Quacktitioners and The Quackometer

Discovered a really fun site today - The Quackometer. So I've been feeding a few pages into it... (Note, according to the site the Canard is the internationally recognised SI unit for Quackery.)

Lets start with the Lightning Process... The homepage scores 7 Canards. The black duck says...

This web site is using serious amounts of quack medicine terms. It is throwing in some scientific jargon and may be doing this to give an appearance of knowledgablity. It shows no sceptical awareness and so should be treated with a suspicious mind.

Now if you follow on to the page What is the Lightning Process we get 8 Canards. The black duck says...

This web site is using serious amounts of quack medicine terms. It is heavily using scientific jargon and may be doing this to bamboozle. It shows no sceptical awareness and so should be treated with a suspicious mind.

Moving on to Phil Parker's bio page we reach an astonishing 9 Canards. The black duck says...

This web site has more quackery than my village pond. It is throwing in some scientific jargon and may be doing this to give an appearance of knowledgablity. It shows no sceptical awareness and so should be treated with a suspicious mind.

The page on Details of The Phil Parker Lightning Process also scores 9 Canards. As does the Prospectus! So I thought I'd do a search on the man himself. Scores 6 Canards - am surprised it's that low! Possible Quackery pages found: 4880. This name appears on web sites with serious amounts Quackery!

As you may have gathered from some of my previous rants, I am not much impressed by Reverse Therapy and Mickel Therapy either. So I thought I'd run a few Quackometer scores on those sites too.

Reverse Therapy scores an amazingly low 1 Canards on it's home page... So then I ran the Quackometer on Dr John Eaton, the founder of Reverse Therapy. Came back with a more believable 5 Canards. Possible Quackery pages found: 349. But moving to his About us page we find the full 10 Canards! The black duck says...

The quacking noise is deafening. This web site is riddled with loosely defined terms and possibly pseudoscientific language with huge sprinklings of alternative medicine mumbo jumbo. It is full of scientific jargon that is out of place and probably doesn't know the meaning of any of the terms. It shows no sceptical awareness and so should be treated with a suspicious mind. It also looks like this site is trying to sell stuff. Buyer Beware!

Compare the equivalent page on Mickel Therapy, which comes back Quack free! But then Dr Mickel is a qualified medical Doctor and MBChB MRCGP.

Moving on to the More about Reverse Therapy, we find "This site has a has a currently measurable quackery content of 7 Canards". I was somewhat surprised to find that the page on Bodymind only registered 7 Canards too.

The Mickel website doesn't really have an equivalent page. It has pages with videos on, but I don't think that the Quackometer works on those. But delving through the website I found a few pages that registered 1 Canard. And then I found this News page, which states:

The Matrix and Keys to Health

Mickel Therapy has undergone significant evolution over the last year. This has resulted in an additional understanding of ‘dis-ease’ states and how we can treat these. Dr Mickel is currently writing a new book that will expand on this information.
(snip)

Not surprisingly (look at the link!), this did rather worse, 6 Canards - The black duck says...

This web site is heavily laden with loosely defined terms and possibly pseudoscientific language. It is full of scientific jargon that is out of place and probably doesn't know the meaning of any of the terms. It shows no sceptical awareness and so should be treated with a suspicious mind.

I get the feeling that the way the Mickel Therapy website is arranged a lot of the stuff on it won't register high scores on the Quackometer, but the Reverse Therapy website gets higher scores because it tells you rather more about about the therapy. I wouldn't try any of these therapies myself (not that I can afford to). Even without the Quackometer scores.

Snow and now fog

I woke up at 6am with the moon shining on my face. Even so it seemed very bright in the room, so I sat up and gazed at snow on the rooftops. After some thin sunshine, the fog rolled in.



The sun is just beginning to break through again now, so I expect what's left of the snow will melt quite quickly.



I hear there's more on the Lightning Process in the Daily Mail today - "How I beat the agony of M.E." - Emily Wilcox & Mum Esther Rantzen put it down to Lightning Process. The Mail is definitely giving this therapy some good publicity - it was only on 9th Jan this year that they last gave an example of a miracle cure using this "therapy".

A friend (thankyou Tom!) has also pointed out Emily Wilcox last reported being cured in the Daily Mail back in October 2001.

Apparently it's important for one to be Ready before attempting this Training.

Am I ready to take the training?

As with any training program we will want to talk to you before you take this training seminar to try and be certain as we can that this program is right for you right now.

Ready?

Our experience suggest you should only phone us if you can agree with these statements:

I understand that the lightning process is a training program and not a therapy or treatment. AGREE / DISAGREE

The process or trainer will not FIX you. We will however teach you the strategies which have others have used to recover from their M.E etc.

I understand that learning the lightning process therefore does not guarantee me any results. AGREE / DISAGREE

This is because it's a training program. We will train you in the same way as everybody else who's found this approach the key to moving their lives on. But we can't predict whether you will apply the training to your life or not.

I accept full responsibility for the effects of applying or not applying this training program to my life. AGREE / DISAGREE

I recognise that the mind and body can powerfully influence each other. AGREE / DISAGREE

I am prepared to look at and challenge my beliefs about my condition/illness, my health and myself. AGREE / DISAGREE

I am totally prepared to do the sometimes-challenging work of starting to think very differently that's required to get myself back on track. AGREE / DISAGREE

Oh dear, oh dear!

Take a look at the courses offered to train in the Lightning Process at The European College of Holistic Medicine. A snip at £3300. And then you can set up your own practise and begin to part patients from their money.

Guess I'm just a cynic!

How to part patients from their money

After a heavy week watching my items not selling on eBay (well, three did in the end, two didn't), this morning I decided to while away a few hours reading the links posted by Dr Crippen in the first BritMeds of the year. As expected, an interesting mix. However, one item did lead me further:

"Advice from Lady Sonja, from the department of loony-tunes, that you should lobby your GP to get reflexology on the NHS "

Usually I scan down to see what else people have been blogging about, and here's what I found in a recent entry on Lady Sonja's blog - A Successful Cure For Chronic Fatigue And Fibromyalgia.

Now this plain makes me cross. Here's what Lady Sonja has to say in her final paragraph:

"In Mickel Therapy the therapist supports sufferers of CFS and fibromyalgia to take the steps necessary to stop their body sending them symptoms. By taking actions based on what their body is telling them, people can cure themselves of the debilitating symptoms and return to normal living."

Mickel Therapy is one of several similar "therapies" for ME/CFS, others are Reverse Therapy and the Lightning Process. The Mickel Therapy claims to have successfully treated over 400 clients, at a success rate of 92%.

Greg Crowhurst has written much better than I can about these "therapies" for the 25% Group, the national charity for those severely affected by ME, and their carers.

Initially Dr David Mickel (an ex-GP) trained with Dr John Eaton (Psychology PhD) as a therapist delivering Reverse Therapy. There is a very enlightening blog written by Adam Del-Monte giving some details of the Reverse Therapy treatment he received from Dr Mickel. After training in Reverse Therapy with Dr Eaton, Dr Mickel fell out with him, and left to found his own Mickel Therapy. Shades of the Freud and Jung schism?

I am shocked by the cost of these therapies.

What is the cost of Mickel Therapy treatment?

"This will depend on the area you are seeking treatment in but generally the fee is between £80 and £100 per session. This is paid at the end of each session." And according to Action for ME, treatment continues for 8 sessions for 75% of patients, longer for the rest.

I am shocked by the training undergone to be able to provide these therapies:

Mickel Therapy:

What kinds of qualifications does your staff hold?

Mickel Therapists only require one qualification and that is to have successfully completed the modular training and be in full supervision under Dr Mickel.
Because Mickel Therapy is innovative and unlike any treatment in existence that we aware of, previous experience of other treatments is unnecessary and can be a hindrance.

Not to mention the cost...

If you look at this document, you will find "Course Fee: Total of £1600 plus VAT" for an intensive 6 day course.

So for £1600 (plus VAT) you can be set loose on ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia patients and charge them up to £100 a session for a minimum of 8 weeks... Sounds considerably cheaper (for NHS) than using the NHS. I'm amazed Patricia Hewitt hasn't thought of it yet - gotta be less hassle than funding the current clinics.

How to train as a Mickel Therapist...

I am also struck by the Ferengi like thoughts here:

"Training should be viewed as an opportunity to provide valuable reduction in the suffering caused by the conditions that Mickel Therapy currently treats. It should also be viewed as an opportunity to expand into the self employed world of health provision. The terms and agreement details the fees involved in this. All potential therapists should have read this and accepted its terms before embarking on training in Mickel Therapy." (my emphasis)

Yes! Guess the Ferengi reference gives me away - I am outed as a Trekker. One of these days I will give you my thoughts on how the team on Startrek NG comply with (my inner Borg coming out there I think!) Belbin's ideas on Team Roles. Remember, Resistance is futile!


Update Tuesday 9 Jan 2007
The Daily Mail has run a story about the Lightning Process today.