Energy medicine
Encyclopedia
Energy medicine is one of five domains of "complementary and alternative medicine
" (CAM) identified by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) in the United States
. Subfields within the practice of "energy medicine" and even practitioners themselves vary wildly in terms of philosophy, approach, and origin.
NCCAM divides the overall approach to the practice of "energy medicine" into two general categories:
Early reviews of the scientific literature on energy healing were equivocal and recommended further research, but more recent reviews have proved increasingly negative with some complaining of a paucity of reliable data. The theoretical basis of healing has also been criticised and Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, has warned that "healing continues to be promoted despite the absence of biological plausibility or convincing clinical evidence ... that these methods work therapeutically and plenty to demonstrate that they do not."
Some claims of those purveying "energy medicine" devices are known to be fraudulent. Their marketing practices have drawn law-enforcement action in the U.S.
The US-based National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) distinguishes between complementary and alternative interventions involving actual, well-known forms of physical energy
(termed "Veritable Energy Medicine"), and those that invoke "energies", such as the Chinese Qi
or the Indian prana
, that serve as explanatory paradigms of claimed medical effects but lack the apparent quantifiability and falsifiability
that current scientific method requires. (termed "Putative Energy Medicine").
Alternative therapies that use veritable energy, such as electromagnetic therapy
, may still make claims unsupported by evidence. Many claims have been made on behalf of forms of energy poorly understood at the time and associated with religious ideas of "spirit" which later have been commercially exploited as soon as they became differentiated and associated with scientific technology. In the 19th century, electricity and magnetism were in the "borderlands" of science and electrical quackery was rife. In the early 20th century health claims for radio-active materials put lives at risk. In the 2000s, quantum mechanics
and grand unification theory
provide similar opportunities for commercial exploitation.
There are various schools of energy healing. It is known as biofield energy healing, spiritual healing, contact healing, distant healing, therapeutic touch
, Reiki
or Qigong
Spiritual healing is largely non-denominational and traditional religious faith is not seen as a prerequiste for effecting a cure. Faith healing
, by contrast, takes place within a religious context.
Energy healing techniques such as Therapeutic touch
have found recognition in the nursing profession. In 2005-2006, the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association approved the diagnosis of "energy field disturbance
" in patients, reflective of what has been variously called a "postmodern
" or "anti-scientific" approach to nursing care. This approach has been strongly criticised.
Believers in these techniques have proposed quantum mystical
invocations of non-locality to try to explain distant healing. They have also proposed that healers act as a channel passing on a kind of bioelectromagnetism
which shares similarities to vitalistic
pseudosciences such as orgone
or qi
. Drew Leder remarked in a paper in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
that such ideas were attempts to "make sense of, interpret, and explore "psi" and distant healing." and that "such physics-based models are not presented as explanatory but rather as suggestive." Beverly Rubik in an article in the same journal justified her belief with references to biophysical systems theory, bioelectromagnetics
, and chaos theory
that provide her with a "...scientific foundation for the biofield...". Writing in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, James Oschman introduced the concept of healer-sourced electromagnetic fields which change in frequency. Oschman believes that "healing energy" derives from electromagnetic frequencies
generated by a medical device or projected from the hands of the healer.
All of these attempted explanations by believers are roundly criticized by physicists and skeptics as being pseudophysics, a branch of pseudoscience
which explains magical thinking
by using irrelevant jargon from modern physics to exploit scientific illiteracy
and impress the unsophisticated. Indeed, even enthusiastic supporters of energy healing point out that "there are only very tenuous theoretical foundations underlying healing."
is not the purview of science, claims of reproducible effects for such magical techniques have been subject to scientific investigation. Scientific research into various aspects of biofield therapies is ongoing.
published an primer on complementary therapies in cancer care in which he explained that though "about half of these trials suggested that healing is effective" he cautioned that the evidence was "highly conflicting" and that "methodological shortcomings prevented firm conclusions." He concluded that "as long as it is not used as an alternative to effective therapies, spiritual healing should be virtually devoid of risks." A 2001 randomized clinical trial by the same group found no statistically significant difference on chronic pain between distance healers and "simulated healers". A 2003 review by Ernst updating previous work concluded that more recent research had shifted the weight of evidence "against the notion that distant healing is more than a placebo." and that "distant healing can be associated with adverse effects."
systematic review of the use of touch therapies published in 2008 analysed the results of 24 trials and concluded that the attempted review suffered from "a major limitation: the small number of studies and insufficient data. As a result of inadequate data, the effects of touch therapies cannot be clearly declared." A systematic review in 2008 concluded that the evidence for a specific effect of spiritual healing on relieving neuropathic or neuralgic pain was not convincing and in their 2008 book Trick or Treatment
, Simon Singh
and Edzard Ernst
concluded that "spiritual healing is biologically implausible and its effects rely on a placebo response. At best it may offer comfort; at worst it can result in charlatans taking money from patients with serious conditions who require urgent conventional medicine."
, pointing to a lack of regulation and the widespread use of false or unproven marketing claims. Following this investigation, two such devices, the QXCI or EPFX and the PAP-IMI, were banned in January 2008 by authorities in the USA.
In February 2009, following a CBC expose featuring an interview with now-fugitive EPFX inventor, Bill Nelson, as his female alter-ego Desiré Dubounet, the EPFX device was banned by Health Canada from sale in Canada.
or cognitive dissonance
, and many possible explanations for positive research findings such as experimenter bias or publication bias
, all of which must be considered when evaluating claims.
Critics of healing offer primarily two explanations for anecdotes of cures or improvements, relieving any need to appeal to the supernatural. The first is post hoc ergo propter hoc
, meaning that a genuine improvement or spontaneous remission
may have been experienced coincidental with but independent from anything the healer or patient did or said. These patients would have improved just as well even had they done nothing. The second is the placebo
effect, through which a person may experience genuine pain relief and other symptomatic alleviation. In this case, the patient genuinely has been helped by the healer, not through any mysterious or numinous function, but by the power of their own belief that they would be healed. In both cases the patient may experience a real reduction in symptoms, though in neither case has anything miraculous or inexplicable occurred. Both cases, however, are strictly limited to the body's natural abilities.
Alternative medicine researcher Edzard Ernst has argued that although an initial review of pre-1999 distant healing trials had highlighted 57% of trials as showing positive results, later reviews of non-randomised and randomised clinical trials conducted between 2000 and 2002, led to the conclusion that "the majority of the rigorous trials do not support the hypothesis that distant healing has specific therapeutic effects". Ernst described the evidence base for healing practices to be "increasingly negative". Ernst also warned that many of the reviews were under suspicion for fabricated data, lack of transparency and scientific misconduct. He concluded that "Spiritual healing continues to be promoted despite the absence of biological plausibility or convincing clinical evidence ... that these methods work therapeutically and plenty to demonstrate that they do not."
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
" (CAM) identified by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Subfields within the practice of "energy medicine" and even practitioners themselves vary wildly in terms of philosophy, approach, and origin.
NCCAM divides the overall approach to the practice of "energy medicine" into two general categories:
- putative, therapies predicated on theorized forms of "energy" (that is, forms of energy of which scientific investigation has not confirmed the existence)
- veritable, therapies which rely on known forms of energy (that is, forms of energy such as electromagnetismElectromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
)
Early reviews of the scientific literature on energy healing were equivocal and recommended further research, but more recent reviews have proved increasingly negative with some complaining of a paucity of reliable data. The theoretical basis of healing has also been criticised and Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, has warned that "healing continues to be promoted despite the absence of biological plausibility or convincing clinical evidence ... that these methods work therapeutically and plenty to demonstrate that they do not."
Some claims of those purveying "energy medicine" devices are known to be fraudulent. Their marketing practices have drawn law-enforcement action in the U.S.
Varieties of energy medicine
The term "energy medicine" has been in general use since the founding of the non-profit International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine in the 1980s. Guides are available for practitioners and other books aim to provide a theoretical basis and evidence for the practice. Energy medicine often proposes that imbalances in the body's "energy field" result in illness, and that by re-balancing the body's energy-field health can be restored.The US-based National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) distinguishes between complementary and alternative interventions involving actual, well-known forms of physical energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
(termed "Veritable Energy Medicine"), and those that invoke "energies", such as the Chinese Qi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
or the Indian prana
Prana
Prana is the Sanskrit word for "vital life" .It is one of the five organs of vitality or sensation, viz. prana "breath", vac "speech", chakshus "sight", shrotra "hearing", and manas "thought" Prana is the Sanskrit word for "vital life" (from the root "to fill", cognate to Latin plenus...
, that serve as explanatory paradigms of claimed medical effects but lack the apparent quantifiability and falsifiability
Falsifiability
Falsifiability or refutability of an assertion, hypothesis or theory is the logical possibility that it can be contradicted by an observation or the outcome of a physical experiment...
that current scientific method requires. (termed "Putative Energy Medicine").
- Types of "Veritable Energy Medicine" include magnet therapyMagnet therapyMagnet therapy, magnetic therapy, or magnotherapy is an alternative medicine practice involving the use of static magnetic fields. Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to magnetostatic fields produced by permanent magnets has beneficial health effects...
and light therapyLight therapyLight therapy or phototherapy consists of exposure to daylight or to specific wavelengths of light using lasers, light-emitting diodes, fluorescent lamps, dichroic lamps or very bright, full-spectrum light, usually controlled with various devices...
, collectively referred to as electromagnetic therapyElectromagnetic therapyElectromagnetic therapy, is a form of alternative medicine which claims to treat disease by applying electromagnetic radiation or pulsed electromagnetic fields to the body....
. Mainstream medicine involving electromagnetic radiation (radiation therapyRadiation therapyRadiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...
) is not accounted "electromagnetic therapyElectromagnetic therapyElectromagnetic therapy, is a form of alternative medicine which claims to treat disease by applying electromagnetic radiation or pulsed electromagnetic fields to the body....
" in the terms of complementary medicine. Cymatic therapyCymatic therapyCymatic therapy or "cymatherapy", is a scientifically unsupported alternative medicine technique using acoustic waves which was developed in the 1960s by Sir Peter Guy Manners.-Background :...
uses sound waves.
- Types of "Energy Medicine Involving Putative Energy Fields" include Biofield energy healing therapies where the hands are used to direct or modulate energies which are believed to effect healing in the patient; this includes spiritual healing and psychic healing, Therapeutic touchTherapeutic touchTherapeutic touch , also known as Non-Contact Therapeutic Touch , is an energy therapy which practitioners claim promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. Practitioners of therapeutic touch state that by placing their hands on, or near, a patient, they are able to detect and manipulate the...
, Healing Touch, Esoteric healing, MagneticAnimal magnetismAnimal magnetism , in modern usage, refers to a person's sexual attractiveness or raw charisma. As postulated by Franz Mesmer in the 18th century, the term referred to a supposed magnetic fluid or ethereal medium believed to reside in the bodies of animate beings...
healing (now a historical term not to be confused with Magnet therapyMagnet therapyMagnet therapy, magnetic therapy, or magnotherapy is an alternative medicine practice involving the use of static magnetic fields. Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to magnetostatic fields produced by permanent magnets has beneficial health effects...
), QigongQigongQigong or chi kung is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation...
healing, ReikiReikiis a spiritual practice developed in 1922 by Japanese Buddhist Mikao Usui. The teaching was continued and adapted by various teachers. It uses a technique commonly called palm healing as a form of complementary and alternative medicine and is sometimes classified as oriental medicine by some...
, Pranic healing, Crystal healingCrystal healingCrystal healing is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine technique that employs stones and crystals as healing tools.The practitioner places crystals on different parts of the body, often corresponding to chakras, or places crystals around the body in an attempt to construct an "energy grid", ...
, distant healing, intercessionary prayer etc.. AcupunctureAcupunctureAcupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
and Ayurvedic medicine also come within this category. Concepts such as QiQiIn traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
(Chi), PranaPranaPrana is the Sanskrit word for "vital life" .It is one of the five organs of vitality or sensation, viz. prana "breath", vac "speech", chakshus "sight", shrotra "hearing", and manas "thought" Prana is the Sanskrit word for "vital life" (from the root "to fill", cognate to Latin plenus...
, ManaManaMana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....
, PneumaPneumaPneuma is an ancient Greek word for "breath," and in a religious context for "spirit" or "soul." It has various technical meanings for medical writers and philosophers of classical antiquity, particularly in regard to physiology, and is also used in Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible and in...
, Vital fluid, Odic forceOdic forceThe Odic force is the name given in the mid-19th century to a hypothetical vital energy or life force by Baron Carl von Reichenbach...
, OrgoneOrgoneOrgone energy is a theory originally proposed in the 1930s by Wilhelm Reich. Reich, originally part of Sigmund Freud's Vienna circle, extrapolated the Freudian concept of libido first as a biophysical and later as a universal life force...
etc. are amongst the many terms which have been used to describe these putative energy fields.
Alternative therapies that use veritable energy, such as electromagnetic therapy
Electromagnetic therapy
Electromagnetic therapy, is a form of alternative medicine which claims to treat disease by applying electromagnetic radiation or pulsed electromagnetic fields to the body....
, may still make claims unsupported by evidence. Many claims have been made on behalf of forms of energy poorly understood at the time and associated with religious ideas of "spirit" which later have been commercially exploited as soon as they became differentiated and associated with scientific technology. In the 19th century, electricity and magnetism were in the "borderlands" of science and electrical quackery was rife. In the early 20th century health claims for radio-active materials put lives at risk. In the 2000s, quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
and grand unification theory
Grand unification theory
The term Grand Unified Theory, often abbreviated as GUT, refers to any of several similar candidate models in particle physics in which at high-energy, the three gauge interactions of the Standard Model which define the electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions, are merged into one single...
provide similar opportunities for commercial exploitation.
Energy healing
Energy healing is based on the belief that a healer is able to channel healing energy into the person seeking help by different methods: hands-on, hands-off, and distant (or absent) where the patient and healer are in different locations. The Brockhampton Guide to Spiritual Healing describes contact healing in terms of "transfer of ... healing energy" and distant healing based on visualising the patient in perfect health. Practitioners say that this "healing energy" is sometimes be perceived as a feeling of heatHeat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
There are various schools of energy healing. It is known as biofield energy healing, spiritual healing, contact healing, distant healing, therapeutic touch
Therapeutic touch
Therapeutic touch , also known as Non-Contact Therapeutic Touch , is an energy therapy which practitioners claim promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. Practitioners of therapeutic touch state that by placing their hands on, or near, a patient, they are able to detect and manipulate the...
, Reiki
Reiki
is a spiritual practice developed in 1922 by Japanese Buddhist Mikao Usui. The teaching was continued and adapted by various teachers. It uses a technique commonly called palm healing as a form of complementary and alternative medicine and is sometimes classified as oriental medicine by some...
or Qigong
Qigong
Qigong or chi kung is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation...
Spiritual healing is largely non-denominational and traditional religious faith is not seen as a prerequiste for effecting a cure. Faith healing
Faith healing
Faith healing is healing through spiritual means. The healing of a person is brought about by religious faith through prayer and/or rituals that, according to adherents, stimulate a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or...
, by contrast, takes place within a religious context.
Energy healing techniques such as Therapeutic touch
Therapeutic touch
Therapeutic touch , also known as Non-Contact Therapeutic Touch , is an energy therapy which practitioners claim promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. Practitioners of therapeutic touch state that by placing their hands on, or near, a patient, they are able to detect and manipulate the...
have found recognition in the nursing profession. In 2005-2006, the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association approved the diagnosis of "energy field disturbance
Energy field disturbance
Energy field disturbance is a nursing diagnosis listed by NANDA that is rooted in energy medicine and alternative medicine.- Definition :...
" in patients, reflective of what has been variously called a "postmodern
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
" or "anti-scientific" approach to nursing care. This approach has been strongly criticised.
Believers in these techniques have proposed quantum mystical
Quantum mysticism
Quantum mysticism is a term that has been used to refer to a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate consciousness, intelligence or mystical world-views to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations...
invocations of non-locality to try to explain distant healing. They have also proposed that healers act as a channel passing on a kind of bioelectromagnetism
Bioelectromagnetism
Bioelectromagnetism refers to the electrical, magnetic or electromagnetic fields produced by living cells, tissues or organisms. Examples include the cell membrane potential and the electric currents that flow in nerves and muscles, as a result of action potentials...
which shares similarities to vitalistic
Vitalism
Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is#a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct from biochemical reactions...
pseudosciences such as orgone
Orgone
Orgone energy is a theory originally proposed in the 1930s by Wilhelm Reich. Reich, originally part of Sigmund Freud's Vienna circle, extrapolated the Freudian concept of libido first as a biophysical and later as a universal life force...
or qi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
. Drew Leder remarked in a paper in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. since 1995. It includes observational and analytical reports on alternative medicine treatments...
that such ideas were attempts to "make sense of, interpret, and explore "psi" and distant healing." and that "such physics-based models are not presented as explanatory but rather as suggestive." Beverly Rubik in an article in the same journal justified her belief with references to biophysical systems theory, bioelectromagnetics
Bioelectromagnetics
Bioelectromagnetics is the study of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities. Common areas of investigation include animal navigation utilising the geomagnetic field, potential effects of man-made sources of electromagnetic fields like mobile phones and developing...
, and chaos theory
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
that provide her with a "...scientific foundation for the biofield...". Writing in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, James Oschman introduced the concept of healer-sourced electromagnetic fields which change in frequency. Oschman believes that "healing energy" derives from electromagnetic frequencies
Frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
generated by a medical device or projected from the hands of the healer.
All of these attempted explanations by believers are roundly criticized by physicists and skeptics as being pseudophysics, a branch of pseudoscience
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
which explains magical thinking
Magical thinking
Magical thinking is causal reasoning that looks for correlation between acts or utterances and certain events. In religion, folk religion, and superstition, the correlation posited is between religious ritual, such as prayer, sacrifice, or the observance of a taboo, and an expected benefit or...
by using irrelevant jargon from modern physics to exploit scientific illiteracy
Scientific literacy
Scientific literacy encompasses written, numerical, and digital literacy as they pertain to understanding science, its methodology, observations, and theories.-Definition:...
and impress the unsophisticated. Indeed, even enthusiastic supporters of energy healing point out that "there are only very tenuous theoretical foundations underlying healing."
Scientific Investigations
While faith in the supernaturalSupernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
is not the purview of science, claims of reproducible effects for such magical techniques have been subject to scientific investigation. Scientific research into various aspects of biofield therapies is ongoing.
Distant healing
A systematic review of 23 trials of distant healing published in 2000 did not draw definitive conclusions because of the "methodologic limitations of several studies". In 2001, the lead author of that study, Edzard ErnstEdzard Ernst
Edzard Ernst is the first Professor of Complementary Medicine in the world, at the University of Exeter, England....
published an primer on complementary therapies in cancer care in which he explained that though "about half of these trials suggested that healing is effective" he cautioned that the evidence was "highly conflicting" and that "methodological shortcomings prevented firm conclusions." He concluded that "as long as it is not used as an alternative to effective therapies, spiritual healing should be virtually devoid of risks." A 2001 randomized clinical trial by the same group found no statistically significant difference on chronic pain between distance healers and "simulated healers". A 2003 review by Ernst updating previous work concluded that more recent research had shifted the weight of evidence "against the notion that distant healing is more than a placebo." and that "distant healing can be associated with adverse effects."
Contact healing
A selective review of only positive results published in 1995 recommended on the basis of personal testimony and anecdote that healing as a concept be incorporated into health care programs. A 2001 randomized clinical trial, randomly assigned 120 patients with chronic pain to either healers or "simulated healers", but could not demonstrate efficacy for either distance or face-to-face healing. A Cochrane collaborationCochrane Collaboration
The Cochrane Collaboration is a group of over 28,000 volunteers in more than 100 countries who review the effects of health care interventions tested in biomedical randomized controlled trials. A few more recent reviews have also studied the results of non-randomized, observational studies...
systematic review of the use of touch therapies published in 2008 analysed the results of 24 trials and concluded that the attempted review suffered from "a major limitation: the small number of studies and insufficient data. As a result of inadequate data, the effects of touch therapies cannot be clearly declared." A systematic review in 2008 concluded that the evidence for a specific effect of spiritual healing on relieving neuropathic or neuralgic pain was not convincing and in their 2008 book Trick or Treatment
Trick or Treatment
Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial is a 2008 book about alternative medicine by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. Singh is a physicist and the writer of several popular science books...
, Simon Singh
Simon Singh
Simon Lehna Singh, MBE is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner....
and Edzard Ernst
Edzard Ernst
Edzard Ernst is the first Professor of Complementary Medicine in the world, at the University of Exeter, England....
concluded that "spiritual healing is biologically implausible and its effects rely on a placebo response. At best it may offer comfort; at worst it can result in charlatans taking money from patients with serious conditions who require urgent conventional medicine."
Energy medicine devices
A 2007 investigation by the Seattle Times found that thousands of devices claiming to heal via putative or veritable energy, many of them illegal or dangerous, were used in hundreds of venues across the United States. The newspaper described energy medicine as modern-day snake oilSnake oil
Snake oil is a topical preparation made from the Chinese Water Snake , which is used to treat joint pain. However, the most common usage of the phrase is as a derogatory term for quack medicine...
, pointing to a lack of regulation and the widespread use of false or unproven marketing claims. Following this investigation, two such devices, the QXCI or EPFX and the PAP-IMI, were banned in January 2008 by authorities in the USA.
In February 2009, following a CBC expose featuring an interview with now-fugitive EPFX inventor, Bill Nelson, as his female alter-ego Desiré Dubounet, the EPFX device was banned by Health Canada from sale in Canada.
Criticism
There are many, primarily psychological, explanations for positive outcomes after energy therapy such as the placebo effectPlacebo effect
Placebo effect may refer to:* Placebo effect, the tendency of any medication or treatment, even an inert or ineffective one, to exhibit results simply because the recipient believes that it will work...
or cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
, and many possible explanations for positive research findings such as experimenter bias or publication bias
Publication bias
Publication bias is the tendency of researchers, editors, and pharmaceutical companies to handle the reporting of experimental results that are positive differently from results that are negative or inconclusive, leading to bias in the overall published literature...
, all of which must be considered when evaluating claims.
Critics of healing offer primarily two explanations for anecdotes of cures or improvements, relieving any need to appeal to the supernatural. The first is post hoc ergo propter hoc
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Post hoc ergo propter hoc, Latin for "after this, therefore because of this," is a logical fallacy that states, "Since that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one." It is often shortened to simply post hoc and is also sometimes referred to as false cause,...
, meaning that a genuine improvement or spontaneous remission
Spontaneous remission
Spontaneous healing, also called spontaneous remission or spontaneous regression, means an unexpected improvement or cure from a disease which usually is taking a different course. Both terms are mainly used for unexpected transient or final improvements in cancer. Spontaneous remissions concern...
may have been experienced coincidental with but independent from anything the healer or patient did or said. These patients would have improved just as well even had they done nothing. The second is the placebo
Placebo
A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
effect, through which a person may experience genuine pain relief and other symptomatic alleviation. In this case, the patient genuinely has been helped by the healer, not through any mysterious or numinous function, but by the power of their own belief that they would be healed. In both cases the patient may experience a real reduction in symptoms, though in neither case has anything miraculous or inexplicable occurred. Both cases, however, are strictly limited to the body's natural abilities.
Alternative medicine researcher Edzard Ernst has argued that although an initial review of pre-1999 distant healing trials had highlighted 57% of trials as showing positive results, later reviews of non-randomised and randomised clinical trials conducted between 2000 and 2002, led to the conclusion that "the majority of the rigorous trials do not support the hypothesis that distant healing has specific therapeutic effects". Ernst described the evidence base for healing practices to be "increasingly negative". Ernst also warned that many of the reviews were under suspicion for fabricated data, lack of transparency and scientific misconduct. He concluded that "Spiritual healing continues to be promoted despite the absence of biological plausibility or convincing clinical evidence ... that these methods work therapeutically and plenty to demonstrate that they do not."
See also
- ElectrotherapyElectrotherapyElectrotherapy is the use of electrical energy as a medical treatment In medicine, the term electrotherapy can apply to a variety of treatments, including the use of electrical devices such as deep brain stimulators for neurological disease. The term has also been applied specifically to the use of...
- Energy field disturbanceEnergy field disturbanceEnergy field disturbance is a nursing diagnosis listed by NANDA that is rooted in energy medicine and alternative medicine.- Definition :...
- BioelectromagneticsBioelectromagneticsBioelectromagnetics is the study of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities. Common areas of investigation include animal navigation utilising the geomagnetic field, potential effects of man-made sources of electromagnetic fields like mobile phones and developing...
- Alternative medicineAlternative medicineAlternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
- List of branches of alternative medicine
- Magnet therapyMagnet therapyMagnet therapy, magnetic therapy, or magnotherapy is an alternative medicine practice involving the use of static magnetic fields. Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to magnetostatic fields produced by permanent magnets has beneficial health effects...
- Hologram bracelet
- RadionicsRadionicsRadionics is the use of blood, hair, a signature, or other substances unique to the person as a focus to supposedly heal a patient from afar. The concept behind radionics originated in the early 1900s with Albert Abrams , who became a millionaire by leasing radionic machines which he designed...
External links
- NIH Energy medicine: overview.
- Miracle Machines: The 21st-Century Snake Oil: a Seattle Times series on fraudulent energy medicine devices