Transcript Real

Fad Diagnoses
Or fashionable labels
www.bradfordvts.co.uk
Recipe for a New Fad Disease
Pick any symptoms -- the more common the
better.
Pick any disease -- real or invented. (Real
diseases have more potential for confusion
because their existence can't be denied.)
Assign lots of symptoms to the disease.
Say that millions of undiagnosed people
suffer from it.
•Pick a few treatments -- Including
supplements will enable health food stores and
others to get in on the action.
 Promote your theories through books and
talk shows.
 Don't compete with other fad diseases.
Say that yours predisposes people to the
rest or vice versa.
 Claim that the medical establishment, the
drug companies, and the chemical
industry are against you.
 State that the medical profession is afraid
of your competition or trying to protect its
turf.
 If challenged to prove your claims, say that
you lack the money for research, that you
are too busy getting sick people well, and
that your clinical results speak for
themselves.
Real or Spurious ?
Real
• Chronic fatigue
syndrome
• Attention Deficit
syndromes
• Food allergies
• Hypoglycaemia
Spurious
• Sick Building
syndrome
• Multiple chemical
sensitivity
• Gulf war syndrome
• Sick building
syndrome
Why promote one?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Boredom
Low professional esteem
Paranormal tendencies
Paranoid mental state
Reality shock
Beliefs encroachment
Why promote one?
•
•
•
•
The profit motive
The prophet motive
Psychopathic tendencies
The conversion phenomenon