Thread by @garwboy

OK then, where to start on THIS hot bag of crap?

'Get Well' magazine, claiming to tell you how to 'reverse #autism' by 'reigniting a child's brain'?

Literally every part of this is bullshit. A lot of it is genuinely dangerous bullshit, too. Hence this thread

/1

https://twitter.com/SophieRunning/status/1207375973647290368

Let's start with the obvious; this is not a 'new' publication. It's 'What Doctors Don't Tell You', under a new title. WDDTY is well known in the sceptic/scientific communities, for obvious reasons. It unashamedly peddled pseudoscience and potentially-harmful 'health advice'

/2

One thing nobody could fault 'What Doctor's Don't Tell You' for, though, was the title. Indeed, no real doctor would tell you about the stuff it printed, because doctors can't prescribe magic, have to obey the laws of nature, and actually want their patients to recover

/3

So now it's called 'Get Well', presumably because the old brand got too many complaints? Here's hoping, at least. But still, the tagline 'Alternative treatments PROVEN to work'? I can't imagine that holding up to advertising standards if anyone complained

/4

As the old saying goes, there's a term for alternative medicine that's proven to work; that's called 'medicine'.

But I digress

/5

OK, so, let's get to the important bit

This cover story. I like to think of myself as a very liberal person, but as a neuroscientist, if you told me someone went to jail for this, I'd probably just nod and carry on with my day

This is dreadful

/6

Firstly, there ain't nothing wrong with the activity or firing of a child's brain if they have #autism. Some might even argue that it's firing *too much* in certain ways, albeit differently to a neurotypical brain.

So... what exactly are you meant to be 'reigniting'?

/7

The 'reigniting' phrasing undeniably implies that an autistic brain is lacking in some way, that an autistic person has insufficient activity going on that makes them incomplete, undeveloped.

Let's just say it; inferior

/8

Again, this is horsehit. Or 'neurohorseshit', if you want to make it sound more credible.

A brain with #autism isn't underpowered or lacking in any tangible way. Not saying there aren't issues or problems that come with autism, but that's a different discussion altogether

/9

It's a neurodevelopmental issue, meaning the brain develops in ways that are atypical. This can manifest in certain outcomes, some of which are problematic in an environment/society that proves challenging for them. But again, that's a different (ongoing) discussion

/10

But point is, you aren't going to be doing anything about autism by 'reigniting' the brain. That's nonsensical. Presumably it means 'boosting brain activity'? Throughout the brain?
You know what's great for that? Ketamine. Want to give that to your kids? I assume not.

/11

So, saying you can 'reverse autism' by 'reigniting the brain' is seriously wrong and reprehensible in equal measure.

But how do they propose doing that? Because remember, these alternative treatments are PROVEN TO WORK. It says that ON THE COVER

/12

How is the brain with #Autism supposedly 'reignited'? Why, with craniosacral therapy. Of course, how silly of me?

What is craniosacral therapy? I'm glad you asked...

HT to @SophieRunning for tweeting about this, btw

/13

Craniosacral therapy is, to put it scientifically, a big old pile of dangerous wank.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosac…

The info on Wikipedia is largely based on Edzard Ernst's investigations, but you know it must be poor when no advocates have managed to add 'balance' yet

/14

Craniosacral therapy says the bones of the skull move in certain rhythms when healthy, and when this rhythm is blocked, that's when poor health occurs. Craniosacral therapists palpitate the skull to fix the rhythms, fixing ALL health problems

Like I said. Utter wank

/15

Take it from someone who's handled dozens; the bones of the skull (excepting the jaw) DO NOT MOVE! Or at least, they *shouldn't*. They're there to protect the brain. If they were all flexible and moved around, they'd be useless, and we'd never have lasted as a species

/16

Actually, tell a lie, the bones (plates) of the skull do move around at one point; when we're a small child, as our brains are still growing, so the skull has to grow with it, hence the 'soft spot' on a baby's head

cappskids.org/skull-sutures-…

/17

So, craniosacral therapy is pointless. Skull bones have nothing to do with health, and you can't move them around.

Except when the skull is still forming, when you're a small child. That's when craniosacral therapy can, and does, cause harm ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2173359

/18

And what is Get Well magazine basically advising? Using craniosacral therapy on small children. That title's becoming ever harder to justify

This isn't even going into how exactly rubbing someone's head is meant to 'reignite' their brain. It's all ludicrous.

/19

And yet, according the magazine's very premise, this is 'proven' to work. What proof is there that craniosacral therapy 'cured' a child's #autism?

Why, because 14 (FOURTEEN!) years later, said autistic child is recovered and at college.

Well, bugger me sideways

/20

Can you imagine! Someone with #autism, growing up to be a functional adult and actually going to college?!? It boggles the mind! It can't possibly happen literally all the time and be a very common occurrence. It can only be a miraculous cure for autism at work here

/21

Brief mention of some of the other stuff on the Get Well cover here, all of which fall under the heading of 'basic medical advice' or 'rudimentary common sense' or 'THAT'S LITERALLY WHAT EXERCISE IS YOU SMUG CLUELESS ARSEWEASELS!'

/22

But anyway. Using autism as the boogeyman of modern parenting to peddle dangerous nonsense for profit is unpardonable bullshit and needs to be stopped asap. And that's my professional opinion. It's stigmatising, dangerous, and wrong in every possible sense

/23

I feel that 'cures' for autism are the 21st century equivalent of gay conversion therapies

Even if well intentioned, they can do far more harm than good because they completely misunderstand the issue, by treating it as an aberration, a flaw to be, that can be, 'fixed'

/24

That's not now, nor has it ever been, how people and their brains work. Putting out a magazine that insists otherwise (and charging people for it) is indefensible, and those that do so should be made to know that.

/end

UPDATE: the magazine people in question have replied to the concerns

https://twitter.com/GetWellShow/status/1207697189587304450

Turns out, if you objected to their ludicrous claims, YOU were in the wrong, and are probably harming autistic people, even if you are one. So that's you told!