25 Opinions On Things That Could Be Classified As Scams Or Pseudoscience

Many ideologies and beliefs exist simply because they once sounded convincing. Astonishingly, people continue to trust these concepts even though they have been disproven by science over time.

#1

Image source: DetroitUberDriver, prostock-studio/freepik (not the actual photo)

Nutritionist. You want to talk to a dietitian. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist.

EDIT: I can’t believe this comment ended up with 6k upvotes and a gazillion comments lol. And yes I know it’s different in (insert country here). I’m speaking from my experience in the US and Canada.

#2

Image source: General_Sprinkles386, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Lie detectors.

BoredAtWork1976:

There’s a good reason polygraphs aren’t admissible in court — its junk science. It really just measures how much stress the subject is feeling, and then it assumes that any sudden surges in stress mean the subject is lying (as opposed to the subject being stressed because he knows they’re trying to pin a crime on him).

#3

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Chiropractors. If they don’t have peer reviewed journals, it’s pseudoscience. They are at best cracking joints for a lot of your money, at worst hurting you for a lot of your money.

#4

Gluten intolerance. Gluten free food is a massive scam.

I get there are people with a genuine medically diagnosed gluten intolerance, but there millions now who are self diagnosed (incorrectly) and have been caught up in the scam. My wife being one of them.

All sold to them through the “wellness” marketing machine.

Image source: love_ya_work

#5

Image source: Snarky_McSnarkleton, Kateryna Hliznitsova/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Homeopathy

Personality tests (e.g., Myers-Briggs)

Polygraph.

#6

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Conversion therapy. you can’t un-gay-ify someone. the methods used are often just “intentionally traumatize this teenager so that they associate homosexuality/transgender identity with suffering”.

#7

Image source: LogosKhaos, Ahmed/unsplash (not the actual photo)

“Alpha” based dog training.

#8

Image source: AdRevolutionary1780, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Anyone who says you need to “detox” your ________.

#9

Image source: deathyyy, aleksandarlittlewolf/freepik (not the actual photo)

Alkaline water. Your stomach acid neutralizes it instantly.

#10

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The claim that your brain finishes developing at 25.

#11

Image source: delpheroid, Margaret Jaszowska/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Cleaning products marketing that they are “natural” and/or “organic”. Arsenic is natural and organic.

#12

Essential oils. Just smelly oil. They don’t do anything other than smell.

Image source: shunkthenugget

#13

Image source: tkp2017, wavebreakmedia_micro/freepik (not the actual photo)

Had a actual nurse practitioner tell me ear wax candles work…. Nope.

#14

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Manifesting money by “raising your vibration”? Where’s the proof in that?

#15

Image source: anon, Kateryna Hliznitsova/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Blood type horoscope b******t.

#16

Image source: dcponton, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Getting wet in the rain will make you sick. One does not “catch a cold” while outside in the rain.

#17

Image source: Pure-Introduction493, rawpixel.com/freepik (not the actual photo)

Pretty much anything related to “race” as a scientific idea rather than a social construct.

Racial definitions are based on pseudoscience and a few visible phenotypes but don’t really correlated with anything scientific.

#18

Just about anything peddled with the word ‘wellness’ in the description.

Image source: InbhirNis

#19

Image source: nazurinn13, Nathan McBride/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Love languages. These were created by a Christian couple “therapist” who encouraged abused women to stay with their husbands. These “languages” have no real scientific value; they’re inconsistent when applied to a person/couple, and are generally just things you normally see in any couple.

(Edited for clarity).

#20

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Sending your child to a “program” in the Trouble Teen Industry to get “help” with their mental health only for them to leave with more trauma. Those programs are trash. Wilderness therapy was a therapeutic model created to have a low overhead to maximize profits and serve as a pipeline feeder for residential treatment centers and “therapeutic boarding schools”, often owned by the same parent company….

#21

Image source: whoreadsthisshitanyw, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Fire cutters. It’s a wild thing some people I know in France genuinely swear by. It’s where your doctor sends essentially magic, even over the phone, to heal ailments and pain.
It floors me how much they believe it!

#22

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A lot of the hype around vitamins. Many if not most are unneeded for the majority of people and don’t get absorbed anyway.

#23

Image source: whoreadsthisshitanyw, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Fire cutters. It’s a wild thing some people I know in France genuinely swear by. It’s where your doctor sends essentially magic, even over the phone, to heal ailments and pain.
It floors me how much they believe it!

#24

Image source: Burrowing-Owl, Trust “Tru” Katsande/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Live Blood analysis.

“Live blood analysis (LBA), also known as darkfield microscopy or live cell analysis, is a method where a small drop of blood is examined under a microscope to assess a person’s health. It involves observing the blood’s components, like red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma, in their live state, looking for patterns and abnormalities that may indicate imbalances or deficiencies according to Holistic Fertility Group.”

I know a person who does this, she always comes back saying she has parasites in her blood and needs to cleanse. Is she did have parasites she would be very sick, but she just doesn’t get it…

#25

Image source: FScrotFitzgerald, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Anything Freudian. I find it alarming that his theories are given the time of day at all. It seems like unfalsifiable bunkum to me.