Recent years have witnessed an explosion of research on distant healing. While most studies remain inconclusive, several have produced promising results.
Studies on spiritual healing can be difficult to design and conduct. They should nevertheless follow the same rigorous standards applied to trials of medical treatments – including randomization, blinding and providing meaningful outcome measures.
Methods
Human beings have for centuries engaged in various distant healing practices, from prayers and compassionate intention meditations, to scientific investigation of distant healing techniques such as prayer. While results from such research vary and questions still exist about how they work, this dissertation seeks to address such concerns by creating an comprehensive model of distant healing that can guide future research efforts.
Distant healing works on the principle that energy can travel over distances. Additionally, people can form energetic connections without physically touching each other; and the concept is supported by quantum physics ideas about focused intention being capable of sending this energy across long distances.
Energy healing has many positive benefits for an individual’s health. For instance, it may help relieve symptoms associated with gastrointestinal conditions, such as IBS and IBD. Furthermore, this energy may reduce anxiety levels while improving quality-of-life for cancer patients.
Distance biofield energy healing has also been found to help people cope with stress, depression and other conditions, such as chronic illness. A recent study demonstrated how distant biofield energy healing improved psychological and mental health symptoms of participants living with chronic illness – symptoms like fatigue, sadness and low self-esteem were reduced significantly during treatment.
At a distance healing session, the healer connects with a person’s energy before using their hands to transmit a healing energy which then travels directly to its recipient; who could be located anywhere around the globe.
Sessions may take place via phone, email or videoconference and may employ techniques such as visualization, prayer and meditation. Furthermore, healers can tap into emotions and feelings which influence the outcome of each session.
Researchers have conducted various experiments using various approaches to study distant healing. They have examined both quantitative and qualitative outcomes, such as medical parameters such as collagen deposition in a surrogate wound or self-report measurements. Results vary between studies; with some reporting benefits while others finding no effect. Various researchers have also investigated whether expectancies impact outcomes.
Results
Distant healing – where one person sends energy with the intention of improving physical or emotional well-being for another – is widely practiced and includes various forms like prayer and psychic healing. Although scientific community has generally remained skeptical of distant healing‘s efficacy, several studies have produced positive outcomes while qualitative analyses indicate people who report experiencing distant healing experiences also find them therapeutic.
Randolph Byrd conducted the first-ever study to demonstrate whether distant healing had any measurable effect in the 1980s by dividing 393 heart patients into two groups – those receiving prayers outside the hospital were less likely to need medications and experienced complications than those who hadn’t been healed through distant prayer, prompting further study on both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of distant healing. This work inspired further quantitative and qualitative investigation of distant healing.
Quantitative experiments have produced mixed results, with some studies showing small positive impacts and others none. There is also considerable heterogeneity among studies, making a meta-analysis difficult.
Researchers conducted one experiment using biofeedback to track physiological changes in participants. Instead of showing this information directly to them, however, researchers used electronic channels to electronically send it off to another person at a distance who then relayed it back via computer screen to participants – doing this so that participants wouldn’t know whether their healer was having an influence at the time of measurements – an approach known as remote biofeedback.
Scientists conducted a randomised controlled trial to investigate the role of expectancy in distant healing. Their experiment consisted of three conditions – placebo, blinded healing and controlled healing conditions where participants knew they were being treated – each having short “influence” periods where healers focused solely on one participant, followed by short non-influeced periods that allowed participants to compare skin conductivity between these periods and non-influence periods.
Conclusions
As science has explored distant healing, its results have been mixed. Most studies indicate a positive outcome while there have been studies which failed to show an impact. There have also been cases in which no effect was noticed and one showed an adverse reaction due to treatment. Research into distant healing continues at several major medical centers such as Mind/Body Medical Institute of Chestnut Hill Massachusetts; Duke University Medical Center; California Pacific Medical Center (in San Francisco); National Institutes of Health has invested approximately $2.2 Million on studies regarding distant healing and intercessory prayer research since 2000.
A central finding was that patients receiving distant healing had less chronic fatigue than those who did not, with most of this benefit likely attributable to expectation rather than actual healing taking place – similar to placebo effects found elsewhere.
Although research into distant healing has yielded mixed results, many researchers still hold firm to its efficacy. These scientists, known as belief healers or “energy channelers,” believe that energy from humans can reach another person even when they are physically absent from them. Their belief is supported by quantum biology – an area of research which seeks to explain how biological organisms interact below physical, biochemical/neurological levels i.e. at subatomic or even atomic levels.
Quantum mechanics has demonstrated that particles can exist simultaneously in multiple places and states. Furthermore, quantum physics demonstrates how objects can be affected by an outside force even when separated from it – this principle is known as non-locality.
Study conducted by IONS and California Pacific involved randomly assigning patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome either distant healing from trained healers, or no treatment at all as control group members were monitored for changes in collagen deposition in surrogate wounds and self-report measures; after six months those who received distant healing showed more improvement compared to those in control group.
References
Many are familiar with distant or energy healing. From intercessory prayer to Reiki or another technique, its practice can be found all across the board and is considered intriguing by scientists who study subtle phenomena using scientific methods. Studies have proven its efficacy at relieving pain, anxiety and depression while speeding wound healing processes as well.
Scientists have conducted numerous laboratory-based experiments in order to gain a more precise picture of distant healing. Most of these experiments focus on physiological measures that can be monitored’real time’, such as brainwaves, body temperature or heart rate; when focused upon by healers they measure whether these measures change when their attention shifts away from them before returning back to normal when focus shifts away again; according to this theory intention transmitted through energy field has an impactful influence on physical body.
One of the primary challenges in this type of research is differentiating between distant healing effects and placebo effects caused by hope, expectation or other forms of participation activities. This issue is especially crucial given anecdotal reports from patients receiving distant healing as many claim that they feel better after receiving it.
Although some of these experiments have provided promising results, none are yet conclusive. As with the Copernican heliocentric solar system, definitive proof of distant healing may never be possible; just like modern physics developed a theory of gravity which could explain this phenomenon. Yet these experiments have opened the door for further study of distant healing and energy psychology techniques, lending credence to believers of spiritual healing as an effective form of medicine. Science’s advances in understanding the energy field of human bodies is creating new therapies and techniques to enhance our health and well-being, making distant healing an increasingly attractive therapy option. As this form of therapy continues to gain ground, its popularity will only increase further.
