Preview

Conversion Therapy Is A Pseudoscience

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
669 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Conversion Therapy Is A Pseudoscience
Science has a systematic method of acquiring information. Claims must have evidence found through observation and experimentation in order to be determined to be scientifically true. Pseudoscience is a belief, theory or practice that is or has been mistakenly believed to be true based on science, but has no scientific evidence that it is true. This means the belief, theory or practice has been disproven by science, can’t be tested scientifically or there isn’t enough evidence to support the claim. According to the author of the book titled “The Scientific Endeavor”, pseudoscience is simply things that are presented as being scientific that do not meet the standards of science. (Lee, 2000, p. 102) In other words, pseudoscience is a claim that has no scientific evidence to prove its truth. …show more content…
One example would be conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is a therapy that claims it can change a person’s sexual preference from homosexual to heterosexual. There is no professional standard for conversion therapy. Some methods of conversion therapy include electric shock therapy, talk therapy and estrogen treatments. (Pappas, 2012) Conversion therapy is a pseudoscience because it has been disproven by several experts. In 2015, it was disproven by an expert panel commissioned by the white house. In a report written by Dr. Celia Fisher it states that the treatment not only does not work but can be harmful to those who partake in the therapy. (Yuko, 2015) The panel reviewed past and current scientific data and it was determined that there is no scientific support for the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    1.03

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Real science looks at all available data makes theories and tests them. Pseudoscience is where determinations of what we want or desire is made and we take leftover information to prove this conclusion…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rhet Analy

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The tone of the piece helps consumers buy the product. “According to scientific-sounding literature…” The scientific “sounding” evidence is no evidence at all. The writer uses it as they use “pseudoscience” to convey the tone of the piece. After reading “science” so many times, it might sound as though they are a professional…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The article for this journal review is Interventions that Apply Scripture in Psychotherapy authored by Garzon in 2005. It discusses ways in which Christian therapists can incorporate scriptures in counseling to create an effective spiritual healing on the clients by utilizing fictitious case study of a 30 year old man named “George”, to analyze various steps of the interventions. According to the writer the two main purposes of the journal are: first, to create awareness among the Christians therapists about the various scriptures integrated interventions available. Second, to induce creativity in the integration of Christianity and secular counselling which will lead to strategies development that incorporate the living word of God. These scripture…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Before the reasons why falsificationism is not a definitive guide to scientific practice, falsification theory itself must be made clear. Falsificationism was intended as a means to draw a clear line between science and pseudo science1 and to be a way of making deductive, as opposed to inductive reasoning central in science2. In essence, it states that a bona fide scientific theory or hypothesis is one that is in principle falsifiable3. There has to be some kind of test that could yield results contrary to the content of the theory4. As a result, theories that are very vaguely worded, or that cover all possible cases cannot be taken to be scientific theories. For some examples, the basic theory that “metals expand when heated” can in principle be proven false by testing the theory to find if there are any metals that do not expand when heated. Hence, that particular theory is a real scientific theory according to Popper’s principle. A claim or theory is pseudoscientific then if it cannot be falsified, for example Marxist theory. To paraphrase Popper, if the totality of observation statements is like a circle, a valid scientific theory is one that excludes at least one possible state of affairs, like having a radius in a circle5.…

    • 2407 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Conversion Therapy Cons

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Throughout the majority of the United States, it’s currently legal to expose LGBT minors against their will to an extreme and intense type of therapy on the basis that homosexuality is a pathology that must be cured. This rightfully worrisome therapy is commonly referred to as conversion therapy. Conversion therapy, also referred to as reformative or reorientation therapy, is a wide variety of interventions implemented onto an individual who identifies as nonheterosexual with the goal of changing the individual’s sexuality to strictly heterosexual. Currently, only a measly six states listed as follows have laws banning conversion therapy on minors: Oregon, California, New Mexico, Vermont, Illinois, and New Jersey. Although America has made…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bigfoot

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry is an organization that’s mission is to promote scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims. (CSI) Pseudoscience’s are beliefs that claim to be science but do not meet the criteria of science. (Notes on Web unit 1 part 3) Pseudoscience in not based on scientific literature or on scientific experiments that have been peer reviewed. (Coker 2001) It is based on someone saying that they did an experiment and got a certain result and that result not being tested in order to see if it can be duplicated therefore it is not falsifiable. (Coker 2001) There are many different pseudoscience’s, astrology, palm reading, and crystal healing are some more commonly known ones. Cryptozoology is one as well all of these can be found on The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry website. (CSI) Cryptozoology is the study of the unknown animal. (Michael Dennett Science and Footprints article)…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nearly one in three LGBTQ youth will experience some form of conversion therapy, post coming out (Gonzales, 2016). Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, has been used on those who identify as transgender, bisexual, and homosexual for decades. Though the LGBTQ community has made amazing steps in civil rights and social acceptance, this is still one of the many problems the community faces today. Throughout this paper I will look at conversion therapy to see what exactly is going on, what those in power are saying about it, and how horribly damaging it is to those who are “treated”. Conversion therapy is defined as any clinical effort to alter a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity (Gonzales, 2016), or in other words,…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Piltdown Man Hoax

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Evidence is the most important component of a scientific study. Any hypothesis may be made, however without evidence it does not qualify as science. The quality of the evidence is also a determinate factor in a studies classification as scientific or pseudoscientific. In the case of the Piltdown Man hoax there are several examples of pseudoscientific conduct independent of the fabrication of evidence. In 1913 Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward published a paper detailing a discovery of fossils at Piltdown, England thought to be a missing link between ape and man (Woodward and Dawson 1913). The study was accepted by mainstream science until it was proven a hoax 40 years after its publication. This relatively long period of acceptance may have been the consequence of multiple instances of misuse of scientific evidence by several individuals.…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is still a shift in the psychology that is happening to this day, but many can take notice of the impact it has had so far just by nine states having a law that bans this horrible form of therapy. The government views conversion therapy as a practice that is not safe for minors to be subject into and is no form of help on the LGBT youth's mental health (The Lies and Dangers of Efforts to Change Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity). The impact of states creating laws will reduce having parents that oppose their children sexual orientation sent to a psychologist that will use cruel techniques to attempt to change them to a…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Conversion Disorder

    • 2157 Words
    • 9 Pages

    References: Anthony, E. et al. (2005). Antidepressant Treatment Outcomes of Psychogenic Movement Disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Vol 66(12), Dec 2005, 1529-1534. Retrieved from doi: 10.4088/JCP.v66n1206…

    • 2157 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Junk Science

    • 2554 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Scientific fraud is outright faking or fabricating results. It could be using improper techniques in the lab to using extreme bias when selecting test subjects for a study. It is essentially done by scientists or corporations paying researchers to use faulty data or practices. Junk science usually involves a lot of scientific fraud.…

    • 2554 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ethics Of Medical Marijuana

    • 7132 Words
    • 36 Pages

    cism of these alternative therapies is that they have not been scientifically tested; therefore, their safety and efficacy has been called…

    • 7132 Words
    • 36 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conversion therapy in America is not a completely new topic, but it is still a controversial one. Ever since it took root in the nation, it has either been defended or opposed. This topic has become more relevant after the election of Donald Trump. His running mate Mike Pence openly supports conversion therapy. The defenders of this process want to eliminate homosexuality by attempting to force people to become straight, which almost always fails. People are also often forced to go to these supposed therapy sessions, meaning that the "treatment" they receive is neither wanted nor consensual. The experience also leads many victims to become depressed or suicidal. The question, however, is simply this: Should conversion therapy be illegal in the United States? It should be illegal because it can severely damage an individual, both physically and mentally. Conversion therapy is not only immoral, but it is going against an individual’s free will.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pseudoscientific theories attempts to gain legitimacy by masquerading these theories as science, when in actuality, there is no scientific evidence to substantiate pseudoscientific claims. Pseudoscience is completely unfalsifiable, because it has little to no factual basis. It therefore becomes unreasonable and illogical to believe these claims, as there is no factual evidence or data to support pseudoscientific hypotheses.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The natural sciences are an area of knowledge which have significantly impacted our perception of the natural world. The natural sciences denote subjects such as physics, biology and chemistry. From my perspective, the natural sciences are an area of knowledge independent of culture. In order to reach this conclusion, I examined the scientific method. The scientific method is a method used to distinguish a science from a pseudo science ( fake science). According to the traditional picture of the scientific method, science is divided into 5 steps known as inductivism.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays