Harald Walach (born 1957) is a German parapsychologist and advocate of alternative medicine.
Harald Walach (born 1957) is a German parapsychologist and advocate of alternative medicine.
Walach was born in 1957. He received a degree in Psychology from the University of Freiburg in 1984, a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Basel in 1991, and a PhD in History of Science from the University of Vienna in 1995. In 1998 he received his habilitation in psychology from the University of Freiburg. [1] He was affiliated for a time with the Samueli Institute [2] before its closure in 2017. [3]
He worked for a time at the University of Northampton, [4] then as director of the Institute of Transcultural Health Studies at Europa Universität Viadrina, [4] where he led a training course for doctors in complementary medicine and cultural sciences. [5] In 2012, the state of Brandenburg's commission for reviewing Universities concluded that Walach's institute should not be continued within the university. [6]
In 2017, he was a part-time associate professor at Poznań University of Medical Sciences, [7] teaching mindfulness to the international medical students. [8] In July 2021 the university cut its ties with Walach, [9] in response to a paper that he published in Vaccines, stating that Walach's work "misleadingly used data to yield conclusions that are wrong and may lead to public harm." [10]
Walach has conducted studies examining elements of complementary and alternative medicine, [11] [4] and developed the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory. [12] He was an editor of an essay series on Neuroscience, Consciousness, Spirituality, [13] and until 2021 was editor-in-chief of the Karger journal Forschende Komplementärmedizin. [14]
In 2017, he started the CHS Institute to publish his own writing, including COVID-19 satire [15] and denial. [16] [ clarification needed ]
Walach has advocated for revision of the concept of evidence-based medicine, [17] promoting holistic and homeopathic alternatives in his publications. [18]
Starting in 2001, along with theoretical physicists Hartmann Römer and Harald Atmanspacher, Walach developed a model of "weak quantum theory" or "generalised entanglement" that attempted to explain anomalous phenomena, such as non-specific therapy effects and parapsychological phenomena. [19] [20] [21] This was not taken seriously by other physicists, [22] and referenced mainly in the fields of homeopathic medicine and consciousness studies.
In 2012, Walach received the negative prize "Goldenes Brett" from Austrian skeptics, an annual award for the "most astonishing pseudo-scientific nuisance" of the year. The prize was awarded in part for a masters thesis about the Kozyrev mirror conducted under his supervision, which was widely regarded as unscientific. [23] [24]
Walach is on the scientific advisory board of a blog called "CAM-Media Watch", which is run by the alternative medicine company Heel. The blog describes itself as a "spin doctor" for promoting Complementary and Alternative Medicine ("CAM"). In 2012, it was reported that the blog had been paid to smear Edzard Ernst, a scientist critical of homeopathy. [25] [26]
As of 2024, Walach has had three publications retracted. [27]
In June 2021, Walach published two high profile papers containing research pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, one exaggerating the risks of vaccination, and the other concluding that children should not wear masks. Both papers were retracted the following month. [28]
In 2023, another paper about the efficacy of homeopathy was retracted "due to concerns regarding the analysis of the articles included in the meta-analysis". [36]
In a press statement, the Poznań University of Medical Sciences dissociated itself from Walach and asserted that his vaccine study "misleadingly used data to yield conclusions that are wrong and may lead to public harm." [9]
Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult to generalize, these treatments range from the pseudoscientific and thoroughly discredited, like homeopathy, to the widely accepted, like certain forms of psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence. The ethics of naturopathy have been called into question by medical professionals and its practice has been characterized as quackery.
In academic publishing, a retraction is a mechanism by which a published paper in an academic journal is flagged for being seriously flawed to the extent that their results and conclusions can no longer be relied upon. Retracted articles are not removed from the published literature but marked as retracted. In some cases it may be necessary to remove an article from publication, such as when the article is clearly defamatory, violates personal privacy, is the subject of a court order, or might pose a serious health risk to the general public.
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Scientific Reports is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific mega journal published by Nature Portfolio, covering all areas of the natural sciences. The journal was established in 2011. The journal states that their aim is to assess solely the scientific validity of a submitted paper, rather than its perceived importance, significance, or impact.
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Complementary Medicine Research is a bimonthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering complementary and alternative medicine. Established in 1994, the journal was known as Forschende Komplementärmedizin und Klassische Naturheilkunde from 2000 to 2005, and as Forschende Komplementärmedizin from then until 2017. The journal is published by Karger Publishers and the editor-in-chief is Harald Walach. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal had a 2013 impact factor of 1.053. After the journal obtained its current name in 2017, it lost its impact factor.
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