Fraudulent, harmful, or at best useless pharmaceutical and therapeutic approaches



developed outside science-based medicine have boomed in recent years, especially due to



the commercialisation of cyberspace. The latter has played a fundamental role in the rise



of false ‘health experts’, and in the creation of filter bubbles and echo chambers that have



contributed to the formation of highly polarised debates on non-science-based health



practices—online as well as offline.



By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this edited book brings together



contributions of international academics and practitioners from criminology, digital



sociology, health psychology, medicine, law, physics, and journalism, where they critically



analyse different types of non-science-based health approaches. With this volume, we aim



to reconcile different scientific understandings of these practices, synthesising a variety



of empirical, theoretical and interpretative approaches, and exploring the challenges,



implications and potential remedies to the spread of dangerous and misleading health



information.



This edited book will offer some food for thought not only to students and academics



in the social sciences, health psychology and medicine among other disciplines, but also



to medical practitioners, science journalists, debunkers, policy makers and the general



public, as they might all benefit from a greater awareness and critical knowledge of the



harms caused by non-scientific health practices.