Study on the effectiveness of remote mental healing

Author: Miller RN
Affiliation:
The Holmes Center for Research in Holistic Healing, 600 S. New Hampshire Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90075
Conference/Journal: Medical Hypotheses
Date published: 1982
Other: Volume ID: 8 , Issue ID: 5 , Pages: 481-90 , Word Count: 354


A study, which involved eight healers and ninety-six patients, was conducted to determine the effectiveness of remote mental healing. The test subjects were hypertension patients between the ages of sixteen and sixty. Neither the doctor nor the patients knew who received the mental healing treatments. Normal medical treatment was continued in all cases. Improvement was judged by changes in the diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, heart beat rate, and weight. The statistical analysis showed a significant improvement in the systolic blood pressure of the healer-treated group compared with the change in the control group. There were no significant differences in the changes of diastolic blood pressure, pulse, and weight of the two groups. Four of the healers had a 92.3 per cent improvement ratio in their total group of patients compared with a 73.7 per cent improvement for the control group. The general healing treatment used by the healers involved (a) a relaxation step, (b) attunement with a Higher Power or Infinite Being, (c) a visualization and/or affirmation of the patient being in a state of perfect health, and (d) expression of thanks to God or to the Source of all power and energy.

CONCLUSIONS
1. The decrease in systolic blood pressure for the group of patients which received remote mental healing treatments was significantly lower than the decrease in the systolic blood pressure for the control group, (p = 0.0144)

2. The four healers for whom the largest number of sets of post-treatment data were available had a 92.3 percent improvement ratio in their patients compared with a 73.7 per cent improvement in the control group.


3 The differences between the post-treatment readings for the diastolic blood pressure, pulse, and weight of the control group and the healer-treated group of patients was not enough to be considered statistically significant.

3. The general healing treatment used by the four most successful healers (a) relaxation, (b) attunement with a Higher Power or Infinite Being, (c) a visualization and/or affirmation of the patient being in a state of perfect health, and (d) expression of thanks to God or to the Source of all power and energy.

5. Further research is needed in this area.

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