List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

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Template:Short description Template:Pp Template:Use dmy dates This is a list of topics that have been characterized as pseudoscience by academics or researchers. Detailed discussion of these topics may be found on their main pages. These characterizations were made in the context of educating the public about questionable or potentially fraudulent or dangerous claims and practices, efforts to define the nature of science, or humorous parodies of poor scientific reasoning.

Criticism of pseudoscience, generally by the scientific community or skeptical organizations, involves critiques of the logical, methodological, or rhetorical bases of the topic in question.<ref name="Pollak2002">Template:Cite book</ref> Though some of the listed topics continue to be investigated scientifically, others were only subject to scientific research in the past and today are considered refuted, but resurrected in a pseudoscientific fashion. Other ideas presented here are entirely non-scientific, but have in one way or another impinged on scientific domains or practices.

Many adherents or practitioners of the topics listed here dispute their characterization as pseudoscience. Each section here summarizes the alleged pseudoscientific aspects of that topic.

Physical sciences

Astronomy and space sciences

  • 2012 phenomenon – a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or otherwise transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012. This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar and as such, festivities to commemorate the date took place on 21 December 2012 in countries where the Maya civilization had formerly flourished (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), with main events at Chichén Itzá in Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala. Professional Mayanist scholars stated that no extant classic Maya accounts forecast impending doom and that the idea that the Long Count calendar ends in 2012 misrepresented Maya history and culture,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> while astronomers rejected the various proposed doomsday scenarios easily refuted by elementary astronomical observations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Ancient astronauts – a concept based on the belief that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies and religions. A common claim is that deities from most, if not all, religions are actually extraterrestrial in origin and that advanced technologies brought to Earth by ancient astronauts were interpreted as evidence of divine status by early humans. The idea that ancient astronauts existed is not taken seriously by academics and has received no credible attention in peer-reviewed studies.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
  • Astrology (see also Astrology and science) – consists of a number of belief systems that hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events or descriptions of personality in the human world. Several systems of divination are based on the relative positions and movement of various real and construed celestial bodies. Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted and no evidence has been found to support the premises or purported effects outlined in astrological traditions.<ref name=Zarka /> Where astrology has made falsifiable predictions, it has been falsified.<ref name=Zarka />Template:Rp
  • Creationist cosmologies are explanations of the origins and form of the universe in terms of the Genesis creation narrative (Genesis 1), according to which the God of the Bible created the cosmos in eight creative acts over the six days of the "creation week".<ref name="Hendel 2013 p.">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Evidence for life on Mars
  • Lunar effect – the belief that the full Moon influences human and animal behavior.<ref name="skepdic_lunar">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Modern flat Earth beliefs propose that Earth is a flat, disc-shaped planet that accelerates upward, producing the illusion of gravity. Proposers of a flat Earth, such as the Flat Earth Research Society, do not accept compelling evidence, such as photos of Earth from space.<ref name="Dure 2016">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Modern geocentrism – In astronomy, the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism or the Ptolemaic system) is a superseded description of the universe with Earth at the center. Under the geocentric model, the Sun, Moon, stars and planets all circled Earth. The geocentric model served as the predominant description of the cosmos in many ancient civilizations, such as those of Aristotle and Ptolemy.<ref name="Numbers 1993 p.">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Moon landing conspiracy theories – claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA with the aid of other organizations. The most notable claim is that the six crewed landings (1969–72) were faked and that 12 Apollo astronauts did not actually walk on the Moon. Various groups and individuals have made claims since the mid-1970s that NASA and others knowingly misled the public into believing the landings happened by manufacturing, tampering with or destroying evidence, including photos, telemetry tapes, radio and TV transmissions and Moon rock samples, and even killing some key witnesses.<ref name="Plait 2002 p.">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Nibiru cataclysm – a prediction first made by contactee Nancy Lieder that a mythological planet Nibiru would collide with Earth. After having adjusted her prediction many times, she later claimed the year of the occurrence to be 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, a conspiracy theorist known as David Meade claimed 2017 was the year Nibiru would hit.
  • Vaimānika Shāstra – claim that airplanes were invented in ancient India during the Vedic period. A 1974 study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore found that the heavier-than-air aircraft that the Vaimānika Shāstra described were aerodynamically unfeasible. The authors remarked that the discussion of the principles of flight in the text were largely perfunctory and incorrect, in some cases violating Newton's laws of motion.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Worlds in Collision – writer Immanuel Velikovsky proposed in his book Worlds in Collision that ancient texts and geographic evidence show mankind was witness to catastrophic interactions of other planets in our Solar System.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Earth sciences

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  • Megalithic geometry or 366 geometry – posits the existence of an Earth-based geometry dating back to at least 3500 BCE and the possibility that such a system is still in use in modern Freemasonry. According to proponents, megalithic civilizations in Britain and Brittany had advanced knowledge of geometry and the size of Earth. The megalithic yard is correlated to the polar circumference of Earth using a circle divided into 366 degrees.<ref name="HistoryOfComputers">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="NISTReport">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • The Bermuda Triangle – a region of the Atlantic Ocean that lies between Bermuda, Puerto Rico and (in its most popular version) Florida. Ship and aircraft disasters and disappearances perceived as frequent in this area have led to the circulation of stories of unusual natural phenomena, paranormal encounters and interactions with extraterrestrials.<ref name="NOVA,1976">Template:Cite episode</ref>
  • Climate change denial – involves denial, dismissal, unwarranted doubt or contrarian views which depart from the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its impacts on nature and human society, or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions.<ref>Template:Cite web "The first pillar of climate change denial—that climate change is bad science—attacks various aspects of the scientific consensus about climate change ... there are climate change deniers:
  • who deny that significant climate change is occurring
  • who...deny that human activity is significantly responsible
  • who...deny the scientific evidence about its significant effects on the world and our society...
  • who...deny that humans can take significant actions to reduce or mitigate its impact.

Of these varieties of climate change denial, the most visible are the first and the second."</ref><ref name="NCSE-why-denial">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book 'Anatomy of Denial—Global warming deniers...throw up a succession of claims, and fall back from one line of defense to the next as scientists refute each one in turn. Then they start over:
'The earth is not warming.'
'All right, it is warming but the Sun is the cause.'
'Well then, humans are the cause, but it doesn't matter, because it warming will do no harm. More carbon dioxide will actually be beneficial. More crops will grow.'
'Admittedly, global warming could turn out to be harmful, but we can do nothing about it.'
'Sure, we could do something about global warming, but the cost would be too great. We have more pressing problems here and now, like AIDS and poverty.'
'We might be able to afford to do something to address global warming some-day, but we need to wait for sound science, new technologies, and geoengineering.'
'The earth is not warming. Global warming ended in 1998; it was never a crisis.'</ref>

  • Flood geology – creationist form of geology that advocates most of the geologic features on Earth are explainable by a global flood.<ref name="NCSE 2016">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • The Hollow Earth – a proposal that Earth is either entirely hollow or consists of hollow sections beneath the crust. Certain folklore and conspiracy theories hold this idea and suggest the existence of subterranean life.<ref name="Storr 2014">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
  • Welteislehre, a.k.a. the World Ice Theory or Glacial Cosmogony – ice is proposed to be the basic substance of all cosmic processes and ice moons, ice planets and the "global ether" (also made of ice) had determined the entire development of the universe.
  • The Expanding Earth or growing Earth was a hypothesis attempting to explain the position and relative movement of continents by increase in the volume of Earth. With the recognition of plate tectonics in 20th century, the idea has been abandoned<ref name="NASA">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Schmidt_&_Clark>Template:Cite journal</ref> and considered a pseudoscience.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Physics

  • Autodynamics – a physics theory proposed in the 1940s that claims the equations of the Lorentz transformation are incorrectly formulated to describe relativistic effects, which would invalidate Einstein's theories of special relativity and general relativity, and Maxwell's equations. The theory is discounted by the mainstream physics community.<ref name='Wired'>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • E-Cat – a claimed cold fusion reactor.<ref name="patent_app">Patent application Template:Cite patent</ref><ref name="zyga">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Einstein–Cartan–Evans theory – a unified theory of physics proposed by Myron Wyn Evans which claims to unify general relativity, quantum mechanics and electromagnetism.<ref name=AIAS>Template:Citation: "ECE Theory was discovered by chemist, physicist, and mathematician, Myron Wyn Evans...".</ref> The hypothesis was largely published in the journal Foundations of Physics Letters between 2003 and 2005; in 2008, the editor published an editorial note effectively retracting the journal's support for the hypothesis due to incorrect mathematical claims.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Electrogravitics – claimed to be an unconventional type of effect or anti-gravity propulsion created by an electric field's effect on a mass. The name was coined in the 1920s by Thomas Townsend Brown, who first described the effect and spent most of his life trying to develop it and sell it as a propulsion system. Follow-ups on the claims (R. L. Talley in a 1990 U.S. Air Force study, NASA scientist Jonathan Campbell in a 2003 experiment<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Martin Tajmar in a 2004 paper<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>) have found that no thrust could be observed in a vacuum, consistent with the phenomenon of ion wind.
  • Free energy – a class of perpetual motion that purports to create energy (violating the first law of thermodynamics) or extract useful work from equilibrium systems (violating the second law of thermodynamics).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Milbank>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Water-fueled cars – an instance of perpetual motion machines. Such devices are claimed to use water as fuel or produce fuel from water on board with no other energy input. Many such claims are part of investment frauds.<ref name="Times">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>State of New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety press release Template:Webarchive, 9 November 2006</ref><ref name="Dingel">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Gasoline pill or gasoline powder, which was claimed to turn water into gasoline.<ref name="nydailynews.com 2008">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Hongcheng Magic Liquid – a scam in China in which Wang Hongcheng (Chinese: 王洪成; pinyin: Wáng Hóngchéng), a bus driver from Harbin with no scientific education, claimed in 1983 that he could turn regular water into a fuel as flammable as petrol by simply dissolving a few drops of his liquid in it.<ref name="csicop_hongcheng">Template:Cite web</ref>

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  • Orgone – a pseudoscientific concept described as an esoteric energy or hypothetical universal life force, originally proposed in the 1930s.<ref>Kenneth S. Isaacs (psychoanalyst), 1999: "Orgone—a useless fiction with faulty basic premises, thin partial theory, and unsubstantiated application results. It was quickly discredited and cast away."Isaacs 1999, p. 240.</ref><ref name="blumenfeld">Template:Citation</ref>

Applied sciences

Agriculture

  • Lysenkoism, or Lysenko-Michurinism – was a political campaign against genetics and science-based agriculture conducted by Trofim Lysenko, his followers and Soviet authorities. Lysenko served as the director of the Soviet Union's Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Lysenkoism began in the late 1920s and formally ended in 1964. The pseudoscientific ideas of Lysenkoism built on Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's concepts of the heritability of acquired characteristics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lysenko's theory rejected Gregor Mendel's theory of inheritance and the concept of the "gene"; it departed from Darwinian evolutionary theory by rejecting natural selection, viewing that concept as being incompatible with Marxist ideology.<ref name="Perversion of Knowledge">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Biodynamic agriculture – method of organic farming that treats farms as unified and individual organisms. Biodynamics uses a calendar which has been characterized as astrological. The substances and composts used by biodynamicists have been described as unconventional and homeopathic. For example, field mice are countered by deploying ashes prepared from field mice skin when Venus is in the Scorpius constellation. No difference in beneficial outcomes has been scientifically established between certified biodynamic agricultural techniques and similar organic and integrated farming practices. Biodynamic agriculture lacks strong scientific evidence for its efficacy and has been labeled a pseudoscience because of its overreliance upon esoteric knowledge and mystical beliefs.<ref name=demarc>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • GMO skepticism – The belief that genetically modified foods are inherently unsafe. This contradicts the scientific consensus.<ref name="Nicolia2013">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="FAO">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Ronald2011">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Also">

    But see also:

    Template:Cite journal

    Template:Cite journal

    And contrast:

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    and

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Architecture

  • Feng shui – ancient Chinese system of mysticism and aesthetics based on astronomy, geography and the putative flow of qi. Evidence for its effectiveness is based on anecdote and there is a lack of a plausible method of action; this leads to conflicting advice from different practitioners of feng shui. Feng shui practitioners use this as evidence of variations or different schools; critical analysts have described it thus: "Feng shui has always been based upon mere guesswork."<ref name=duke>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Modern criticism differentiates between feng shui as a traditional proto-religion and the modern practice: "A naturalistic belief, it was originally used to find an auspicious dwelling place for a shrine or a tomb. However, over the centuries it...has become distorted and degraded into a gross superstition."<ref name=duke />
  • Ley lines – proposed intentional alignment of ancient monuments and landscape features was later explained by a statistical analysis of lines that concluded: "the density of archaeological sites in the British landscape is so great that a line drawn through virtually anywhere will 'clip' a number of sites."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Additional New Age and feng shui concepts have been proposed building on the original concept and pseudoscientific claims about energy flowing through the lines have been made.
  • Minimum parking requirements – system for assigning an optimal number of parking spaces to a given land use. It is characterized as a pseudoscience by UCLA planning professor Donald Shoup, especially as practiced by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. He argues that the ITE's calculations are arcane, overly specific, and typically based on minimal data and approximations that cannot be widely applied to other businesses, even of the same type, and yet are presented as science-backed.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
  • Vastu shastra is the ancient Hindu system of architecture, which lays down a series of rules for building houses in relation to ambiance.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Vastu Shastra is considered pseudoscience by rationalists like Narendra Nayak of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations<ref name=OUP-Johannes>Template:Cite book</ref> and astronomer Jayant Narlikar, who writes that Vastu does not have any "logical connection" to the environment.<ref name="narlikar_CUP">Template:Cite book</ref>

Finance

Health and medicine

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Pseudoscientific medical practices are often known as quackery. In contrast, modern medicine is (or seeks to be) evidence-based.

  • The abortion–breast cancer hypothesis posits that having an induced abortion can increase the risk of breast cancer.<ref name="Melbye 81–85">Template:Cite journal</ref> This hypothesis is at odds with mainstream scientific opinion and is rejected by major medical professional organizations.<ref name="Melbye 81–85" /><ref name="Abortion and Cancer Risk">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Access Consciousness is an alternative medicine technique similar to a combination of phrenology, reiki, energy therapies and therapeutic touch, where health and wellness can be improved by touching the 32 "Energy Bars" on a person's head.<ref name="Houston">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Acupuncture – use of fine needles to stimulate acupuncture points and balance the flow of qi. There is no known anatomical or histological basis for the existence of acupuncture points or meridians and acupuncture is regarded as an alternative medical procedure.<ref name="Barrett2022">Template:Cite web</ref> Some acupuncturists regard them as functional rather than structural entities, useful in guiding evaluation and care of patients. Acupuncture has been the subject of active scientific research since the late 20th century and its effects and application remain controversial among medical researchers and clinicians. Some scholarly reviews conclude that acupuncture's effects are mainly attributable to the placebo effect and others find likelihood of efficacy for particular conditions.
    • Dry needling is the therapeutic insertion of fine needles without regard to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and is similarly controversial.<ref name="ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
    • Acupressure is an alternative medicine technique similar in principle to acupuncture. It is based on the concept of life energy, which flows through "meridians" in the body. In treatment, physical pressure is applied to acupuncture points with the aim of clearing blockages in these meridians. Pressure may be applied by hand, by elbow, or with various devices. Some studies have suggested it may be effective at helping manage nausea and vomiting, lower back pain, tension headaches and stomach ache, although such studies have been found to have a high likelihood of bias.<ref name="Lee">Template:Cite journal</ref> Like many alternative medicines, it may benefit from a placebo effect. Quackwatch says acupressure is a dubious practice and its practitioners use irrational methods.<ref name=Quackwatch>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Adrenal fatigue or hypoadrenia is a pseudoscientific diagnosis described as a state in which the adrenal glands are exhausted and unable to produce adequate quantities of hormones, primarily the glucocorticoid cortisol, due to chronic stress or infections.<ref name="2012Rev">Template:Cite journal Quote: "There is no scientific basis for the existence of this disorder and no conclusive method for diagnosis."</ref> Adrenal fatigue should not be confused with a number of actual forms of adrenal dysfunction such as adrenal insufficiency or Addison's disease.<ref name="webmd" /> The term "adrenal fatigue", which was invented in 1998 by James Wilson, a chiropractor,<ref name="sbm">Template:Cite web</ref> may be applied to a collection of mostly nonspecific symptoms.<ref name=2012Rev/> There is no scientific evidence supporting the concept of adrenal fatigue and it is not recognized as a diagnosis by any scientific or medical community.<ref name=2012Rev/><ref name="webmd">Template:Cite web</ref> A systematic review found no evidence for the existence of adrenal fatigue, confirming the consensus among endocrinological societies that it is a myth.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • The Alexander Technique, named after its creator Frederick Matthias Alexander, is an educational process that was created to retrain habitual patterns of movement and posture. Alexander believed that poor habits in posture and movement damaged spatial self-awareness as well as health and that movement efficiency could support overall physical well-being. He saw the technique as a mental training technique as well.<ref name=blochLP>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Alexander began developing his technique's principles in the 1890s<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in an attempt to address voice loss during public speaking.<ref name=blochLP/>Template:Rp He credited his method with allowing him to pursue his passion for reciting in Shakespearean theater.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some proponents of the Alexander Technique say that it addresses a variety of health conditions related to cumulative physical behaviors, but there is little evidence to support many of the claims made about the technique.<ref name=aus17LP/><ref name="NHSLP"/> As of 2015, there was evidence suggesting the Alexander Technique may be helpful for both long-term back pain and long-term neck pain and may help people cope with Parkinson's disease.<ref name="NHSLP">Template:Cite web</ref> However, both Aetna and the Australian Department of Health have conducted reviews and concluded that the technique has insufficient evidence to warrant insurance coverage.<ref name=aus17LP>Template:Cite book
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  • Alternative cancer treatments are alternative or complementary treatments for cancer that have not been approved by the government agencies responsible for the regulation of therapeutic goods and have not undergone properly conducted, well-designed clinical trials. Among those that have been published, the methodology is often poor. A 2006 systematic review of 214 articles covering 198 clinical trials of alternative cancer treatments concluded that almost none conducted dose-ranging studies, which are necessary to ensure that the patients are being given a useful amount of the treatment.<ref name=Vickers2006>Template:Cite journal</ref> These kinds of treatments appear and vanish frequently and have done so throughout history.<ref name=Cassileth1996>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Alternative or fringe medicine – The terms alternative medicine, complementary medicine, integrative medicine, holistic medicine, natural medicine, unorthodox medicine, fringe medicine, unconventional medicine and New Age medicine are used interchangeably and are almost synonymous.<ref name="Shapiro 08">Template:Cite book</ref> Terminology shifts over time to reflect the branding of practitioners.<ref name="SBM-brand">"Integrative medicine": A brand, not a specialty Template:Webarchive. Science Based Medicine</ref> Therapies are often framed as "natural" or "holistic", implicitly and intentionally suggesting that conventional medicine is "artificial" and "narrow in scope".<ref name="ConsumerHealth9th">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Animal magnetism – also known as mesmerism; was the name given by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century to what he believed to be an invisible natural force (Lebensmagnetismus) possessed by all living things, including humans, animals and vegetables. He believed that the force could have physical effects, including healing, and he tried persistently but without success to achieve scientific recognition of his ideas.<ref name="wolfart">Wolfart, Karl Christian; Friedrich Anton Mesmer. Mesmerismus: Oder, System der Wechselwirkungen, Theorie und Anwendung des thierischen Magnetismus als die allgemeine Heilkunde zur Erhaltung des Menschen (in German, facsimile of the 1811 edition). Cambridge University Press, 2011. Template:ISBN. Foreword.</ref>
  • Anthroposophic medicine, or anthroposophical medicine, is a form of alternative medicine.<ref name=teils>Template:Cite journal Cited in Template:Cite journal</ref> Devised in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman, it was based on occult notions and drew on Steiner's spiritual philosophy, which he called anthroposophy. Practitioners employ a variety of treatment techniques based upon anthroposophic precepts.<ref name=ernstmist>Template:Cite journal</ref> Many drug preparations used in anthroposophic medicine are ultra-diluted substances, similar to those used in homeopathy. Some anthroposophic doctors oppose childhood vaccination and this has led to preventable outbreaks of disease. Professor of complementary medicine Edzard Ernst and other critics have characterized anthroposophic medicine as having no basis in science,<ref name=mckie/> pseudoscientific<ref name=seop/> and quackery.<ref name="thes-aberdeen"/>
  • Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom. Proponents of apitherapy make claims for its health benefits, which remain unsupported by evidence-based medicine.<ref name="acsLP">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=cassLP>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Applied kinesiology (AK) is a technique in alternative medicine claimed to be able to diagnose illness or choose treatment by testing muscles for strength and weakness.<ref name=pmid11926427>Template:Cite journal</ref> According to their guidelines on allergy diagnostic testing, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology stated there is "no evidence of diagnostic validity" of applied kinesiology.<ref name="pmid18431959">Template:Cite journal</ref> Another study has shown that as an evaluative method, AK "is no more useful than random guessing"<ref name=kenney>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the American Cancer Society has said that "scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness".<ref name=ACS2009>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Aromatherapy uses aromatic materials, including essential oils, and other aroma compounds, with claims for improving psychological or physical well-being.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is offered as a complementary therapy or as a form of alternative medicine, the first meaning alongside standard treatments,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the second instead of conventional, evidence-based treatments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Aromatherapists, people who specialize in the practice of aromatherapy, utilize blends of supposedly therapeutic essential oils that can be used as topical application, massage, inhalation or water immersion. There is no good medical evidence that aromatherapy can either prevent, treat, or cure any disease.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Placebo-controlled trials are difficult to design, as the point of aromatherapy is the smell of the products. There is disputed evidence that it may be effective in combating postoperative nausea and vomiting.<ref name=Hines2018>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Auriculotherapy (also auricular therapy, ear acupuncture, and auriculoacupuncture) is a form of alternative medicine based on the idea that the ear is a micro-system which reflects the entire body, represented on the auricle, the outer portion of the ear. Conditions affecting the physical, mental or emotional health of the patient are assumed to be treatable by stimulation of the surface of the ear exclusively. Similar mappings are used in many areas of the body, including the practices of reflexology and iridology. These mappings are not based on or supported by any medical or scientific evidence and are therefore considered to be pseudoscience.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Autistic enterocolitis – is the name of a nonexistent medical condition proposed by discredited British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield when he suggested a link between a number of common clinical symptoms and signs which he contended were distinctive to autism.<ref name='discredited'>Template:Cite news</ref> The existence of such an enterocolitis has been dismissed by experts as having "not been established".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Wakefield's now-retracted and fraudulent<ref name=Deer2011>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=BMJ2011>Template:Cite journal</ref> report used inadequate controls and suppressed negative findings and multiple attempts to replicate his results have been unsuccessful.<ref name="histopathology">Template:Cite journal</ref> Reviews in the medical literature have found no link between autism and bowel disease.<ref name=unintended>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Gerber2009">Template:Cite journal
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  • Ayurveda – traditional Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old alternative medical practice with roots in ancient India based on a mind-body set of beliefs.<ref name="ayurveda_ama">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ayurveda_quackwatch">Template:Cite web</ref> Imbalance or stress in an individual's consciousness is believed to be the cause of diseases.<ref name="ayurveda_ama" /> Patients are classified by body types (three doshas, which are considered to control mind-body harmony, determine an individual's "body type") and treatment is aimed at restoring balance to the mind-body system.<ref name="ayurveda_ama" /><ref name="ayurveda_quackwatch" /> It has long been the main traditional system of health care in India<ref name="ayurveda_quackwatch" /> and it has become institutionalized in India's colleges and schools, although unlicensed practitioners are common.<ref name="ayurveda_review">Template:Cite journal</ref> As with other traditional knowledge, much of it was lost; in the West, current practice is in part based on the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1980s,<ref name="todd" /> who mixed it with Transcendental Meditation; other forms of Ayurveda exist as well. The most notable advocate of Ayurveda in America is Deepak Chopra, who claims that the Maharishi's Ayurveda is based on quantum mysticism.<ref name="todd">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Balneotherapy (Template:Langx "bath") is the presumed benefit from disease by bathing, a traditional medicine technique usually practiced at spas.<ref name="ShorterOxfordEnglishDictionary">Template:Cite book</ref> Balneotherapy may involve hot or cold water, massage through moving water, relaxation, or stimulation. Many mineral waters at spas are rich in particular minerals such as silica, sulfur, selenium and radium. Scientific studies into the effectiveness of balneotherapy do not show that balneotherapy is effective for treating rheumatoid arthritis.<ref name="Verhagen2015">Template:Cite journal</ref> There is also no evidence indicating a more effective type of bath,<ref name="Verhagen2015" /> or to indicate that bathing is more effective than physical exercise, relaxation therapy, or mudpacks.<ref name="Verhagen2015" /> Most of the studies on balneotherapy have methodological flaws and are not reliable.<ref name="Verhagen2015" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> A 2009 review of all published clinical evidence concluded that existing research is not sufficiently strong to draw firm conclusions about the efficacy of balneotherapy.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Bates method – an alternative therapy aimed at improving eyesight. Eye-care physician William Horatio Bates (1860–1931) attributed nearly all sight problems to habitual "strain" of the eyes and thus felt that relieving such "strain" would cure the problems. In 1952, optometry professor Elwin Marg wrote of Bates, "Most of his claims and almost all of his theories have been considered false by practically all visual scientists."<ref name="Chou">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Biological terrain assessment – a set of computerized tests used to measure the pH, resistivity and redox potentials of a person's urine, blood and saliva, with the intention of recommending a customized program of health supplements and remedies (such as vitamins, homeopathic supplements, or herbal medicines) based on the results. Proponents suggest that BTA allows for a correction of biological imbalances before they become pathological, while opponents claim that the tests are imprecise and result in incorrect diagnoses.<ref name=Quackwatch_terrain>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Biorhythm theory – an attempt to predict various aspects of a person's life through simple mathematical cycles. The theory was developed by Wilhelm Fliess in the late 19th century and was popularized in the United States in the late 1970s. It was described as pseudoscience.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Body memory (BM) is a hypothesis that the body itself is capable of storing memories, as opposed to only the brain. While experiments have demonstrated the possibility of cellular memory<ref name="cosier">Template:Cite journal</ref> there are currently no known means by which tissues other than the brain would be capable of storing memories.<ref name="Smith">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Lilienfeld">Template:Cite book</ref> Modern usage of BM tends to frame it exclusively in the context of traumatic memory and ways in which the body responds to recall of a memory. In this regard, it has become relevant in treatment for PTSD.<ref name="M.D.2014">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Brain Gym – is an organization promoting a series of exercises claimed to improve academic performance. Twenty-six Brain Gym activities are claimed to improve eye teaming (binocular vision), spatial and listening skills, hand–eye coordination and whole-body flexibility and by doing this manipulate the brain, improving learning and recall of information. The Brain Gym program calls for children to repeat certain simple movements such as crawling, yawning, making symbols in the air and drinking water; these are intended to "integrate", "repattern", and increase blood flow to the brain.<ref name=wishful2007>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Goldacre2010>Template:Cite book</ref> Though the organization claims the methods are grounded in good neuroscience, the underlying ideas are pseudoscience.<ref name="HJ-NN2014">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=TES2016>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Candida hypersensitivity – It has been spuriously claimed that chronic yeast infections are responsible for many common disorders and non-specific symptoms, including fatigue, weight gain, constipation, dizziness, muscle and joint pain, asthma and others.<ref name="SBM">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Barrett2005">Template:Cite web</ref> The notion has been strongly challenged by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.<ref name="AndersonChai1986">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Carnivore dietTemplate:Snda fad diet in which nothing is eaten but meat. As well as being unhealthy the diet has a damaging environmental impact.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Chelation therapy is claimed by some practitioners of alternative medicine to treat a variety of ailments, including heart disease and autism.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Weberchel>Template:Cite journal</ref> While chelation is a valid form of medical treatment, used as a means to treat conditions such as acute heavy metal toxicity,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the use of chelation therapy by alternative medicine practitioners for behavioral and other disorders is considered pseudoscientific; there is no proof that it is effective.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to being ineffective, chelation therapy prior to heavy metal testing can artificially raise urinary heavy metal concentrations ("provoked" urine testing) and lead to inappropriate and unnecessary treatment.<ref name="toxicfive">Template:Citation</ref> The American College of Medical Toxicology and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology warn the public that chelating agents used in chelation therapy may have serious side effects, including liver and kidney damage, blood pressure changes, allergies and, in some cases, even death of the patient.<ref name="toxicfive"/>
  • Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine mostly concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine.<ref name=Chapman-Smith>Template:Cite book</ref> Some proponents, especially those in the field's early history, have claimed that such disorders affect general health via the nervous system,<ref name=Nelson>Template:Cite journal</ref> through vertebral subluxation, claims which are not based on scientific evidence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Homola2010">Template:Cite journal</ref> The main chiropractic treatment technique involves manual therapy, especially spinal manipulation therapy (SMT), manipulations of other joints and soft tissues.<ref name="content-of-practice">Template:Cite book AHCPR Pub No. 98-N002.</ref> Its foundation is at odds with mainstream medicine and chiropractic is sustained by pseudoscientific ideas, such as vertebral subluxation and "innate intelligence" that reject science.<ref name=Trick-or-Treatment>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=History-PPC>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Chromotherapy, sometimes called color therapy, colorology or cromatherapy, is an alternative medicine method which is considered pseudoscience.<ref>Williams, William F. (2000). Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience: From Alien Abductions to Zone Therapy. Facts on File Inc. p. 52. Template:ISBN</ref> Chromotherapists claim to be able to use light in the form of color to balance "energy" lacking from a person's body, whether it be on physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental levels. Color therapy is distinct from other types of light therapy, such as neonatal jaundice treatment<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and blood irradiation therapy, which is a scientifically accepted medical treatment for a number of conditions,<ref name=ACSCT>Template:Cite book</ref> and from photobiology, the scientific study of the effects of light on living organisms. French skeptic and lighting physicist Sébastien Point considers LED lamps at domestic radiance to be safe in normal use for the general population;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> he also pointed out the risk of overexposure to light from LEDs for practices like chromotherapy, when duration and time exposure are not under control.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Chronic Lyme disease (not to be confused with Lyme disease) is a generally rejected diagnosis that encompasses "a broad array of illnesses or symptom complexes for which there is no reproducible or convincing scientific evidence of any relationship to Borrelia burgdorferi infection."<ref name="nejm-feder">Template:Cite journal</ref> Despite numerous studies, there is no clinical evidence that "chronic" Lyme disease is caused by a persistent infection.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It is distinct from post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, a set of lingering symptoms which may persist after successful treatment of infection with Lyme spirochetes. The symptoms of "chronic Lyme" are generic and non-specific "symptoms of life".<ref name="SMB-Hall">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Colon cleansing (a.k.a. colon therapy) encompasses a number of alternative medical therapies claimed to remove nonspecific toxins from the colon and intestinal tract by removing any accumulations of feces. Colon cleansing may be branded colon hydrotherapy, a colonic or colonic irrigation. During the 2000s, internet marketing and infomercials of oral supplements supposedly for colon cleansing increased.<ref name="Marketplace2009">Template:Cite news</ref> Some forms of colon Hydrotherapy use tubes to inject water, sometimes mixed with herbs or with other liquids, into the colon via the rectum using special equipment. Oral cleaning regimens use dietary fiber, herbs, dietary supplements, or laxatives. People who practice colon cleansing believe that accumulations of putrefied feces line the walls of the large intestine and that these accumulations harbor parasites or pathogenic gut flora, causing nonspecific symptoms and general ill-health. This "auto-intoxication" hypothesis is based on medical beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks and was discredited in the early 20th century.<ref name="ACS12">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Colloidal silver (a colloid consisting of silver particles suspended in liquid) and formulations containing silver salts were used by physicians in the early 20th century, but their use was largely discontinued in the 1940s following the development of safer and effective modern antibiotics.<ref name=pmid8632503CS>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="mskccCS">Template:Cite web</ref> Since about 1990, there has been a resurgence of the promotion of colloidal silver as a dietary supplement,<ref name=NCCIHsilverCS/> marketed with claims of it being an essential mineral supplement, or that it can prevent or treat numerous diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, HIV/AIDS, herpes<ref name=pmid8632503CS/> and tuberculosis.<ref name=NCCIHsilverCS>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=pmid15748553CS>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=pmid7563503CS>Template:Cite journal</ref> No medical evidence supports the effectiveness of colloidal silver for any of these claimed indications.<ref name=NCCIHsilverCS/><ref name="fda-ruleCS">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=pmid11593479CS>Template:Cite journal</ref> Silver is not an essential mineral in humans; there is no dietary requirement for silver and hence, no such thing as a silver "deficiency".<ref name=NCCIHsilverCS/> There is no evidence that colloidal silver treats or prevents any medical condition and it can cause serious and potentially irreversible side effects, such as argyria.<ref name=NCCIHsilverCS/>
  • COVID-19 misinformation – multiple theories proposing a wide variety of different things regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 itself and COVID-19 vaccines.
  • Craniosacral therapy – is a form of bodywork or alternative therapy using gentle touch to manipulate the synarthrodial joints of the cranium. A practitioner of craniosacral therapy may also apply light touches to a patient's spine and pelvis. Practitioners believe that this manipulation regulates the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and aids in "primary respiration." Craniosacral therapy was developed by John Upledger, D.O. in the 1970s as an offshoot of osteopathy in the cranial field, or cranial osteopathy, which was developed in the 1930s by William Garner Sutherland. According to the American Cancer Society, although CST may relieve the symptoms of stress or tension, "available scientific evidence does not support claims that craniosacral therapy helps in treating cancer or any other disease." CST has been characterized as pseudoscience and its practice has been called quackery.<ref name="quackcranial">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cranial osteopathy has received a similar assessment, with one 1990 paper finding there was no scientific basis for any of the practitioners' claims the paper examined.<ref name="Ferré 481–494">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Cryonics – a field of products, techniques, and beliefs supporting the idea that freezing the clinically dead at very low temperatures (typically below −196 degrees Celsius) will enable future revival or re-substantiation. These beliefs often hinge on the existence of advanced human societies in the distant future that will possess as-of-yet unknown technology for the stabilization of dying cells. There is no evidence a human being can be revived after such freezing and no solid scientific evidence suggests that reanimation will be possible in the future.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=jk>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Crystal healing – belief that crystals have healing properties. Once common among pre-scientific and indigenous peoples, it enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the 1970s with the New Age movement. There is no scientific evidence that crystal healing has any effect.<ref name="Regal">Regal, Brian. (2009). Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia. Greenwood. p. 51. Template:ISBN</ref>
  • Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine. Cupping is used in more than 60 countries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Its usage dates back to as far as 1550 B.C.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There are different forms of cupping; the most common are dry, wet and fire cupping. Cups are applied onto the skin and a suction is created, pulling the skin up. It is meant to increase blood flow to certain areas of the body.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Not a part of medical practice in the modern era, cupping has been characterized as a pseudoscience.<ref name="Crislip2">Template:Cite web</ref> There is no good evidence it has any health benefits and there are some risks of harm, especially in case of wet and fire cupping.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Detoxification – Detoxification in the context of alternative medicine consists of an approach that claims to rid the body of "toxins" – accumulated substances that allegedly exert undesirable effects on individual health in the short or long term. The concept has received criticism from scientists and health organizations for its unsound scientific basis and lack of evidence for the claims made.<ref name=2015rev12>Template:Cite journal</ref> The "toxins" usually remain undefined, with little to no evidence of toxic accumulation in the patient. The British organisation Sense about Science has described some detox diets and commercial products as "a waste of time and money",<ref name="senseaboutscience.org.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> while the British Dietetic Association called the idea "nonsense" and a "marketing myth".<ref name=bdaa>Template:Cite web</ref> In the human body, the processing of chemicals, including those considered 'toxins', is handled by a number of organs, most prominently the liver and kidneys, thus making detoxes unnecessary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Digit ratio – calculated by dividing the length of an index finger by the ring finger of the same hand, has been proposed to correlate with various personality, sexuality, biological, psychological and physical traits/outcomes. The field has been compared to pseudoscience due to irreproducible or contradictory findings, exaggerated claims of usefulness and lack of high quality research protocols.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Ear candling, also called ear coning or thermal-auricular therapy, is a pseudoscientific<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> alternative medicine practice claimed to improve general health and well-being by lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear canal. Medical research has shown that the practice is both dangerous and ineffective<ref name="Seely">Template:Cite journal</ref> and does not functionally remove earwax or toxicants, despite product design contributing to that impression.<ref name=MayoClinic.org>Template:Cite web</ref>

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  • Earthing therapy or grounding is a therapy that is claimed to ease pain, provide a better night's sleep, and assist with symptoms of inflammation by being in direct physical contact with the ground or a device connected to electrical ground.<ref name="MIT_Grounding">Template:Cite news</ref> Practitioners claim that Earth has an excess of electrons which people are missing due to insulating shoes and ground cover.<ref name="Oschman_JACM_2007">Template:Cite journal</ref> Being in electrical contact with Earth is claimed to provide the body with those excess electrons, which then act as antioxidants. A 2012 systematic review study showed inconclusive results related to methodological issues across the literature.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Subsequently, a 2017 systematic review of the benefits of spending time in forests demonstrated positive health effects, but not enough to generate clinical practice guidelines or demonstrate causality.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Electrohomeopathy (or Mattei cancer cure) is a derivative of homeopathy invented in the 19th century by Count Cesare Mattei. The name is derived from a combination of electro (referring to an electric bio-energy content supposedly extracted from plants and of therapeutic value, rather than electricity in its conventional sense) and homeopathy (referring to an alternative medicinal philosophy developed by Samuel Hahnemann in the 18th century). Electrohomeopathy has been defined as the combination of electrical devices and homeopathy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) – reported sensitivity to electric and magnetic fields or electromagnetic radiation of various frequencies at exposure levels well below established safety standards. Symptoms are inconsistent, but can include headache, fatigue, difficulty sleeping and similar non-specific indications.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Provocation studies find that the discomfort of sufferers is unrelated to hidden sources of radiation<ref name="rubinetal2005"/> and "no scientific basis currently exists for a connection between EHS and exposure to [electromagnetic fields]."<ref name="BadScience EMF woo">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="WHO EMF">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Energy medicine, energy therapy, energy healing, vibrational medicine, psychic healing, spiritual medicine, or spiritual healing are branches of alternative medicine based on a pseudoscientific belief that healers can channel healing energy into a patient and effect positive results. This idea itself contains several methods: hands-on, hands-off and distant (or absent) where the patient and healer are in different locations.<ref name=TimesLP>Template:Cite news</ref> While early reviews of the scientific literature on energy healing were equivocal and recommended further research,<ref name=AstinLP>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Ernst 2001 88–92">Template:Cite journal</ref> more recent reviews have concluded that there is no evidence supporting clinical efficiency.<ref>

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  • Iridology – means of medical diagnosis which proponents believe can identify and diagnose health problems through close examination of the markings and patterns of the iris. Practitioners divide the iris into 80–90 zones, each of which is connected to a particular body region or organ. This connection has not been scientifically validated and disorder detection is neither selective nor specific.<ref name="iridology_IntelliHealth">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Ernst">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="iridology_AMA">Template:Cite web</ref> Because iris texture is a phenotypical feature which develops during gestation and remains unchanged after birth (which makes the iris useful for Biometrics), iridology is all but impossible.
  • Jilly Juice – a potentially dangerous fermented drink that has been claimed to treat a variety of medical conditions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Leaky gut syndrome – in alternative medicine, a proposed condition caused by the passage of harmful substances outward through the gut wall. It has been proposed as the cause of many conditions, including multiple sclerosis and autism, a claim which has been called pseudoscientific.<ref name="Kalichman2009">Template:Cite book</ref> According to the UK National Health Service, the theory is vague and unproven.<ref name=nhs-lg>Template:Cite web</ref> Some skeptics and scientists say that the marketing of treatments for leaky gut syndrome is either misguided or an instance of deliberate health fraud.<ref name=nhs-lg />
  • Lightning Process – a system claimed to be derived from osteopathy, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and life coaching.<ref name="Cormier2008a">Template:Cite news</ref> Proponents claim that the Process can have a positive effect on a long list of diseases and conditions, including myalgic encephalomyelitis, despite no scientific evidence of efficacy. The designer of the Lightning Process, Phil Parker, suggests certain illnesses such as ME/CFS arise from a dysregulation of the central nervous system and autonomic nervous system, which the Lightning Process aims to address, helping to break the "adrenaline loop" that keeps the systems' stress responses high.<ref name="jep">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Macrobiotic diets (or macrobiotics) are fixed on ideas about types of food drawn from Zen Buddhism.<ref name="Lerman2010macro">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=pimentelmacro>Template:Cite journal</ref> The diet attempts to balance the supposed yin and yang elements of food and cookware.<ref name=fadmacro>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name=oxrefmacro>Template:Cite book</ref> Major principles of macrobiotic diets are to reduce animal products, eat locally grown foods that are in season and consume meals in moderation.<ref name="Lerman2010macro"/> Macrobiotics writers often claim that a macrobiotic diet is helpful for people with cancer and other chronic diseases, although there is no good evidence to support such recommendations and the diet can be harmful.<ref name="Lerman2010macro"/><ref name=cancer-dietsmacro>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=crukmacro>Template:Cite web</ref> Studies that indicate positive results are of poor methodological quality.<ref name="Lerman2010macro"/> Neither the American Cancer Society nor Cancer Research UK recommend adopting the diet.<ref name=crukmacro/><ref name=ACSmacro>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Magnet therapy – practice of using magnetic fields to positively influence health. While there are legitimate medical uses for magnets and magnetic fields, the field strength used in magnetic therapy is too low to effect any biological change and the methods used have no scientific validity.<ref name="Shermer2002">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Park2000">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="mag_NSF">Template:Cite book</ref>

Technology

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Linguistics

Psychology

  • Template:Anchor Attachment therapy – common name for a set of potentially fatal<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> clinical interventions and parenting techniques aimed at controlling aggressive, disobedient, or unaffectionate children using "restraint and physical and psychological abuse to seek their desired results."<ref name="quackwatch_attatchment_therapy">Template:Cite web</ref> (The term "attachment therapy" may sometimes be used loosely to refer to mainstream approaches based on attachment theory, usually outside the US where the pseudoscientific form of attachment therapy is less known.) Probably the most common form is holding therapy, in which the child is restrained by adults for the purpose of supposed cathartic release of suppressed rage and regression. Perhaps the most extreme, but much less common, is "rebirthing", in which the child is wrapped tightly in a blanket and then made to simulate emergence from a birth canal. This is done by encouraging the child to struggle and pushing and squeezing him/her to mimic contractions.<ref name="Shermer2002"/> Despite the practice's name, it is not based on traditional attachment theory and shares no principles of mainstream developmental psychology research.<ref name="Berlin et al.">Template:Cite book</ref> In 2006, it was the subject of an almost entirely critical Taskforce Report commissioned by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC).<ref name="Chaffin">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Conversion therapy – sometimes called reparative therapy, seeks to change a non-heterosexual person's sexual orientation so they will no longer have same-sex attraction.<ref name="Haldeman1999">Template:Cite journal</ref> The American Psychiatric Association defines reparative therapy as "psychiatric treatment ... which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that a patient should change their sexual homosexual orientation."<ref name="Psych">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="APA_ConvTher">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="NewAPA">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Coding is a catch-all term for various Russian alternative therapeutic methods used to treat addictions, in which the therapist attempts to scare patients into abstinence from a substance they are addicted to by convincing them that they will be harmed or killed if they use it again. Each method involves the therapist pretending to insert a "code" into patients' brains that will ostensibly provoke a strong adverse reaction should it come into contact with the addictive substance. The methods use a combination of theatrics, hypnosis, placebos, and drugs with temporary adverse effects to instill the erroneous beliefs. Therapists may pretend to "code" patients for a fixed length of time, such as five years.<ref name="Finn2005">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy in which the person being treated is asked to recall distressing images; the therapist then directs the person in one type of bilateral sensory input, such as side-to-side eye movements or hand tapping.<ref name=feske>Template:Cite journal</ref> It is included in several guidelines for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<ref name=Schnyder2015>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=WHO2013>Template:Cite book</ref> Some clinical psychologists have argued that the eye movements do not add anything above imagery exposure and characterize its promotion and use as pseudoscience.<ref name="Herbert2000">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Facilitated communication (FC), or supported typing, is a scientifically discredited technique<ref name="Autism Wars" /> that attempts to facilitate communication by people with severe educational and communication disabilities. The facilitator holds or gently touches the disabled person's arm or hand during this process and attempts to help them move to type on a special keyboard. In addition to providing physical support needed for typing or pointing, the facilitator provides verbal prompts and moral support.<ref name="Facilitated">Template:Cite web</ref> There is widespread agreement within the scientific community and multiple disability advocacy organizations that FC is not a valid technique for authentically augmenting the communication skills of those with autism spectrum disorder.<ref name="Review 2018FC">Template:Cite journal</ref> Instead, research indicates that the facilitator is the source of most or all messages obtained through FC (involving ideomotor effect guidance of the arm of the patient by the facilitator);<ref name="Why debunked autism treatment fads persist" /><ref name="Ganz/Katsiyannis/Morin" /> thus, studies have consistently found that patients are unable to provide the correct response to even simple questions when the facilitator does not know the answers to the questions (e.g., showing the patient but not the facilitator an object) .<ref name="An experimental analysis of facilitated communication"/> In addition, numerous cases have been reported by investigators in which disabled persons were assumed by facilitators to be typing a coherent message while the patient's eyes were closed or while they were looking away from or showing no particular interest in the letter board.<ref name="Goldacre">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Graphology – psychological test based on a belief that personality traits or gender unconsciously and consistently influence handwriting morphology—that certain types of people exhibit certain quirks of the pen. Analysis of handwriting attributes provides no better than chance correspondence with personality, and neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein likened the assigned correlations to sympathetic magic.<ref name="Shermer2002"/><ref name=saf /><ref name="Graph_Beyer_PBS">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Graph_BCCLA">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Graph_NT">Template:Cite web</ref> Graphology is only superficially related to forensic document examination, which also examines handwriting.
  • Template:Anchor Hypnosis – state of extreme relaxation and inner focus in which a person is unusually responsive to suggestions made by the hypnotist. The modern practice has its roots in the idea of animal magnetism, or mesmerism, originated by Franz Mesmer.<ref name="Hypnosis_ACS">Template:Cite web</ref> Mesmer's explanations were thoroughly discredited, and to this day there is no agreement amongst researchers whether hypnosis is a real phenomenon, or merely a form of participatory role-enactment.<ref name="Shermer2002"/><ref name="Westen 2006">Westen et al. 2006 "Psychology: Australian and New Zealand edition" John Wiley.</ref><ref name="Cathcart">Template:Cite news</ref> Some aspects of suggestion have been clinically useful.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Nash">Nash, Michael R. "The Truth and the Hype of Hypnosis". Scientific American: July 2001 Template:Webarchive</ref> Other claimed uses of hypnosis more clearly fall within the area of pseudoscience. Such areas include the use of hypnotic regression, including past life regression.<ref name="Hypnosis_Lynn">Template:Cite book "[H]ypnotically induced past life experiences are rule-governed, goal-directed fantasies that are context generated and sensitive to the demands of the hypnotic regression situation."</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Hypnotherapy – therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Using hypnosis for relaxation, mood control, and other related benefits (often related to meditation) is regarded as part of standard medical treatment rather than alternative medicine, particularly for patients subjected to difficult physical emotional stress in chemotherapy.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Law of attraction – the maxim that "like attracts like" which, in New Thought philosophy, is used to sum up the idea that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts a person brings positive or negative experiences into their life.<ref name=gazette>Whittaker, S. Secret attraction Template:Webarchive, The Montreal Gazette, 12 May 2007.</ref> Skeptical Inquirer magazine criticized the lack of falsifiability and testability of these claims.<ref name="csicop.org">Template:Cite web</ref> Critics have asserted that the evidence provided is usually anecdotal and that, because of the self-selecting nature of the positive reports, as well as the subjective nature of any results, these reports are susceptible to confirmation bias and selection bias.<ref name="Kaptchuck">Template:Cite journal</ref> Physicist Ali Alousi, for instance, criticized it as unmeasurable and questioned the likelihood that thoughts can affect anything outside the head.<ref name=gazette />
  • Template:Anchor Memetics – approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer based on the concept that units of information, or "memes", have an independent existence, are self-replicating, and are subject to selective evolution through environmental forces. Starting from a proposition put forward in the writings of Richard Dawkins, it has since turned into a new area of study, one that looks at the self-replicating units of culture. It has been proposed that just as memes are analogous to genes, memetics is analogous to genetics. Memetics has been deemed a pseudoscience on several fronts.<ref name="Polichak">Template:Cite book</ref> Its proponents' assertions have been labeled "untested, unsupported or incorrect".<ref name=Polichak /> Supporters of memetics include EO Wilson, Douglas Hofstadter and many others.
  • Template:Anchor Myers–Briggs Type Indicator – a personality test composed of four categories of two types. The test has consistent problems with repeatability, in addition to problems of whether or not it has exhaustive and mutually exclusive classifications.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The four categories are Introversion/Extroversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, Judging/Perception. Each person is said to have one quality from each category, producing 16 unique types. The Center for Applications of Psychological Type claims that the MBTI is scientifically supported, but most of the research on it is done through its own journal, Journal of Psychological Type, raising questions of bias.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Results are said to follow the Barnum effect.
  • Template:Anchor Neuro-linguistic programming – an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created in the 1970s. The title refers to a stated connection between the neurological processes ("neuro"), language ("linguistic") and behavioral patterns that have been learned through experience ("programming") and can be organized to achieve specific goals in life.<ref name="Tosey & Mathison 2006">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Dilts et al. 1980 p.2">Template:Cite book</ref> According to certain neuroscientists<ref name="Corballis 1999" /> psychologists<ref name="Drenth Promethius chained">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Witkowski 2010" /> and linguists,<ref name="Stollznow" /><ref name="Lum 2001" /> NLP is unsupported by current scientific evidence, and uses incorrect and misleading terms and concepts. Reviews of empirical research on NLP indicate that NLP contains numerous factual errors,<ref name="Von Bergen 1997">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Druckman 2004">Template:Cite journal</ref> and has failed to produce reliable results for the claims for effectiveness made by NLP's originators and proponents.<ref name="Witkowski 2010">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Sharpley 1987">Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Devilly,<ref name="Devilly 2005">Template:Cite journal</ref> NLP is no longer as prevalent as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. Criticisms go beyond the lack of empirical evidence for effectiveness; critics say that NLP exhibits pseudoscientific characteristics,<ref name="Devilly 2005" /> title,<ref name="Corballis 1999">Template:Cite book</ref> concepts and terminology.<ref name="Stollznow">Template:Cite journal</ref> NLP is used as an example of pseudoscience for facilitating the teaching of scientific literacy at the professional and university level.<ref name="Lum 2001">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Lilienfeld et al 2001">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Dunn et al 2008">Template:Cite book</ref> NLP also appears on peer-reviewed expert-consensus based lists of discredited interventions.<ref name="Witkowski 2010" /> In research designed to identify the "quack factor" in modern mental health practice, Norcross et al. (2006)<ref name="Norcross et al 2006">Template:Cite journal</ref> list NLP as possibly or probably discredited, and in papers reviewing discredited interventions for substance and alcohol abuse, Norcross et al. (2008)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> list NLP in the "top ten" most discredited, and Glasner-Edwards and Rawson (2010) list NLP as "certainly discredited".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Odic force – hypothetical life force used to explain hypnosis.
  • Template:Anchor Parapsychology – controversial discipline that seeks to investigate the existence and causes of psychic abilities and life after death using the scientific method. Parapsychological experiments have included the use of random number generators to test for evidence of precognition and psychokinesis with both human and animal subjects<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Ganzfeld experiments to test for extrasensory perception.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Phrenology – now defunct system for determining personality traits by feeling bumps on the skull proposed by 18th-century physiologist Franz Joseph Gall.<ref name="Shermer2002"/> In an early recorded use of the term "pseudo-science", François Magendie referred to phrenology as "a pseudo-science of the present day".<ref name="Magendie1843">Template:Cite book</ref> The assumption that personality can be read from bumps in the skull has since been thoroughly discredited. However, Gall's assumption that character, thoughts, and emotions are located in the brain is considered an important historical advance toward neuropsychology (see also Localization of brain function, Brodmann's areas, Neuro-imaging, Modularity of mind or Faculty psychology).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Polygraph ("lie detection")<ref name="harv">Template:Cite book</ref> – an interrogation method which measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions. The belief is that deceptive answers will produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with non-deceptive answers. Many members of the scientific community consider polygraphy to be pseudoscience.<ref name="council">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Polygraphy has little credibility among scientists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite periodical</ref> Despite claims of 90–95% validity by polygraph advocates, and 95–100% by businesses providing polygraph services,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> critics maintain that rather than a "test", the method amounts to an inherently unstandardizable interrogation technique whose accuracy cannot be established. A 1997 survey of 421 psychologists estimated the test's average accuracy at about 61%, a little better than chance.<ref name="usa">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Primal therapy – sometimes presented as a science.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology (2001) states that: "The theoretical basis for the therapy is the supposition that prenatal experiences and birth trauma form people's primary impressions of life and that they subsequently influence the direction our lives take ... Truth be known, primal therapy cannot be defended on scientifically established principles. This is not surprising considering its questionable theoretical rationale."<ref name="Gale_Primal">Template:Cite news</ref> Other sources have also questioned the scientific validity of primal therapy, some using the term "pseudoscience" (see Template:Format link).
  • Template:Anchor Psychoanalysis – body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers, which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior. Although psychoanalysis is a strong influence within psychiatry,Template:EfnTemplate:Efn it has been controversial ever since its inception. It is considered pseudoscience by some.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Karl Popper characterized it as pseudoscience based on psychoanalysis failing the requirement for falsifiability.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Frank Cioffi argued that "though Popper is correct to say that psychoanalysis is pseudoscientific and correct to say that it is unfalsifiable, he is mistaken to suggest that it is pseudoscientific because it is unfalsifiable. [...] It is when [Freud] insists that he has confirmed (not just instantiated) [his empirical theses] that he is being pseudoscientific."<ref>Template:Cite book. Reprinted in Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Sluggish schizophrenia – a diagnosis used in some Communist nations to justify the involuntary commitment of political dissidents to mental institutions.<ref>Reich, Walter. The world of Soviet psychiatry. The New York Times. 30 January 1983 accessdate=1</ref>
  • Template:Anchor Subliminal advertising – visual or auditory information discerned below the threshold of conscious awareness, which is claimed to have a powerful enduring effect on consuming habits. It went into disrepute in the late 1970s,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but there has been renewed research interest recently.Template:When<ref name="Shermer2002"/><ref name="Westen 2006" /> The mainstream of accepted scientific opinion does not hold that subliminal perception has a powerful, enduring effect on human behaviour.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Voice stress analysis - junk science technology that is advertised to infer deception from stress measured in the voice, often used in a similar manner to a polygraph examination.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Racial theories

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Sociology

Paranormal and ufology

Paranormal subjects<ref name="Pollak2002"/><ref name="Beyerstein" /><ref name="russian">statement from the Russian Academy of Sciences.[1]</ref><ref name="astropacific">Template:Cite web</ref> have been critiqued from a wide range of sources including the following claims of paranormal significance:

Numerology

Religious and spiritual beliefs

Spiritual and religious practices and beliefs, according to astronomer Carl Sagan, are normally not classified as pseudoscience.<ref name=sagan1996>Template:Cite magazine</ref> However, religion can sometimes nurture pseudoscience, and "at the extremes it is difficult to distinguish pseudoscience from rigid, doctrinaire religion", and some religions might be confused with pseudoscience, such as traditional meditation.<ref name=sagan1996 /> The following religious/spiritual items have been related to or classified as pseudoscience in some way:

  • Affirmative prayer is a form of prayer or a metaphysical technique that is focused on a positive outcome, rather than a negative situation. For instance, a person who is experiencing some form of illness would focus the prayer on the desired state of perfect health and affirm this desired intention "as if already happened" rather than identifying the illness and then asking God for help to eliminate it. William James described affirmative prayer as an element of the American metaphysical healing movement that he called the "mind-cure"; he described it as the United States' "only decidedly original contribution to the systemic philosophy of life."<ref name= Zaleski>Template:Cite book</ref> What sets affirmative prayer apart from secular affirmations of the autosuggestion type taught by the 19th century self-help author Émile Coué (whose most famous affirmation was "Every day in every way, I am getting better and better") is that affirmative prayer addresses the practitioner to God, the Divine, the Creative Mind, emphasizing the seemingly practical aspects of religious belief.<ref name=Inge>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Christian Science is generally considered a Christian new religious movement; however, some have called it "pseudoscience" because its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, used "science" in its name, and because of its former stance against medical science. Also, "Eddy used the term Metaphysical science to distinguish her system both from materialistic science and from occult science."<ref>Religious outsiders and the making of Americans Robert Laurence Moore; Oxford University Press 1986, p. 223</ref> The church now accepts the use of medical science. Vaccinations were banned, but in 1901, Eddy, at the age of 80, advised her followers to submit to them.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Energy is used by writers and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine to refer to a variety of claimed experiences and phenomena that defy measurement and thus can be distinguished from the scientific form of energy.<ref name="Stengerenergy">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Smithenergy">Template:Cite book</ref> There is no scientific evidence for the existence of such energy.<ref name="Stengerenergy"/><ref name="Smithenergy"/><ref name="energyenergy">Template:Cite web</ref> Therapies that purport to use, modify, or manipulate unknown energies are thus among the most contentious of all complementary and alternative medicines. Claims related to energy therapies are most often anecdotal (from single stories), rather than being based on repeatable empirical evidence.<ref name="energyenergy"/><ref name=Barrettenergy>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Jarvisenergy">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Exorcism (from Greek ἐξορκισμός, exorkismós "binding by oath") is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be done by causing the entity to swear an oath, performing an elaborate ritual, or simply by commanding it to depart in the name of a higher power. The practice is ancient and part of the belief system of many cultures and religions. Requested and performed exorcism began to decline in the United States by the 18th century and occurred rarely until the latter half of the 20th century, when the public saw a sharp rise due to the media attention exorcisms were getting. There was "a 50% increase in the number of exorcisms performed between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s".
  • Koranic scientific foreknowledge (or Qur'anic science or Hadeeth science) asserts that foundational Islamic religious texts made accurate statements about the world that science verified hundreds of years later.<ref name="LewisHammer2011">Template:Cite book</ref> This belief is a common theme in Bucailleism.<ref name="Kuiper_2021">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Hameed2019">Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Turkish American physicist Taner Edis, many Muslims appreciate technology and respect the role that science plays in its creation. As a result, he says there is a great deal of Islamic pseudoscience attempting to reconcile science with their religious beliefs.<ref name="Edis2009ScienceEducation">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="EdisFreeInquiry">Template:Cite journal</ref> Edis maintains that the motivation to read modern scientific truths into holy books is also stronger for Muslims than Christians.<ref name=TanerEdis>Template:Cite web</ref> This is because, according to Edis, true criticism of the Quran is almost non-existent in the Muslim world, causing Muslims to believe that scientific truths simply must appear in the Quran.<ref name="TanerEdis"/>

Creation science

Creation science or scientific creationism is a branch of creationism that claims to provide scientific support for the Genesis creation narrative in the Book of Genesis and disprove or reexplain the scientific facts, theories and scientific paradigms about geology, cosmology, biological evolution, archaeology, history and linguistics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Failed verification

Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Decker">Template:Cite web</ref>

  • Specified complexity – claim that when something is simultaneously complex and specified, one can infer that it was produced by an intelligent cause (i.e., that it was designed) rather than being the result of natural processes.<ref name="council" /><ref name="ReferenceA" />

Scientology

  • Dianetics, a therapeutic technique promoted by Scientology, purports to treat a hypothetical reactive mind. There is no scientific evidence for the existence of an actual reactive mind,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> apart from the stimulus response mechanisms documented in behaviorist psychology.
  • Narconon and Purification Rundown are Scientology programs that purport to clean the human body of toxins and drugs respectively. Their method consists of very long saunas over many days, extremely large (possibly toxic) doses of vitamins including niacin, and Scientology 'training routines', sometimes including attempts at telekinesis. The programs have been described as "medically unsafe",<ref>Template:Cite news (courtesy link)</ref> "quackery"<ref name="LA_Times_1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="new_york_post">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and "medical fraud",<ref name="healing_or_stealing">Template:Cite book</ref> while academic and medical experts have dismissed Narconon's educational programme as containing "factual errors in basic concepts such as physical and mental effects, addiction and even spelling".<ref name="SF_Chronicle">Template:Cite news</ref> In turn, Narconon has claimed that mainstream medicine is "biased" against it, and that "people who endorse so-called controlled drug use cannot be trusted to review a program advocating totally drug-free living."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Narconon has said that criticism of its programmes is "bigoted",<ref name="nbc_rock_center">Template:Cite web</ref> and that its critics are "in favor of drug abuse [...] they are either using drugs or selling drugs".<ref name="welcomes_then_questions">Template:Cite news</ref>

Other

Idiosyncratic ideas

The following concepts have only a very small number of proponents, yet have become notable:

  • Aquatic ape hypothesis – the idea that certain ancestors of modern humans were more aquatic than other great apes and even many modern humans and, as such, were habitual waders, swimmers and divers.<ref name="hawks">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Lawsonomy – proposed philosophy and system of claims about physics made by baseball player and aviator Alfred William Lawson.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Morphic resonance – The idea put forth by Rupert Sheldrake that "natural systems, such as termite colonies, or pigeons, or orchid plants, or insulin molecules, inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind". It is also claimed to be responsible for "mysterious telepathy-type interconnections between organisms".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
  • N rays – A hypothesized form of radiation described by Prosper-René Blondlot in 1903 that briefly inspired significant scientific interest, but were subsequently found to have been a result of confirmation bias.<ref name = nye>

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See also

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Notes

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References

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Further reading

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