Quackery can be extremely lucrative. Greed can motivate entrepreneurial practitioners to set ethical principles aside. The prophet motive . As prognosticators, doctors foretell what is going to happen if patients don't change their way of life. The prophet role provides power over people.
Some doctors consciously avoid it.
They encourage patients to be self-reliant rather than dependent, but in doing so they may fail to meet important emotional needs. Quacks, on the other hand, revel in, encourage, and exploit this power. Egomania is commonly found among quacks. They enjoy the adulation and discipleship their pretense of superiority evokes. Studies of the psychopathic personality provide insight into the psychodynamics of quackery.