Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 April 19

= April 19 =

Brainspotting
A person told me about something called 'brainspotting' which is based on something called 'EMDR.' I can't figure out whether this is a real thing or some fancy placebo-thing. I would like to know if there is any scientific basis behind it. I'd like to know what in the hell it is. And if someone wants to create Wikipedia pages about the concepts, that would be cool. All the sources I google up, they seem like they're not disinterested sources. Temerarius (talk) 00:15, 19 April 2020 (UTC)


 * Here is a comparison. We have an article on EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), supposedly effective for PTSD but reportedly controversial. From the descriptions of BSP I find on the web (such as at brainspotting.com), it looks rather different to me, but Google Search automatically includes EMDR hits for the search term "brainspotting", even if they do not contain the latter term. I expect its claims of efficacy to be as controversial as those of iridology. BSP and EMDR are listed, separately, in our article Experience-focused counselling. Google Scholar Search finds many articles about BSP, but in peer-reviewed journals I saw only articles regarding it as pseudoscience (e.g. ). --Lambiam 05:29, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

Is a visiting lecturer at Oxford's Conted department an "Oxford professor"?
A "visiting lecturer" at Oxford's Continuing Education department (Conted) (|LinkedIn bio) is touting himself as an "Oxford professor" in press releases, or more specifically one of his companies is. Conted seems to be kind of an Oxford equivalent of the Open University. He is also listed on Conted's tutors page.

Now to me "Oxford professor" means someone who has done a PhD at Oxford and has a permanent chair there, not just a "visiting lecturer". But I also know there are varying definitions of "professor". Is Johnson's company actually wrong to call him an "Oxford professor" or is it just misleading without actually being false?

I have read Academic ranks in the United Kingdom which suggests that Johnson is not entitled to call himself "professor" (even with the watering down of that term in the 90s), but would appreciate if someone with more experience of academia could check my interpretation. I asked Oxford for an official response last week, but, you know, Covid. --82.45.2.160 (talk) 09:15, 19 April 2020 (UTC)
 * A lecturer is not a professor, full stop. Visiting or not makes no difference. So yes, you are correct, and they are either being very ignorant, or actively misleading. But you don't need to have done your PhD in the place where you hold a chair, you are not right in that respect. I'd say that's pretty rare actually, given how much people have to move around in academia these days. Fgf10 (talk) 10:22, 19 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Agreed, though I don't think having a doctorate is a prerequisite for holding a chair, though probably almost universal these days. My late uncle was a professor at both Oxford and Cambridge (not at the same time), and he didn't have a doctorate. BTW Oxford's standard doctorate is the D.Phil, not PhD. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 11:54, 19 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I was aware of the DPhil vs PhD thing, but I refuse to go along with that Oxbridge nonsense. It's exactly the same in practical terms. Fgf10 (talk) 12:51, 19 April 2020 (UTC)