Kelly Brogan

This article is part of a series on
Alternative medicine
General information Alternative medicine History Terminology Alternative veterinary medicine Quackery (health fraud) Rise of modern medicine Pseudoscience Antiscience Skepticism Scientific Therapeutic nihilism
Fringe medicine and science Acupressure Acupuncture Alkaline diet Anthroposophic medicine Apitherapy Applied kinesiology Aromatherapy Association for Research and Enlightenment Auriculotherapy Bates method Biological terrain assessment Black salve Bodywork Bone-setting Bowen technique Breathwork Fake COVID-19 treatments Camel urine Cancer treatments Charcoal cleanse Chelation therapy Chiropractic Chiropractic treatment techniques Vertebral subluxation Christian Science Chromotherapy Colloidal silver Colon cleansing Coffee enema Colorpuncture Conversion therapy Craniosacral therapy Crystal healing Cupping therapy Dental amalgam controversy Detoxification Foot detox Dry needling Ear candling Energy medicine Correactology Esoteric energy Therapeutic touch Estrogen dominance Fabunan Antiviral Injection Facilitated communication FasciaBlaster Feldenkrais Method Functional medicine Hair analysis Herbal medicine Holistic dentistry Hologram bracelet Homeopathy Bach flower remedies Hydrotherapy Hypnotherapy Ionized jewelry Iridology Jilly Juice Lightning Process Lymphotherapy Magnet therapy Manual therapy Medical intuitive Megavitamin therapy Mesmerism Mind–body interventions MMS Myofascial release NAET Naturopathy Oil pulling Orgone Orthomolecular medicine Orthopathy Osteomyology Osteopathy Ozone therapy Parapsychology Phrenology Postural Integration Psychic surgery Psychodermatology Quantum healing Radionics Rapid prompting method Reflexology RBOP Reiki Rolfing Scientific racism ThetaHealing Thought Field Therapy Urophagia Vaginal steaming Vegetotherapy Vision therapy Vitalism Young blood transfusion Zero balancing
Conspiracy theories Big Pharma conspiracy theories HIV/AIDS denialism OPV AIDS hypothesis Anti-vaccinationism in chiropractic Vaccines and autism MMR vaccine and autism Water fluoridation controversy COVID-19 misinformation
Classifications Alternative medical systems Mind–body intervention Biologically based therapy Manipulative methods Energy therapy
Traditional medicine African Muti Southern Africa Ayurveda Dosha MVAH Balneotherapy Brazilian Bush medicine Cambodian Chinese Blood stasis Chinese herbology Dit da Gua sha Gill plate trade Long gu Meridian Moxibustion Pressure point Qi San Jiao Tui na Zang-fu Chumash Curandero Faith healing Hilot Iranian Jamu Kayakalpa Kambo Japanese Korean Mien Shiang Mongolian Naftalan oil Prophetic medicine Shamanism Shiatsu Siddha Sri Lankan Thai massage Tibetan Unani Vietnamese
Diagnoses Adrenal fatigue Aerotoxic syndrome Candida hypersensitivity Chronic Lyme disease Electromagnetic hypersensitivity Heavy legs Leaky gut syndrome Multiple chemical sensitivity Wilson's temperature syndrome
v t e

Kelly Brogan is an American author of books on alternative medicine who has promoted conspiracy theories and misinformation about discredited medical hypotheses.^[1]

Background and credentials

Brogan graduated from Cornell University Medical College, and has a B.S. in Systems Neuroscience from MIT.^[2] She uses the title of "holistic psychiatrist".^[3]

Brogan maintained a psychiatry practice in Manhattan from 2009 to 2019, specializing in helping people wean themselves off medication. Peter M. Heimlich stated that she appears not to have maintained certification with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, according to the association's database. She no longer claims to be certified in psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine on her website.^[4]

Brogan wrote about health on Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop retail website and was featured on expert panels at several Goop events.^[3][5][6]

Alternative medicine controversies

Brogan promotes the belief that human diseases are caused not by infectious agents, but rather by psychological factors. She mocks the well-established notion of "little invisible pathogens, you know, that randomly jump around from person to person".^[3][4][7]

In a similar vein, Brogan attributed the death of AIDS patients not to HIV, but to treatments meant to fight it. Even though the link between HIV and AIDS is clearly established by medical research, she calls it an "assumption". She also defended the unsupported belief that a dysbiosis (imbalance) of intestinal bacteria causes depression; Brogan invites people to stop taking antidepressants and use the techniques and products from her website instead.^[5][6][8] Through her website, Brogan offers a subscription-only "lifestyle medicine" community space and access to self-improvement training resources.^[9]

She also promotes many of the usual erroneous claims against vaccines, notably that the immunity gained from surviving an infectious disease is superior to the one generated by being vaccinated. She also denies polio was eradicated by vaccination.^[5][7][10]

Despite coffee enemas being long discredited as medical procedures, Brogan promotes them as a treatment for depression.^[6][11]

COVID-19 denialism and conspiracies

An analysis of Twitter and Facebook anti-vaccine content found Brogan to be one of 12 individual and organization accounts producing up to 65% of all anti-vaccine content on the platforms.^[12] She has promoted widely disproven conspiracy theories about masks not preventing COVID-19, questioning the existence of a coronavirus causing COVID-19, and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic being planned.^[1]

Brogan indicated at length that, in her opinion, the virus may not exist. According to her, it's rather the fear of a virus that makes people sick and die. She referred her followers to the pseudoscientific claims of Joseph Mercola and Ryke Geerd Hamer on the topic. Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and Instagram removed Brogan's videos, as part of their efforts to limit the spread of misinformation during the epidemic, actions Brogan described as "censorship".^{[3][4][7][13]}

Brogan's claims about the cause of diseases, like Hamer's and Mercola's claims, have been debunked by medical experts as dangerous misconceptions.^[4]

On that occasion and others prior, she accused the government of being controlled by pro-vaccination "elites" with a sinister agenda. She suggested the pandemic was a ploy by the United States government to force vaccination on people and usher in totalitarian measures.^[3][4][7] Investigator Benjamin Radford attributes Brogan's theories to a wider phenomenon of self-styled populist health experts inciting people to reject science and embrace their own theories.^[4]

Personal life

Brogan lives in Florida,^[4] and has two children.^[2]

Bibliography

• Brogan, Kelly (2019). Own Your Self: The Surprising Path beyond Depression, Anxiety, and Fatigue to Reclaiming Your Authenticity, Vitality, and Freedom. Hay House. p. 352. ISBN 978-1401956820.^[14]
• Brogan, Kelly (2016). A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives. Harper Wave. p. 352. ISBN 978-0062405579.^[15] On the New York Times' list of best-selling books.^[3]
• (as editor) Greenblatt, James; Brogan, Kelly, eds. (2015). Integrative Therapies for Depression: Redefining Models for Assessment, Treatment and Prevention. CRC Press. p. 531. ISBN 978-1498702294.^[16]

See also

• America's Frontline Doctors
• Children's Health Defense
• COVID-19 misinformation
• COVID-19 misinformation by governments
• List of conspiracy theories
• List of unproven methods against COVID-19
• Plandemic
• ScienceUpFirst, a Canadian science communication campaign focusing on the pandemic

References