Don't Believe What You Think: Argument For and Against SCAM

Edzard Ernst

May 2020 · Societas Book 71 · Andrews UK Limited

About this ebook

So-called alternative medicine (SCAM*) is largely useless; very few SCAMs demonstrably generate more good than harm. Yet, SCAM is popular and has grown into a huge business. Spending on SCAM in Australia (2016) was estimated to be AUS$3.9bn, in the UK (2008) £4.5bn, and in the US (2012) US $30.2bn. Why is something that is expensive and useless nevertheless popular? One answer is that consumers are constantly being misled about SCAM. Consequently, many of us have come to believe things that are quite simply not true. Currently, over 50,000,000 websites promote SCAM, and consumers are being bombarded with information not just via the internet, but also via newspapers, magazines, books and many other sources. This situation has the potential of separating us from our cash or even of damaging our health. There is little that protects us from greedy SCAM-entrepreneurs and over-enthusiastic SCAM-therapists. Therefore, we ought to protect ourselves. This book offers this protection for anyone who is willing to reconsider their own beliefs. It discloses the errors and lies that misled you into believing things about SCAM that are untrue. It analyses the many falsehoods used in the promotion of SCAM, explains the erroneous thinking behind them, and presents the scientific evidence in easily understandable terms. In a way, Ernst's new book amounts to a course in critical thinking, a skill that should prove to be helpful far beyond the realm of healthcare. *Ernst's previous book was entitled SCAM: So-Called Alternative Medicine.

About the author

Professor Ernst qualified as a physician in Germany where he also completed his MD and PhD theses. He was Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at Hannover Medical School (Germany) and Head of the PMR Department at the University of Vienna (Austria). He came to the University of Exeter in 1993 to establish the first Chair in Complementary Medicine. Since 2012, he is Emeritus Professor.