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Comments for NeuroBollocks
Debunking pseudo-neuroscience so you don't have to
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 13:25:08 +0000
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https://wordpress.com/
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Comment on Brain Balance Centers: An insider’s perspective by tesorensensa
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/brain-balance-centers-an-insiders-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-1094
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 13:25:08 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=527#comment-1094
It’s been a number of years since the author of this blog has written anything on the subject of Brain Balance Centers. I live in the Atlanta area now, where a Brain Balance Center is alive and thriving. I thought I’d check in on the state of research, and was pleasantly surprised to find that research supporting Brain Balance Centers and their services has only multiplied in the last decade, including a positive study from Harvard.
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Comment on Brain Balance Centers: An insider’s perspective by tesorensensa
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/brain-balance-centers-an-insiders-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-1093
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 13:20:00 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=527#comment-1093
https://3798961.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/3798961/Brain%20Balance%20Research%20Review%20Booklet_Digital.pdf
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Comment on The Amen Clinics advertising is dangerous, disingenuous bullshit by NeuroBollocks
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/the-amen-clinics-advertising-is-dangerous-disingenuous-bullshit/comment-page-1/#comment-899
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 12:44:40 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=503#comment-899
In reply to Glenn Berger.
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Comment on The Amen Clinics advertising is dangerous, disingenuous bullshit by NeuroBollocks
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/the-amen-clinics-advertising-is-dangerous-disingenuous-bullshit/comment-page-1/#comment-898
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 12:42:15 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=503#comment-898
In reply to jonsuomiusa.
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Comment on The Amen Clinics advertising is dangerous, disingenuous bullshit by Glenn Berger
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/the-amen-clinics-advertising-is-dangerous-disingenuous-bullshit/comment-page-1/#comment-897
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 12:24:20 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=503#comment-897
If the writer would have done even cursory research as to what the scans measure, you’d know that the picture is not a “photograph” of the brain, but utilizes a system to measure blood flow, both on the surface and the interior of the brain. The smoothness has nothing to do with the way your brain “looks”. Your lack of any kind of cogent research undermines your claims. Sorry, those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
]]>
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Comment on Brain Balance Centers: An insider’s perspective by William Hocker
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/brain-balance-centers-an-insiders-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-896
Fri, 03 Mar 2017 18:17:56 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=527#comment-896
In your article your conclusion is Brain balance is “fraud”. Let me start by giving a legal definition of fraud: A false representation of a matter of fact—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.
Now if someone were to sue you for libel, then the proof of Brain Balance’s “Fraud would be on you to prove that they are misleading and false and concealing something, deceiving people. You go on to state “My opinion about Brain Balance has always been that it’s pretty much an outright scam, but I’ve never been able to dig up any real details about their treatment program; the information on the website is very vague.” This means you are writing almost in total at this point from a position of ignorance. Furthermore, it is immediately apparent that you are also writing from the presupposition that they are guilty of being a “scam” until proven innocent.
So what is your new and compelling evidence that this is “fraud”? You state “A reader of this site who briefly worked for Brain Balance got in touch with me, and kindly gave me some detailed impressions of the practices, staff, and treatment sessions at one of their franchise locations.” So you found one ex-employee that worked for Brain Balance. Now the information of the treatment sounds about correct, and the age of the employee may be correct and as is the cost, but what might you have left out?
First, it is obvious you have not ran a facility of any kind when complain that they receive such a paltry wage. In the Midwest that is a normal starting wage. How many employees do they have on the average site, how many clients do they serve? You don’t even know! Just an FYI a chiropractor charges a similar amount per session and I know they do not pay much more than this for their receptionists. Are they Bollocks? Are they on your “fraud” list too? And if you did not know you can take that wages of a single employee and times it by three to get the actual payout of an employer, with taxes, liability insurance, etc.
So when you are attacking them, you are upset that they hire people that are too young, but at the site I have seen they are college students from the local university that are working on their undergraduate or Masters degree. Furthermore, why did that person leave, were they fired? Did they graduate? Were they pissed off at the boss? So out of all of the Brain Balances you find one employee? And now you qualified to pass judgment on all of the centers across the country? OK, so I find one classmate that knew you from your high school and she said you were ignorant, lazy, and would steal anything that you got your hands on. Well now I know everything I need to know about you and can judge you. Or based on your reasoning, maybe I should sue my local Taco Bell because the manager is jerk, hires slow old people and their food makes me sick and not to mention they rip people off. Therefore all Taco Bells must be like this.
I am also certain that if the one ex-employee you found thought that they were a “fraud” you would have spared no space telling us all that is evil at Brain Balance and how they are stealing these poor desperate parent’s money. But you are silent, why?! Probably this is because they must have made some positive impact on the children they served. If there is something positive these children have gotten out of the program then it could not at the very least be a true “fraud” because there was something gained in their expense. You also say this “Boring” I know a lot of treatments that are boring! “Boring” does not mean useless. This is true ignorance if this one of key points in defense of them being a “fraud”.
The burden of proof is on you! I would take you more seriously if you found several dozen people that finished the Brain Balance program and were really upset. Then I would want to know what their complaints are, but let me tell you from someone who has done research that you can’t go to one Taco Bell and get smoking gun proof that they are all bad. Guess what! This may come to a shock to you, but you can’t do that with Brain Balance either!
You have a lot of work ahead of you if you are going to judge Brain Balance or anyone! So you don’t like them? Who cares! Are threatened by these people? Do they challenge your job? Are you in the business of psychology and their success threatening your livelihood because they might succeed where you fail? Or are you legitimately concerned? At this point I can’t tell, but it would seem that it might be less concern and a lot more threatened. As someone else asked, what are your credentials to be an expert on this topic? (Not that credentials necessarily make anyone capable of judging something) I don’t know anything about you, except you seem to jump to conclusions and prove things from the position that your presuppositions are going to dictate the facts you present.
You cannot judge anything from a position of ignorance. The scientific method is to have a hypothesis and then let the facts that you find determine the outcome. Then you will be judged on how well you found the facts presented. At this point not only would your flimsy “proof” not hold up in court, but charges of libel would. The only “NeuroBollocks” I see at this point is you… Give us proof! Oh, and just so you know I do have credentials and currently teach at State College and do consultant work for the Cable Industry and Hollywood Studios. I mention this because I am not a poor parent that is angry because you said I was getting scammed and ripped off. Credentials are meaningless if the arguments are unsound, but you seem not have no credentials or sound arguments.
If you were to turn this article into one of my classes you would get a ‘D’. You at least seem to have taken the time to get information from one person, although we do not know what that one person really thinks about Brain Balance since it was conveniently omitted. Based on what I have seen of your work so far, if you did interview 100 people that had children finish Brain Balance and Twenty-four of them had a bad experience, your article would headline dozens of parents hate Brain Balance, but you would conveniently omit the other 75% even exist because they do not fit your hypothesis and presuppositions! Get Some Facts!!! ]]>
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Comment on Brain Balance Centers: total and utter neurobollocks by Donna Morrow
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/brain-balance-centers-total-and-utter-neurobollocks/comment-page-1/#comment-894
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 08:25:10 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=35#comment-894
In reply to Rachel Shrader.
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Comment on About by Chasing the Goldfish – jonathanmarshall70
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/statement-of-intent/comment-page-1/#comment-893
Mon, 13 Feb 2017 08:01:20 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?page_id=8#comment-893
[…] the lines of Snopes.com or Dr Ben Goldacre – we can’t leave it all to the good people at neurobollocks. Of course it would start all sorts of […]
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Comment on The Amen Clinics advertising is dangerous, disingenuous bullshit by The Amen Clinics advertising is dangerous, disingenuous bullshit | Sigmaceutical.com
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/the-amen-clinics-advertising-is-dangerous-disingenuous-bullshit/comment-page-1/#comment-892
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 09:30:07 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=503#comment-892
[…] posted from: https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/the-amen-clinics-advertising-is-dangerous-disingenuou… […]
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Comment on Prism Brain Mapping by Kenneth McDonald
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/prism-brain-mapping/comment-page-1/#comment-891
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 05:34:36 +0000
https://neurobollocks.wordpress.com/?p=194#comment-891
Hi, Fascinating exchange here, love the dialog.
Having been a PRISM practitioner for over 3 years now and coming from an Engineering background in safety systems, where I used PRISM for evaluating the human component in safety systems.
I would like to make the following comments….
A brief perusal of the last 5 pages of the Brain Balance overview document will yield a large number of supporting research for their intervention methods, including a Harvard study that was very positive.
]]>Nuff Said
]]>I’m a professional neuroscientist and have been a brain imaging researcher for 15 years. I know what a SPECT scan is, thanks.
]]>Just read the peer-reviewed literature on diagnosing mental disorders from brain scans and make your own judgement.
]]>Now if someone were to sue you for libel, then the proof of Brain Balance’s “Fraud would be on you to prove that they are misleading and false and concealing something, deceiving people. You go on to state “My opinion about Brain Balance has always been that it’s pretty much an outright scam, but I’ve never been able to dig up any real details about their treatment program; the information on the website is very vague.” This means you are writing almost in total at this point from a position of ignorance. Furthermore, it is immediately apparent that you are also writing from the presupposition that they are guilty of being a “scam” until proven innocent.
So what is your new and compelling evidence that this is “fraud”? You state “A reader of this site who briefly worked for Brain Balance got in touch with me, and kindly gave me some detailed impressions of the practices, staff, and treatment sessions at one of their franchise locations.” So you found one ex-employee that worked for Brain Balance. Now the information of the treatment sounds about correct, and the age of the employee may be correct and as is the cost, but what might you have left out?
First, it is obvious you have not ran a facility of any kind when complain that they receive such a paltry wage. In the Midwest that is a normal starting wage. How many employees do they have on the average site, how many clients do they serve? You don’t even know! Just an FYI a chiropractor charges a similar amount per session and I know they do not pay much more than this for their receptionists. Are they Bollocks? Are they on your “fraud” list too? And if you did not know you can take that wages of a single employee and times it by three to get the actual payout of an employer, with taxes, liability insurance, etc.
So when you are attacking them, you are upset that they hire people that are too young, but at the site I have seen they are college students from the local university that are working on their undergraduate or Masters degree. Furthermore, why did that person leave, were they fired? Did they graduate? Were they pissed off at the boss? So out of all of the Brain Balances you find one employee? And now you qualified to pass judgment on all of the centers across the country? OK, so I find one classmate that knew you from your high school and she said you were ignorant, lazy, and would steal anything that you got your hands on. Well now I know everything I need to know about you and can judge you. Or based on your reasoning, maybe I should sue my local Taco Bell because the manager is jerk, hires slow old people and their food makes me sick and not to mention they rip people off. Therefore all Taco Bells must be like this.
I am also certain that if the one ex-employee you found thought that they were a “fraud” you would have spared no space telling us all that is evil at Brain Balance and how they are stealing these poor desperate parent’s money. But you are silent, why?! Probably this is because they must have made some positive impact on the children they served. If there is something positive these children have gotten out of the program then it could not at the very least be a true “fraud” because there was something gained in their expense. You also say this “Boring” I know a lot of treatments that are boring! “Boring” does not mean useless. This is true ignorance if this one of key points in defense of them being a “fraud”.
The burden of proof is on you! I would take you more seriously if you found several dozen people that finished the Brain Balance program and were really upset. Then I would want to know what their complaints are, but let me tell you from someone who has done research that you can’t go to one Taco Bell and get smoking gun proof that they are all bad. Guess what! This may come to a shock to you, but you can’t do that with Brain Balance either!
You have a lot of work ahead of you if you are going to judge Brain Balance or anyone! So you don’t like them? Who cares! Are threatened by these people? Do they challenge your job? Are you in the business of psychology and their success threatening your livelihood because they might succeed where you fail? Or are you legitimately concerned? At this point I can’t tell, but it would seem that it might be less concern and a lot more threatened. As someone else asked, what are your credentials to be an expert on this topic? (Not that credentials necessarily make anyone capable of judging something) I don’t know anything about you, except you seem to jump to conclusions and prove things from the position that your presuppositions are going to dictate the facts you present.
You cannot judge anything from a position of ignorance. The scientific method is to have a hypothesis and then let the facts that you find determine the outcome. Then you will be judged on how well you found the facts presented. At this point not only would your flimsy “proof” not hold up in court, but charges of libel would. The only “NeuroBollocks” I see at this point is you… Give us proof! Oh, and just so you know I do have credentials and currently teach at State College and do consultant work for the Cable Industry and Hollywood Studios. I mention this because I am not a poor parent that is angry because you said I was getting scammed and ripped off. Credentials are meaningless if the arguments are unsound, but you seem not have no credentials or sound arguments.
If you were to turn this article into one of my classes you would get a ‘D’. You at least seem to have taken the time to get information from one person, although we do not know what that one person really thinks about Brain Balance since it was conveniently omitted. Based on what I have seen of your work so far, if you did interview 100 people that had children finish Brain Balance and Twenty-four of them had a bad experience, your article would headline dozens of parents hate Brain Balance, but you would conveniently omit the other 75% even exist because they do not fit your hypothesis and presuppositions! Get Some Facts!!! ]]>
Ms Shrader, did I understand that you yourself went through the Brain Balance program? That would be very good to know. I thought that Dr Melillo”s program was only for children. I know several adults who would benefit from the program, if it worked for adults.
When you have time, would you mind telling me more about your experience? Thank you very much!
Donna Morrow
]]>Having been a PRISM practitioner for over 3 years now and coming from an Engineering background in safety systems, where I used PRISM for evaluating the human component in safety systems.
I would like to make the following comments….
Knowing very little about neuroscience it has become very apparent to me that the PRISM tool does provide a very simple medium in which to have very deep conversations with people in the workplace (works as a personal improvement tool too) which results in massively improved communications and team interactions and much more besides.
The fact that you can base the conversations around brain chemicals having such and such an effect on behaviour makes these conversations so so easy, as it is the chemicals you are talking about not the person.
That brain chemicals affect ones behaviour should really be no real surprise, when you consider the well known estrogen-testosterone or male female differences.
It is well worth a look at this system, it can alter lives. It certainly altered mine.
Kenneth