How Good Science is used to Promote Bad Treatments: The Story of Brain Inflammation, Autism, and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Pseudoscientific treatments are those that have little to no empirical evidence of effectiveness, yet are portrayed as having roots in science. One characteristic of most fad treatments is the use of scientific jargon to make the treatment appear more scientific than it actually is and thus appear to be supported by more evidence than it actually does. For example, advertisements for countless products refer to ‘scientific testing” or being “thoroughly researched.”