Post by Tamrin on Aug 6, 2008 17:04:57 GMT 10
The Skeptics of “Energy” Therapies
By Matthew Robb, MSW, LCSW-C
Social Work Today, Vol. 4, No. 7, Page 30
(Excerpt)
By Matthew Robb, MSW, LCSW-C
Social Work Today, Vol. 4, No. 7, Page 30
(Excerpt)
Scott O. Lilienfeld, PhD, and Jeffrey M. Lohr, PhD, know something about pseudoscience. Coeditors with Steven Jay Lynn, PhD, of the critically praised “Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology,” the university research psychologists say TFT and EFT are symptomatic of a larger, more worrisome trend—one that sees psychotherapy melding with spiritualism and the scientific method losing ground to intuition and mysticism. In this critical assessment, they are joined by Richard Gist, PhD, of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Brandon Gaudiano, PhD, research fellow at Brown University Medical School, among others.
Assessing Callahan’s claims of “98% success,” Emory University professor Lilienfeld retorts, “Hogwash. On what basis is he making that claim? Why hasn’t he conducted controlled studies—after 20 years of practicing TFT? The evidence for his claims is based totally on his testimonials. You have to trust him. But that’s not the way science works.” The standard of proof, Lilienfeld says, can be found in Hume’s Dictum: Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence.
Lohr nods in agreement. “The research for TFT is virtually nonexistent. There is only basically testimony rather than rigorously controlled experimental research. I think they are promoting and marketing a procedure that they have trademarked, but trademarks are a marketing issue that has nothing to do with an empirically scientific enterprise. People say they feel different after undergoing the [TFT] procedure, but they can feel different in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons, none of which have anything to do with the alleged specific influence of the therapeutic procedure.” And what of Gary Craig’s EFT? “There’s even less research on that,” Lohr counters.
Gist is more direct. “Rituals have always been used to provide us comfort, and these manualized, ritualistic things fill a very interesting need,” he says. “Market them, package them with a little bit of scientism, and they seem quite remarkable, especially to the desperate and gullible. It’s nice to be able to learn things with no more than a weekend of color slides and hyperbole, especially when it doesn’t even require you to take a test. They claim that TFT also works with cats and dogs.” Pausing to reflect, Gist adds, “We seem to have a lot more interest these days in the package and less interest in the content. Unfortunately, there’s a client born every minute.”
Assessing Callahan’s claims of “98% success,” Emory University professor Lilienfeld retorts, “Hogwash. On what basis is he making that claim? Why hasn’t he conducted controlled studies—after 20 years of practicing TFT? The evidence for his claims is based totally on his testimonials. You have to trust him. But that’s not the way science works.” The standard of proof, Lilienfeld says, can be found in Hume’s Dictum: Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence.
Lohr nods in agreement. “The research for TFT is virtually nonexistent. There is only basically testimony rather than rigorously controlled experimental research. I think they are promoting and marketing a procedure that they have trademarked, but trademarks are a marketing issue that has nothing to do with an empirically scientific enterprise. People say they feel different after undergoing the [TFT] procedure, but they can feel different in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons, none of which have anything to do with the alleged specific influence of the therapeutic procedure.” And what of Gary Craig’s EFT? “There’s even less research on that,” Lohr counters.
Gist is more direct. “Rituals have always been used to provide us comfort, and these manualized, ritualistic things fill a very interesting need,” he says. “Market them, package them with a little bit of scientism, and they seem quite remarkable, especially to the desperate and gullible. It’s nice to be able to learn things with no more than a weekend of color slides and hyperbole, especially when it doesn’t even require you to take a test. They claim that TFT also works with cats and dogs.” Pausing to reflect, Gist adds, “We seem to have a lot more interest these days in the package and less interest in the content. Unfortunately, there’s a client born every minute.”
