Hypothesis testing of the adoption of pseudoscientific methods

Abstract

Pseudoscientific methods of treatment proliferate in the mental health professions. These treatment approaches often attract busy clinicians who might not have sufficient formal education in scientific methods to detect pseudoscientific practices, and likely possess personality qualities that would make these questionable approaches attractive. One clearly pseudoscientific approach, brainspotting, was first described in Medical Hypotheses (Corrigan & Grand, 2013, Medical Hypotheses, 80, 759–766; Corrigan, Grand, & Raju, 2015, Medical Hypotheses, 84, 384–394.). In this article, we demonstrate how brainspotting meets the criteria for a pseudoscientific method, and put forth several hypotheses to test how adherents may come to embrace this approach. We also include remedies to address the problem of mental health practitioners finding pseudoscientific approaches appealing, in order to better protect the public from these potentially harmful practices.