More woo from Dr. Phil

[zakur]

I acually caught part of this episode (http://www.drphil.com/show/show.jhtml?contentId=3002_parentingwithpills.xml) when it originally aired. I forgot all about it until the recent discussion about polygraph.

In this episode, which dealt with ADD/ADHD in children, several alternatives to medication were discussed. It was all going well until Dr. Phil introduced a guy named Dr. Lawlis to talk about diet:From the show's summary:
Dr. Lawlis says that if parents are hyper-vigilant about what they feed their child, they can stop the hyper behavior. He came up with a fun way for parents to children to test which foods are good for them and which foods are bad; it's called muscle testing kinesiology.

He has Austin hold two of his fingers together very tightly so he can't undo them. If you're holding foods that aren't good for you, your grip won't be as strong. Dr. Lawlis has Austin hold a variety of foods including, chicken strips, grapes, a cucumber and others, as he tests his grip.You should have seen the amazed looks on the faces of the audience members when he did this parlor trick. :rolleyes:

[ahoneycutt]

I know of people that actually use this technique to try and diagnose illnesses :eek:

They also use another test (probably more accurate than muscle testing, but along the same lines) where the person will stand up, and close their eyes. If they lean forward when a dilemma is presented to them, it's a positive; backwards is a negative. Sounds like you'd get more accurate results from that one to me as no one is actually touching your body :(

Just shoot me.

-Andy

Edited for repeat smilies.

[Lisa Simpson]

I'm reading a book by Dr. Dean Edell called Eat, Drink & Be Merry and he talks about Phil Donahue and the anti-vax crusade.

Dr. Phil is a different mouthpiece with the same old bullsh!t.

[Mercutio]

I do a version of this trick with my classes each year. It works every time. Of course, as soon as we blind the students as to what condition they are in, the effect dissappears. (They quickly see that I should also be blind to condition.)

Some fool on PBS also does this, and it shows up every pledge drive.

I hate what these people do to the reputation of my science.

[Skepiroth]

::::Trying not to violate the JREF obscinity rules after reading that load of garbag::::

This one hit me personally. I wish I could take all the anti-Ritalin/Adderall folks & alter their genomes in a manner such that they would develop ADHD. Let them know how it feels to have a great idea, then a pen falls, you get distracted and lose it. Let them know how it feels to be constantly almost hit by cars because you don't have the attention span to pay attention to your surroundings. Let them know how it feels to be talking to your boss and appear as if you are not listening because some minor thing distracted you. And then let them try all their reflexology, kineseology, homeopathy, herbal remedy, holistic treatment, etc... crap for themselves. Ritalin & Adderall work, regardless of what "Dr." Phil has to say, get over it.

[clarsct]

Yeah, I saw it, too. (I was one of those who posted on the Dr. Phil lie-detector thread).

I emailed him about both subjects, but still haven't received a response. If I ever do, I'll keep you informed.