, often with expectoration of frothy blood mixed with coagula…
- Hyoscyamus – shattering spasmodic cough, with frequent, rapidly succeeding cough, excited by ticking, as from adherent mucus…
- Hepar Sulph – hoarse croupy night cough; deep, dull, whistling cough, in the evening without, in the morning with expectoration of masses of mucus…
- Drosera – Drosera is one of the remedies praised by Hahnemann; indeed, he once said thatDrosera 30th sufficed to cure nearly every case of whooping cough, a statement which clinical experience has not verified. Drosera, however, will benefit a large number of the cases, if the following indications be present: a barking cough in such frequent paroxysms as to prevent the catching of the breath…
- Mephitis – Mephitis is useful in a cough with a well marked laryngeal spasm, a whoop…
- Ipecac – Convulsive cough, where the child stiffness out and becomes blue or pale and loses its breath…
- Antimonium tartaricum – With this remedy the child is worse when excited or angry, or when eating; the cough culminates in vomiting of mucus and food…
- Cina –This is not always a worm remedy. It is a most excellent remedy in whooping cough. It has the same rigidity as Ipecac, the child stiffness out and there is a clucking sound in the oesophagus when the little one comes out of the paroxysm…
- Magnesia phosphorica – This is the prominent Schuesslerian remedy for whooping cough, which begins as does common cold. The attacks are convulsive and nervous, ending in a whoop…
So, why do we have so many cases of whooping cough?
The reason is, of course, the currently very low vaccination rates.
And why are they so low?
Could one reason be that some healthcare practitioners advise us wrongly?
What the LHHP does not tell us is the fact that homeopaths (and other SCAM practitioners) often advise against vaccinating children against whooping cough (and other infections). Take, for instance, this section from an article entitled: “The Homeopathic Option for Whooping Cough“:
In my medical opinion, this overemphasis upon a preventative vaccination strategy is largely due to conventional medicine’s inability to treat whooping cough once it is diagnosed. Physicians understand that antibiotics are likely to have minimal if any effect upon the course of the illness once the cough has set in, and the same applies to cough suppressants. Antibiotic treatment is believed to reduce transmission to others if prescribed at the onset of the illness, but the odds of diagnosing whooping cough at this very early stage are highly unlikely.
Clinical experience indicates that homeopathic medicine is a viable option for pertussis. However, mainstream medicine’s general unwillingness to consider any therapy that is not manufactured by PhRMA tends to blind it to potentially new and/or unexplored treatments. And in the case of homeopathy, there is a long-standing undeniable bias that assumes that it is just not possible that it can work because it defies conventional medical beliefs about the nature of illness and how it can be treated.
Really, a long-standing undeniable bias?
And I thought it was called evidence!
In conclusion, I urge everyone to follow the official recommendations:
The whooping cough vaccine protects babies and children from getting whooping cough. That’s why it’s important to have all the routine NHS vaccinations. The whooping cough vaccine is routinely given as part of the:
- 6-in-1 vaccine – for babies at 8, 12 and 16 weeks
- 4-in-1 pre-school booster – for children aged 3 years 4 months
If you’re pregnant you should also have the whooping cough vaccine – ideally between 16 and 32 weeks.
To this I might add: beware of the advice by homeopaths and other SCAM-practitioners who recommend against vaccinations.
Conspiracy theories, as often discussed here, plague the realm of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM), e.g.:
- Conspiracy beliefs prompt consumers to use so-called alternative medicine
- How can we reduce the belief in conspiracy theories?
- Conspiracy Beliefs Predict Health Behavior and Well-being during the Pandemic
- Coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, mistrust, and compliance with government guidelines
- Conspiracy theories and dangerous recommendations via YouTube videos
In fact, I did recently suggest that so-called alternative medicine is a conspiracy theory in disguise. Previous research has found that individuals who struggle with emotion regulation are more prone to believing in conspiracy theories. Emotional granularity – the ability to differentiate between nuanced emotional states – is a key component of effective emotion regulation, yet its relationship with conspiracy beliefs has not been explored thoroughly.
Psychologists from the Uni Graz in Austria conducted an experience-sampling study (165 participants, mean age = 26.3 years) including measures of emotion regulation and differentiation. The study started with an online survey that assessed participants’ sociodemographic (age, sex, and education) and trait measures. Following this, participants were asked to install an in-house developed app on their smartphones to obtain the emotional granularity specificity index. The app displayed two notifications each day for over a week (14 max.). Notifications were randomly displayed between 08:00 am and 10:00 pm with a minimum of at least 5 h between two notifications. Participants, on average, answered 57% of the notifications.
The findings revealed that individuals who endorse conspiracy theories engage in repetitive thinking about the causes and consequences of events and exhibit a reduced ability to distinguish between negative emotions. This effect, however, was observed only in the performance-based measure of emotion differentiation, not in the self-report measures.
The authors conclused that this suggests that enhancing emotional granularity may help individuals in regulating their emotions more effectively, thereby reducing their vulnerability to adopt conspiracy beliefs.
To reduce belief in conspiracy theories, one might, according to the authors, consider a training program to enhance emotion regulation and differentiation. A combination of cognitive control training on emotion regulation, which has been shown to reduce overthinking, as well as reflecting on and diversifying emotional experiences, could provide simple tools for assessing and regulating emotional experiences. This, in turn, may lead to decreased endorsement of conspiracy theories in the long run.
Perhaps we should recommend this to the chaps who recularly comment on this blog bursting with conspiracy theories?
