FWIW: I found a story on cnn.com that provided a bit more information that the original story (though apparently still just based on Beck's self report on his own program): http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/us/glenn-beck-health-issues/index.html
One of the new pieces of information was that Beck moved to Texas to get treatment at Carrick Brain Centers, which they describe only as a "rehabilitation center". CBC is one of the facilities operated by Frederick Robert Carrick who is a chiropractor who apparently developed a new speciality in that field called "Chiropractic Neurology". Carrick also holds a doctorate in education from Walden University, which is an online school. This appears to be the "doctor" that Beck is referring to. ABC news did a short story on him a couple of years ago: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/chiropractic-neurology-breakthrough-placebo/story?id=17027630&singlePage=true . Chiropractic treatment is, I think it is fair to say, controversial. I don't want to offend anyone here (I know those who support it are often quite passionate about it), but my (limited) understanding is that the best empirical investigations have not reported evidence that it is effective, for conditions much less serious that TBI and the symptoms described by Beck. I have not been able to locate any scientific study of "Chiropractic Neurology" per se, but I was alarmed by Carrick's attitude in the fairly tame interview published on the ABC site regarding suggestions that the beneficial effects he reports using (from what I can tell) exclusively anecdotes are the result of the placebo effect. Rather than supply references for scientific evidence for what he does, he just repeated and generalized anecdotes. If Glen Beck was in significant pain previously, and now feels better, then I am happy for him. I would be concerned if his testimonial encouraged others with serious neurological problems to seek similar treatment, at least in the absence of more and better evidence. I am also concerned with the quality of the "journalism" reflected in the few reports I read about Beck's reports this evening. They all (including cnn.com) parroted uncritically Beck's claim that he has a serious and rare disease, which has been either cured or at least effectively treated by the Carrick Brain Center. From what I can tell, these "news" organizations did no original reporting, and simply transcribed what Beck said on his program. To the extent that this is a news story (and it likely is - Beck is a public figure) it seems that in the absence of some kind of documentation cnn and others should have reported this clearly as a report or claim made by Beck, not as an established fact. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
