The problem with distance healing is that, to the sceptics, it is intangible, immeasurable and inconceivable.
Prayer, Reiki, intention, spiritual healing, energy healing and all the other descriptions of the power of thought are subjects that appear to divide the world between believers and non-believers.
Unfortunately, the non-believers usually include scientists and practitioners who are looking for evidence that the ‘system’ works. It is immeasurable in the usual manner of testing a drug or procedure.
However, recently, scientists at Northampton University in the UK have carried out one of the most rigorous analyses of all previous studies into these various ‘distance healing’ and ‘non-contact’ techniques.
They discarded studies that came up with overwhelming positive results, but which were not ‘good science’ and others that didn’t quite make the grade.
Mental imagery and thoughts affect the nervous system
Subsequently, they were left with 57 studies that involved human targets and 49 studies that involved non-human targets, such as animals and plants. The researchers, led by Chris Roe, then put the numbers through the statistical wringer and ironed out any other discrepancies to obtain a level playing field.
The average effect was small, but significant. Distance healing has a 19 per cent positive impact on a range of illnesses. In other words, you have a nearly one in five chance of seeing your illness improve if someone prays for you or sends you spiritual healing or Reiki, compared with doing nothing at all.
The results vary from one practice to another. Prayer, for instance, is slightly less effective (showing approximately a 14 per cent success level), while therapeutic touch is one of the most successful therapies (showing a 22 per cent positive effect).
For clarification, therapeutic touch, or non-contact therapeutic touch, is an energy therapy which practitioners believe promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. In Canada, Therapeutic Touch is a registered trademark for the structured and standardised healing practice performed by practitioners trained to be sensitive to the receiver’s energy field which surrounds the body.
Others may also know this practice as Reiki, which can be carried out near the receiver or over a distance. Practitioners of therapeutic touch state that by placing their hands on, or near, a patient, they are able to detect and manipulate the patient’s energy field.
Returning to the results of the study, these effects are above and beyond a placebo. In other words, they have nothing to do with the recipient thinking a technique would help, as sometimes happens with a placebo tablet. Most of the studies that were found acceptable by the researchers were double blind and placebo controlled, which means that some people were prayed for and others weren’t.
However, no one taking part knew which group they were in. As a true demonstration of the point, the researchers discovered that the greatest effects were seen in studies of cell cultures and animals, which presumably have no way of knowing what prayer is, let alone that they are being prayed for.
This information is not enough to convince sceptics and certainly not drug companies which get excited if, during trials, research shows that their new drug has a positive effect by just a few percentage points more than a placebo.
So while it is not expected to make much difference to the wider audience, to those who utilise the power of distance healing in whatever form they prefer, they will go ahead and continue because they can see research has shown that in some small way it works.
While we are looking at the power of thought, scientists have stated that the power of our mind and thoughts plays a significant role in muscle recovery. Essentially, you can think your muscles back to their former strength after prolonged inactivity such as after an injury.
Mental imagery and thoughts affect the nervous system, which stimulates muscle groups. Doing mental exercises can reduce muscle loss by as much as 50 per cent, according to researchers from Ohio University in the US.
Twenty nine volunteers wore a rigid cast which immobilised their hands and wrist for four weeks. Half of them carried out the mental imagery regularly. They imagined that they were intensely contracting their wrist for five seconds and then resting for five seconds.
At the end of the experiment, those who had performed the mental imagery exercises had lost 50 per cent less muscle strength than those in the group that had not performed the imagery (J. Neurophysiol, 2014).
Another interesting example of mind over matter is a study which looked at menopausal women and their bone density. Those who were satisfied with their lives and had a positive outlook suffered 52 per cent less bone density than those who had a negative outlook.
Over the 10 years of the study, the women who became more depressed saw their bone density diminish, compared with those who had remained positive. Earlier studies had found that depression has a negative impact on bone density and, therefore, the likelihood of osteoporosis, which triggered this particular study. They tracked 1,147 women during the period of the study (Psychosom. Med., 2014).
kathryn@maltanet.net