The Loose Screw Awards

Ok, I have always thought that psychologists were a bit off the deep end. Richard Feynman, the celebrated if somewhat quirky physicist, said that if you have a choice between a psychologist and a witchdoctor, choose the witchdoctor because he uses the scientific method. As you may guess, he was not very fond of them. Fraud scandals involving the likes of Frued and Kinsey certainly have not helped matters.

Well, it appears psychology is not completely unaware of it failings. Enter the The Loose Screw Awards. Here we have the top ten discredited ideas, and many still have a lot of life left in them.

Rorschach blots and other so called projective tests land in number one, but number two, really should have been there, with recovered memories. Mozart for babies, while perhaps ineffective, was really quite innocent (#6. The P.T. Barnum Medal for Mass-Market Potential) while on the other hand, trying to boost self esteem (in at #4) by trying to convince yourself just how wonderful you are, is more insidious and damaging.

The only one I can find some fault with is enabling (#5) because I realized I had done that to some degree during my marriage. However, to their credit, I think that they are talking about extreme cases and reactions. Worth taking a look at.