Category Archives: SCIENCE

Filtering Data in Evidence-Based Practice

A recent post described the evidence pyramid. Like anything else in science, there have been criticisms. Here I liken evidence-based practice to filtering coffee. Evidence needs filtering to remove the coffee grain and any impurities. The trouble is, if one filters a lot of times, there may be nothing left that’s worth drinking. Box 6.1Continue reading “Filtering Data in Evidence-Based Practice”

The Evidence Pyramid

The traditional evidence pyramid remains a useful heuristic device for evaluating scientific evidence in medicine and health care. The highest quality evidence in the top two levels of the pyramid is the most difficult to process. The lowest quality of evidence at the bottom two levels of the pyramid is the easiest to process. ThisContinue reading “The Evidence Pyramid”

The Paradoxical Nature of Coincidence

I am no mystic. By nature, I believe that I am inclined towards scepticism. Occasionally, however, events have occurred that appear to defy reason or scientific explanation. Coincidence is a good example. The traditional scientific explanation holds that coincidences are inevitable within the laws of chance. An alternative explanation entertains the possibility of an as-yetContinue reading “The Paradoxical Nature of Coincidence”

Smearing MECFS Patients in the Name of Science

A previous post reviewed the SMC’s ‘expert reactions’ concerning MECFS between 2011 and 2017. Here I review the Science Media Centre’s continued smearing of MECFS patients in a set of carefully curated ‘expert reactions’ to MECFS research between 2017 and 2020, I expose here further evidence of a deliberate smear campaign of a vulnerable patientContinue reading “Smearing MECFS Patients in the Name of Science”

ME/CFS and CBT – a basic error

For more than three decades, the Wessely School has searched for empirical support for its psychosomatic approach to CFS. That search has been in vain. I show here, here and here that the theoretical assumptions of the Wessely approach lack support and have fallen. The drive to show CBT and GET are effective treatments hasContinue reading “ME/CFS and CBT – a basic error”

ME/CFS and the Lightning Process

Here I review research by the Wessely School on the Lightning Process (LP). LP is a pseudoscientific cult founded by Phil Parker, a Tarot reader, specialist in auras and spiritual guides, and an osteopath. It has triggered a spate of shoddy evidence and false claims that brings a new low level to the checkered history ofContinue reading “ME/CFS and the Lightning Process”

ME/CFS and the PACE trial

Here I review the disastrous trial known as the ‘PACE trial’. This updates a post from several years ago. Readers may also be interested in seeing the Special Issue on the PACE trial in the Journal of Health Psychology (2017). Review of the evidence indicates that none of the Wessely School’s hypotheses about the causesContinue reading “ME/CFS and the PACE trial”

Why ESP can never be found inside the laboratory. A new approach to the investigation of the paranormal

From the Preface [An ESP experiment] “immediately appeals to his [or her] unconscious readiness to witness a miracle, and to the hope, latent in all [people], that such a thing may yet be possible. Primitive superstition lies just below the surface of even the most tough-minded individuals, and it is precisely those who most fight…” Continue reading “Why ESP can never be found inside the laboratory. A new approach to the investigation of the paranormal”

Scientific Fraud at London University

There have been several examples of proven scientific misconduct involving fabrication and fraud at several esteemed colleges within London University. London University has been blighted with a high proportion of ‘celebrity’ cases of scientific fraud.

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