Related
Translate
Get RNB via RSS
 |
RNB's RSS feed What is this? |
Get RNB via Email
 |
 Subscribe by Email What is this? |
Follow: Twitter
Most Popular
This Week:
- Polygamist Sect Leader Convicted of Sexual Assault
- Jury takes 14 minutes to convict self-proclaimed pot pastor
- Supreme Court upholds cult AUM Shinrikyo members’ death sentences
- Newspaper continues series of exposés of Scientology cult
- Epic Mohammad movie in pipeline
- Coptic Christian Blogger in Egypt Pressured to Convert to Islam in Prison
- Italian judge convicts 23 in CIA kidnapping of Muslim cleric
- Cult leader Warren Jeffs’ attorneys argue sect leader faced wrong charge
- Texas judge limits some records in FLDS trial over polygamy references
- Photos show birthing center at sect’s Texas ranch
Spiritual healing fails test in health study
More articles on this topic: Alternative HealingComplementary therapies such as acupuncture, reiki and reflexology have gained huge public approval in recent years for the treatment of anything from epilepsy to cancer.
But spiritual healing – a mix of meditation, prayer and laying of hands – has been re jected by Scottish researchers after a £27,000 academic study found that the technique has no effect in helping to relieve the symptoms of asthma.
Academics treated 88 patients who were placed into three groups: one received sessions with a spiritual healer; another spent time with an actor pretending to be a healer in a “sham” trial; and a final group were made a control.
The groundbreaking trial received a grant of £17,348 from the Chief Scientist’s Office and £9856 from Grampian Health Board.
But the results found that there is “no evidence for clinically valuable impacts from spiritual healing for asthma”, a condition that affects 390,000 people in Scotland.
The lead author of the three-year study, Evaluating Spiritual Healing For Asthma, claimed it was justified because of the interest patients have shown in alternative therapies.
Dr Jennifer Cleland said: “Spiritual healing as a therapy had not been studied before.
“The national guidelines for asthma produced for all health boards show that there is a clear interest from patients to look for alternative therapies.”
Cleland said: “While there is no evidence that spiritual healing is effective, what has emerged is that the group of patients did gain benefits from having the chance to talk about their specific condition and spend time with a therapist . That may be something we go back to in the future.”
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said the funding was awarded under a grant scheme run by the Chief Scientist Office and that the Health Services Research Committee had awarded the project a “satisfactory” rating.
Ken Wyatt, chief executive of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers, said he was glad the study had been carried out, despite the results.
“It is very difficult to apply healing to a conventional scientific test,” he said.
Spiritual healing works by directing energy towards areas of physical pain or illness, and is popular with patients undergoing cancer treatment.
Wyatt added: “It is especially helpful for conditions that are stress related – asthma, if caused by stress and tension, may appear to get better in a patient because they are receiving healing.”
What You Can Do From Here
|
Read More Articles On These Topics
 Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Read Another Article
 Previous entry: Leader’s resignation puts Community of Christ on unfamiliar ground Next entry: Oregon man had been soliciting suicides for at least five years
RNB Homepage with latest headlinesFind Related Information
Find Related Books
|
Share This Article
To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:
