I am a theoretical physicist and currently Director of 
August 25, 2005
The ethical dilemma of faith healing - 2
There were some very thought provoking comments (some of them sent privately) in response to my posting on the ethics of faith healing. In one of the comments, Erin made a very telling observation that I've been thinking about and which prompted me to revisit the topic.
Those of us who do not believe in a god who intervenes in daily life tend to think of faith healing (if it works at all) as purely a placebo effect whose success depends on people believing that there is something real going on. As I said before, I have a real problem with how to deal with this.
On the one hand, the rationalist/skeptic in me wants to actively debunk all faith healers as, at worst, cynical con artists who are preying on the gullible for monetary gain or for fame and glory, or at best as self-deluding people who genuinely believe that they have some sort of gift. Even if a few people are of the latter kind, allowing them to propagate the belief that faith can heal allows the charlatans amongst them a greater chance of swindling others.
On the other hand, the humanist in me wants to keep out of the issue since I don't want to jeopardize the chances of a "cure" for a few people, even if it is placebo induced.
In these types of discussions, we tend to contrast the placebo effect (which is based on an illusion) with the effects produce by modern medicine, which is assumed to be based on science and is thus real. But Erin points out that the medicine-as-science versus placebo-as-quackery distinction isn't as clear-cut as one might imagine.
On the third floor of Allen building (where my office is) is the Dittrick Medical History Museum. It consists of just two rooms but contains enough devices and descriptions of past treatments to make me glad that we live in the current age. If one goes back in medical history, one finds all kinds of treatments that were once fully endorsed by the medical establishment and are now discredited. Some of them (such as bleeding using leeches) are pretty bizarre. The museum is free and open 10:00 am-4:30 pm Monday through Friday, and well worth a quick visit.
So what are we to make of these past treatments? Based on current science, we have no reason now to think that they should work, so any success they had must have been due to the placebo effect. But since the medical establishment believed in those treatments then, they must also have been considered science at that time. One assumes that the physicians of that time recommended these treatments with complete sincerity and achieved some "cures". What distinguishes them from the sincere faith healers of the current times?
Can we maintain the distinction between science and the placebo? Some argue that we cannot. I have heard it said that: "The history of medicine is the history of the placebo." This may be a little strong but it has enough truth in it to be disquieting. What if current medical treatments are also placebos? It could be that a few generations from now, people will marvel that bodies were once cut open with sharp knives or that strong chemicals were introduced into the bloodstream, all in the name of medicine-as-science.
One way to get around the problem is to think that past generations of medical scientists were simply wrong and that we are fortunate to happen to live in an era when science has come into its own, producing real cures, and that our current successful treatments are permanent. Some science triumphalists extend this argument across the board, arguing that current scientific knowledge, unlike that of its predecessors, is right in its essentials and that all that awaits us in the future are minor improvements, tinkering at the boundaries.
I am always a little wary of assuming that we live in a special time in history, whether it is a high point (as asserted by the science triumphalists) or an especially low point (as asserted by those Christian fundamentalists who think the country has gone to the dogs and want to return it to a previous era by putting religious symbols in the public sphere and overthrowing evolutionary theory). While changes have undoubtedly occurred and in some cases for the better, we may not be too different from our predecessors in our ability to distinguish good science from bad, or science from non-science.
One thing that has definitely improved is our research protocol methods. At least with double-blind clinical trials, we can have some confidence that some of the medical treatments we use are truly beneficial. But that still does not solve our problem of the ethics of faith healing and whether we should try and debunk them, whether the practitioners are sincere or not.
That's the trouble with true ethical dilemmas. There is no obvious right answer.
POST SCRIPT 1
Tom Tomorrow spells out how supporters of the Iraq war avoid reality.
POST SCRIPT 2
As usual, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show has the best take on Pat Robertson's latest idiocy and the coverage of it (via onegoodmove).
Comments
I think that while our research protocol methods are better than in the past, as consumers, we can't necessarily assume that the medical treatments offered/recommended to us are really in our best interest. Especially when it's a matter of quality of life rather than a matter of life or death. The influence of big pharma is a big reason for my skepticism.
I've been struggling with the issue of the placebo effect myself, especially since I've been dabbling in alternative medicine recently. I got moderate relief from fairly serious fatigue (for which my doctor found no "organic" explanation) with not one but two very expensive antidepressants (many thanks to my husband's insurance company). BUT I've been experiencing much more dramatic results from a OTC transdermal progesterone cream (which is pretty inexpensive).
People in my life are quick to ask whether the cream is just all about placebo effect. But if my mind was open to the placebo effect, why didn't I see more improvement with the first anti-depressant, or the second (which was prescribed largely to counter the side effects of the first).
While drug companies do test that prove that drugs do what they say they will do, finding the the right treatment for any particular person seems to me to be largely a process of trial and error.
And while we may suspect that the faith healer is just out for some quick cash, we know that pharmaceutical companies are in business to make money for their stockholders.
I don't really have any answers and I can't even say that I'm clear on all the relevant issues and facts at this point. Just thought I'd stir the pot. :-)
If you're ever in Minneapolis with some time on your hands, I strongly recommend the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. The name says it all.
I agree with you about science triumphalism - it seems awfully similar to Biblical literalism. People believe that "the Bible" is literally true, but this often only applies to the form of the Bible that happens to be sitting on the believer's bookshelf - that is, a collection of writings translated and selected through many historical accidents. The originals, and other similar writings that were not included in "the Bible", may have significant differences from the version that is most readily available to us today. Moreover, most of us are not very familiar with what the differences are, so we have no reason other than convenience for choosing one over another. It's hard to believe that God would inspire scripture that would only become precisely true after translation thousands of years later, and that would then lose its truth when translated again in the far future, but that is exactly what this sort of literalism requires. (Well, except for the part about there being a far future at all.)
To my mind religion is the deal of individual, and it should be free of pressure and sterotypes. God is in the soul and our faith and our gods are different only in books and publications.
"If you're ever in Minneapolis with some time on your hands, I strongly recommend the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. The name says it all."
+1
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Basic Principles of Complementary and Alternative Therapies
JUST AS MAINSTREAM MEDICINE has a fairly consistent approach to illness, so does al-ternative medicine. Most prevalent in alternative medicine are the six naturopathic principles. In one form or another, these principles are revisited again and again throughout Section Two of this text. The following principles are described by Dr. Catherine Downey and excerpted from her chapter on naturopathic medicine.
1. The Healing Power of Nature (Vis medicatix naturae)
The body has the inherent ability to establish, maintain and restore health. The healing process is ordered and intelligent: nature heals through the response of the life force. The physician's role is to facilitate and augment this process, to act to identify and remove obstacles to health and recovery, and to support the creation of a healthy internal and external environment. In short, give the body the appropriate tools and it will heal itself.
2. Treat the Whole Person (The multifactorial nature of health and disease)
Health and disease are conditions of the whole organism, involving a complex interaction of physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, and social factors. The physician must treat the whole person by taking all of these factors into account. The harmonious functioning of all aspects of the individual is essential to recovery from and prevention of disease and requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment.
3. First Do No Harm (Primum no nocere)
Illness is a purposeful process of the organism. The process of healing includes the generation of symptoms, which are, in fact, an expression of the life force attempting to heal itself. Therapeutic actions should be complementary to and synergistic with this healing process. The physician's actions can support or antagonize the actions of the vis mediatrix naturae; therefore methods designed to suppress symptoms without removing underlying causes are considered harmful and are avoided or minimized. Therapeutic actions are applied in an ordered fashion congruent with the internal order of the organism.
4. Identify and Treat the Cause (Tolle causam)
Illness does not occur without cause. Underlying causes of disease must be discovered and removed or treated before a person can recover completely from illness. Symptoms are expressions of the body's attempt to heal, but they are not the cause of disease; therefore naturopathic medicine addresses itself promptly to the underlying causes of disease, rather than symptoms. Causes may occur on many levels, including physical, mental-emotional, and spiritual. The physician must evaluate fundamental underlying causes on all levels, directing treatment at root cause rather than at symptomatic expression.
5. Prevention (Prevention is the best "cure")
The ultimate goal of naturopathic medicine is prevention. This is accomplished through education and promotion of lifestyle habits that create good health. The physician assesses risk factors and hereditary susceptibility to disease and makes appropriate interventions to avoid further harm and risk to the patient. The emphasis is on building health rather than on fighting disease. Because it is difficult to be healthy in an unhealthy world, it is the responsibility of both the physician and patient to create a healthier environment in which to live.
6. The Physician as Teacher (Docere)
Beyond an accurate diagnosis and appropriate prescription, the physician must work to create a health-sensitive, interpersonal relationship with the patient. A cooperative doctor-patient relationship has inherent therapeutic value. The physician's major role is to educate and encourage the patient to take responsibility for health. The physician is a catalyst for healthful change, empowering and motivating the patient to assume responsibility. It is the patient, not the doctor, who ultimately creates or accomplishes healing. The physician must strive to inspire hope as well as understanding. Physicans must also make a commitment to their personal and spiritual development in order to be good teachers.
(alternative medicine) A few clarifying points round out the complementary approach:
Alternative medicine does not suppress symptoms. It attempts to delve deeper than the symptoms and address their causes. This in turn diminishes or eliminates the symptoms.
Similar alternative treatment strategies are often applied to many unrelated disease and illnesses because the core alternative philosophy states that many illness manifestations stem from common root causes. There are no "off-label" indications for alternative medicine.
Alternative medicine is less interested in the manifestations of the disease and more interested in those elements that created the disease in the first place.
The patient is part of the healthcare team and has a strong say in planning for a future therapeutic approach. Patients are empowered to participate in the decision process and, in turn, have the responsibility to enact what they have agreed to do. In these scenarios, noncompliance is much less common.
The mind-body correlation is extremely important. Learning about the patient's social life, family life, and work life, and significant life events that predate the onset of illness can help immensely in understanding contributing factors in a patient's illness and in formulating a treatment plan. Even asking the question, "What happened to you around the time this illness began?" can be most revealing.
Many variations on this approach will be apparent through the pages of this text. The sense of facilitating a natural process or returning the patient to a natural state of balance is the common theme overall.
I sometimes wonder if physicians and scientists are threatened by the idea that God may, in fact, intervene in the natural course of human events. While I believe that it is foolish for the faithful person not to avail himself of the treatments of medical experts I also believe it is arrogant of the scientist to view God as a competitor for the healing credit.
Just my 2 cents.
Jake,
I do not think any humane person would begrudge another person being healed, whatever the source. It is just that there is no evidence that prayer ahs any effect.
Jake,
I do not think any humane person would begrudge another person being healed, whatever the source. It is just that there is no evidence that prayer ahs any effect.
+1
Paysafecard
I do accord with you guys! and very informative post!
Thanks Csaba from
Heal Blog Supporting Healthy Lifestyle
Unfortunately fear is a common theme amongst the masses. Humane people can even have a tendency to attack what they dont understand.
I am a Bristol based hypnotherapist and although hypnotherapy is complementary, with the use of MRI scans can begin to understand the true science behind it. As you have correctly pointed out what is considered medically acceptable today may not be in many years to come. The use of therapeutic hypnosis however has been used for centuries and has been fine tuned to what it is today. Many people will argue that SSRIs are placebo. I am not going to give my opinion on that either way but if they are placebo some people are still getting relief. The mind is incredibly powerful and we are only at the beginning of understanding the workings of the brain. Neurology offers exciting research and advances in brain scans means we are finally getting to see the brain in action. Hypnotherapy is psychotherapy utilizing hypnosis as a tool and I am happy to say, in the UK at least, hypnotherapy is becoming more and more regulated by official governing bodies. http://www.hypnochanges.co.uk
I tottaly agrre with Mano Singham...
Homeopathy definitely works as I have managed to remove warts from my hands when no other method worked.
I never had a chance to see hypnotism in action but I prefer therapy over other ways of healing.
Allen @ Massage Therapy Schools
Thanks you for this great post about faith healing. I totally agree with you about the double-blind clinical trials.
Kind regards,
Peter
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I recently read a study that concluded that the success rate of even highly regarded pharmaceuticals such as Prozac is due in 25% of cases to the placebo effect.
I think what that shows is that the mind certainly does have some self-healing powers.
Double blind testing eliminates the chance of placebo. With many Therapies, like Hypnotherapy, it's not really possible to run a trial like you can a drug.
Some not so scientific, yet interesting TV documentaries have replaced various 'hands on' Therapists with Actors playing out the role to show the power of placebo and rapport. Many patients subsequently interviewed reported just as good and in some instances greater a feeling of well being over the 'real' Therapist. LOL
As we become more and more aware of how our inner mind can affect positive changes to our physical bodies and wellness I am not surprised that many forms of healings can work simply because we direct them to do so.
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if current medical treatments are also placebos, there is not enough treatment for patients.. so with ethic... We have to do real treatment for patients.
Faith healing might be happen but in the bible says when you have a disease you have to see a doctor as well.
Crist,
Where in the Bible does it say that?
Thank you for a very interesting post.
I truly believe that human body has the ability to cure itself from virtually any condition. The only factor that may cease the healing process is negative thinking. Unfortunately negative thinking is something very common after visiting your doctor. Your condition after all may be INCURABLE. And then what? Most of people just give up.
Placebo gives hope. Placebo tells your body - hold on, I am working on you now so get ready for some healing. Placebo activates positive thinking and therefore makes the ground for natural healing.
There are people out there who never go to a doctor and their life reaches 140 years. Are they just lucky? Or perhaps they mastered the energy flow within their body and know that with a little effort we can cure all the ailments?
Thank you, nice post, with plenty of food for though and a nice discussion. I think western medical science is simply too blind and ignores thousands of years of human knowledge of how human organism works. It has become a matter of - we believe what we can measure - with our technology. It makes me so sad. How come that acupuncture works?! Is that not a proof that westerns science has taken and is taking a completely wrong approach and is blind to the real causes of sickness and healing. Could it be that a man is indeed a Superman - capable of self-healing? The examples are countless, the western science keeps on ignoring.
I have done much research into this myself and have found myself searching the halls of science for a answer to creation. I can find one congruence and the answer is trust, it is obvious that life and its forms are a creation full of individual systems that make up the whole. Like most things in the universe you can continue to drill down or expand you degree of observation only to find new worlds. Consider what reality make be for a ant and how it will interact with this place. You must believe in a creator it is obvious that DNA is a code in all life that is a 3 out of 4 self correcting code. This can not happen by chance you have purpose and meaning. You must find it and more often than not you can find it in yourself.
If you believe we are all spiritual souls in the universe, then we are all connected.
That way positive thoughts can help and support others which is why the power of prayer actually works. The stronger the belief through faith the stronger the healing power
While this may be a bit hard to believe look at it the other way round, we all stay away from people in a mood because of the negative vibes!
i am a great believer in the power of the mind and and positive thinking techniques and i believe that if some on has faith in something and believes in it with all there heart the body reacts with to the feelings and begins to heal its self, all you need to do to heal is clear stress from your life.
I would agree that double blind trials would help us understand what specifically creates the change we report but the mind is an amazing and powerful organ.
This is clearly seen when our distorted perceptions create stress within our bodies that manifest in physical ailments. Logically therefore the opposite can and does happen.
As a bristol hypnotherapist, the placebo effect is evident time and again. By enabling the person to create a shift in their perceptions, allowing them to focus intensely on a desired outcome, the person is able to create desired change.
Everyone is entitled to their beliefs and the very fact that there are articles such as this that encourage discussion means it is out there in the public domain so those who seek faith healing can approach it with an educated understanding of why faith healing may work for them.
I would hope that just as a person may approach a therapist for help, they employ the same considerations and healthy scepticism when approaching a faith healer as well.
The way you think can make you sick or make you well. But this is relative to the problem.
If you suffer from depression you might be able to use your mind to turn things around. However if you have a broken arm all the thinking in the world will not fix it unless you take action and get it set.
As far as faith healing... I am not a believer for several reasons.
First you never see amputees get healed no matter how much faith they have.
Second Jesus and the Disciples healed people who had faith and who didn't have any. It was the real deal and the Bible said it would end with the Apostles. They also were not allowed to heal themselves or accept money for it.
As far as prayer the Bible clearly states that God allows suffering at the present time but will give you the power to endure until suffering and death are done away with- if you pray for it.
Faith healers can't lose... If you are healed (or think you are) they get the credit. If you are not healed it is your fault because you didn't have enough faith.
It is very important for all of us to understand that our subconscious selves run over 90% of what is going on in our life...
Bruce Lipton, Biology of Belief, puts it so clearly, we are our beliefs...so reprogramming the subconscious (the unihipili in Hawaiian huna) is paramount...Psych-K is very successful in reprogramming the subconscious so the conscious self can utilize "faith healing" in a more productive way...
The law of attraction/vibration must be addressed on a subconscious level...Beliefs are tested using a pendulum or muscle testing...very exciting breakthrough!
This is an area where there is a lot of debate, including religious debate. The difficult part for me is measuring the success (if any) of faith healing or energy healing. It is easy to categorize it as a placebo effect, even though it might perhaps be more. Where I stand is that if it helps some people, it is a matter of indifference whether it is valid or not. Surely the objective of any healer (medical or energy or faith) is to heal. From the patient's perspective, the "how" is largely irrelevant. The outcome is what matters.
I stumbled across this article and it is perfect that I did. I find it interesting that humanity hasn't fully accepted that all healing comes only by the power it is given through thought, feeling and belief. Of course this is why that bleeding in the past worked and some of the crazy things that doctors do to bodies now work. It should seem obvious that in the future to come that methods used now will be laughed at and put on the shelf so to speak just like many remedies, drugs and procedures of the past have been.
As one who has studied energy healing, spiritual healing, reiki healing, breath healing and on and on for quite a few years now, I have become very clear on what empowers healing.
Truly because of the proof in the past, ‘what we do’, the procedures, medicines and even hands on and spiritual healing are not the power or cause that is healing.
This leaves one thing. We all have thought we all have beliefs; we all have full freedom to use our thoughts to generate beliefs and choose feelings in relation to these thoughts and beliefs. We all can easily become aware that our lives are supplied with limitless energy. It beats our hearts, gives us power to speak and makes the tree grow.
As this energy is given freely for our life, we think thoughts, generate feelings and create beliefs. Some may be discordant some may be harmonious. According to our beliefs we are made whole. And the harmony held within our beings will, if each of us is honest with ourselves, bring about the quality of health we experience. Yes one day not to far off it will be common place to heal with the power of thought and obedience to the Law of Harmony. Like does attract like, it is the law.
Thanks,
Reiki Master Guide Robert
When medicines and science can't work, people will tend to look at alternative healing, even if its placebo.
And somehow... these so called "placebo" managed to treat that particular illness, which no science could explain.
hi,
I disagree with the thoughts that spiritual healing does not work, well it does but since the illness is rooted within the body it may not work as fast or as what you've expect it to work. Spiritual healing can't just erase a tumor or a cancer cell but it is a great way to decrease the pain felt by someone and at times decrease the size of the tumor.Well, spiritual healing should not be taken as a medicine or an alternative to healing major illnesses. It can be taken as an additional help to medicines or to any procedure. The power of the mind is great and amazing it can repress pain or even stabilize emotion to help decrease stress and alleviate suffering. The law of attraction is one concept where in the power of the mind and positive thinking is used and this can also be used as a method to spiritual health. it basically states that when you want something think think of that desire and use the power of the mind to attract actions to reactions for you to achieve that goal. Scientifically, Sigmund Freud said that the conscious mind is just a tip of the ice berg and the base if the subconscious mind. Our mind has a great effect on the feeling or emotions we have on our body so when we use these minds, we can control or even limit certain stimuli. If someone has cancer, the pain is too much and even pain killers can't counteract the pain, so they tend to use the power of positive thinking and reaffirm their subconscious mind that the pain is not present and it works. Ive seen that work many times.
When you say you don't believe in a "god" I hope you don't mean God. In the Bible the term "god" is used in reference to idols so good for you if you don't believe in idols. But believe it or not, you were created by God. The evidence is all around us.
Time to confess. I've always slated my wife Gillian for going to alternative therapists - think I've been a cynic from birth!
But after years of struggling with sleep problems and trying every 'normal' treatment under the sun, I relented and tried hypnotherapy for the 1st time in my life.
There was certainly no 'placebo' element in this experience as I was going in a fully fledged, eyes-open, prove-it-to-me, cynic of the highest order.
And much to my wife's delight, I now sleep so soundly and she can also say she told me so!
Regards,
J.Stepford
(Bristol)
I do believe in faith healers, but I also believe in just plain taking care of yourself and your body. If we could just get back to some basics of eating a healthy alkaline diet, drinking good clean alkaline water, detox our bodies' on a regular basis, and add some regular exercise into this we would all be a lot healthier. I believe detoxing the body is very important along with fueling your body with the correct food and water will help our body to be healthy. Download your free alkaline/acidic food chart here
Thank you for your perspective on this, Dr. Singham. One thing that I have noticed is that "modern Western medicine" is beginning, slowly, to be less invasive than it has been, and that more and more physicians are looking at the mind and the patients beliefs to see how those beliefs are affecting the patients body. In Chinese medicine, this has been the practice for thousands of years, yet still to this day, treatments such as acupuncture, acupressure and herbal supplements are dismissed. Surely, all "treatments" of any kind from any profession require faith in them to work fully. If that were not true, then every treatment that has worked, should work for anyone having those symptoms. Yet, you can have two people with extremely similar physiology with the exact same diagnosis, and the same treatment will work for one and no the other.
Why the difference? I fully believe it comes down to what the patient believes. Are they calm and certain that what the practitioner has told them will work, or are they unsure and afraid it might not? It's been shown that the more the patient is in a good mental and emotional space regarding whatever treatment they are to receive, the better, and faster, they respond.
Hopefully, the trend will continue and more doctors will look into the mental health of their patients first.
I believe that there is something to faith healing.I also believe that some people who claim to be faith healers are frauds who just out to make a quick buck. Today people look to science for answers. If science can't explain something it is considered to be no good. Someday maybe science will be able to explain faith healing or various forms of alternative medicine. Many doctors scoff at alternative medicine such as accupuncture, accupressure or tai chi. Even though tai chi has been around in China for centuries. Tai chi is been credited with helping people with arthritis, Parkinson's and helping the elderly with their balance.
Wow. Very thought provoking blog post as well as the comments!
First of all - what a well written article! It makes me think in one sense of the struggle that Galileo seemed to have in the book depicted at least in part in the book 'Galileo's Daughter' which I read recently.
The book depicts the seemingly impossibility of reconciling the God-Science dilemma that Galileo apparently struggled with on a very deep and personal level, which may have had something to do with the fact that two of his daughters lived in a Catholic convent.
Anyway, that book for me in particular raised many of the challenges that I think this post here touches on and, as challenging as it is to put faith and science in the same sentence...it obviously is important to keep questioning the whole slippery thing.
My idea on the whole thing is: keep science science and faith faith. In other words, if I am engaging in some personal interest or endeavor for which there's a complete lack of any sort of proof...I simply let it be, and I keep it to myself for its personal value.
And with regards to Jake's post above:
"I do not think any humane person would begrudge another person being healed, whatever the source. It is just that there is no evidence that prayer ahs any effect."
...I would like to ask if you (or anyone here) knows anything about Larry Doss's book 'The Power of Prayer (?)'.
I haven't read the book myself, though have heard it contains some elements of 'proof' though I'm not sure about the details of the so-called experiments he performed or cites where prayer allegedly affects matter.
Just curious. Good question here. Tough questions, but good ones.
People always dismiss medical miracles as a placebo effect. Is there truly anything wrong with this all MDs and NDs should be practicing the mind over matter techniques that can in fact cure patients without experimental surgeries and medications. The problem with this is that there is no money to be made by curing ailments only treating them.
Was there not an article posted a few years ago in Scientific American stating that at best the medical model diagnosis was correct 50% of the time, and treatment protocol had a positive outcome 50% of the time, therefore the allopathic success rate was 25%, (50% diagnosis and 50% treatment=25% success rate) then it went on to state that placebo had a positive outcome 28% of the time. So placebo therefore outperformed medicine.
I operate a licensed massage therapy practice in Austin, Texas. I don't necessarily believe in "faith healing" however, in my own practice, I have seen dramatic improvements in my patients overall health and well being from my own holistic and alternative healing methodologies and techniques. I also practice certified hypnotherapy for weight loss, quitting smoking, and past life regression, I have had really remarkable results from my hypnotherapy sessions too.
Hope this helps. And by the way, who cares if the phone stopped ringing -it doesn't mean you are unimportant. You require to learn who you are when you're alone and value yourself outside of what others think you. So as the Sage of Samos wrote on the Temple at Delphi -Know Thyself.
An interesting read. Although I have a very practical nature and would have been classed as sceptical a few years ago, my personal experiences have taught me to remain open minded. Of course, as with any area of life, there are potential for the less than scrupulous and for fraudsters, but equally so there is room for the odd miracle!
Surely the fact that placebos can work at all must indicate that we actually have our own extraordinary ability of healing everyday.
Our ability to heal (ourselves or others) is very much linked to our belief and emotional energy, not our intellectual thoughts.
To have faith in ourselves and our own innate abilities is a right we all possess.
A great objective look at this challenging question. I find it especially interesting HOW MUCH this question matters to scientists and MD's, while it's really unimportant to many skilled healers using alternative methods. It seems the only truly crucial question is whether the healer and modality works for the given patient and condition. If we can avoid "selling" this same combination to everyone, and instead find ways to allow this triad to form with the highest intention, the optimal results will naturally occur.
If there is faith healing, then, there sure to be some religious ways to help people go on a diet. I should call it Christian diet! So far, many people were satisfied with the results of this type of dieting! Good dieting examples were taken from the Holy Bible!
Well, I would raise two questions:
1. Do you accept the premise that there is a spiritual element to humans?
or
2. Could you accept the premise that in spite of tremendous leaps in technology, our understanding of the universe is so finite.
I don't want to over-simplify, but the 'concept' of germs didn't exist long ago, even though the germs did. So, scientists couldn't even take them into account in their experiments.
Is it not possible that there is a spiritual element to healing which science cannot observe or measure?
Learning,
I wrote a full response to the question Am I Spiritual? sometime ago, which you ca read by clicking the link.
You can always suggest that unseen things exist. But without any evidence in support of it, why believe it? Germs were believed because of evidence was produced in favor of them. It was perfectly reasonable to not believe in them until the evidence was produced.
Unicorns are not believed because there no evidence has been produced for them.
It is a hard topic to breach, but who are we to stop people if they truly believe.
Mano, have you ever thought of at least *visiting* a faith healer and seeing your own personal results?
Gary,
I had polio as a child and my parents tried everything, including faith healers, some of whom were quite famous at that time. Fortunately for me, they also put me in the hands of doctors who practiced good old western medicine. It is the treatment provided by the latter that enabled me to have a full life.
If my parents had left matters only to the faith healers I am pretty sure that I would have been dead long ago.
There are different kind of how to cures your disease it will depend on your beliefs. I want to share how I cure my arthritis. Arthritis is a disorder characterized by painful and swollen joints. There are over 100 different forms of arthtritis and each is differentiated from the rest by observation of clinical signs and symptoms. The three most common are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and gouty arthritis. Recent studies have shown that Xanthones have no harmful influence on blood coagulation and increases blood perfusion rate in the kidneys, thereby enhancing renal function while helping in the regulation of salt and fluid balance in the body. Kind Regards, Tom
I think that energy based healing, faith healing, naturopathic and western medicine all need to learn to work hand in hand to help people heal for once and for all.
What an excellent selection of comments regarding this complex subject!
Excellently constructed article, with some good observations on faith healing.
However, I think even with such a controversial area, we can still reduce things to one of our favourite terms in therapy: holistic.
Instead of dissecting every single element of the therapy/healing and determining some dualistic good/bad, right/wrong, on/off result, we have to view the treatment, the patient, the issue and the symptoms as a whole.
If holistically, that patient/client has a mindset and underlying behavioural pattern that could lend itself to greater impact by this type of 'faith healing' treatments, then that's enough. Our own subjective or even scientific thoughts on the matter are immediately irrelevant. Issue solved; client life better; job done.
Maybe too simple but I think the holistic analysis works best even in this context.
Thanks for the article,
John from Hypnotherapy Bristol.
We have to remember that "current" science a few hundred years ago gave us the Earth as the center of the universe. Current science 30 years ago had no notion of "fiber optic" broadband which we all enjoy.
Current science is just that, current. Current science will be outdated in years.
It is important to keep an open mind and know that what we now know can be outdated very soon.
Hi
I understand your dilemma and agree with your stance! There is an inner-skeptic in all of us, but if people are getting results then it should not be taken from them!
I am a big believer in eating clean and healthy - but I believe that the mind can have more of an effect on the body (my interest is in the acid/alkaline balance) than any food or diet we follow.
I actually like the post above from Herbal Incense - it's true - what we currently know will be eclipsed by developments in our knowledge a hundred years from now.
Great post.
Ross
This is a very interesting topic that I delved into a few years ago. There are quite a number of studies that concluded placebos are in fact quite as effective as the real thing.
I'm in no way religious but I like to keep my mind open. When you close your mind, concluding say, spirits do not exist, you're falling into the same trap.
Who knows some time in the future that someone can scientifically prove otherwise because he/she never ruled out the possibility?
Couldn't agree more with alot of the comments here. Current science is just that current. What we know now as absolute truths are always evolving.
I am not a faith healer, or necessarily advocating its use. But if it works it works. One thing I do respect with faith healing, is it at least shies away from the harmful drugs our industry creates.
We are an over medicated, over diagnosed and over treated society. And when we need help we reach for a pill bottle.
Just because we do not understand or cannot see the science in something, or the truth of it doesn't make it impossible. If time or history have taught us anything, impossible is just an opportunity to prove someone wrong.
In my own practice I pride myself on finding none drug-related solutions for my patients, legitimate, and helpful solutions. I look forward to what is to come, what we will discover to help make us healthier.
I would agree with Jack, Allen and Healthier Living 4 you. I believe taking care of your body in terms of excercise, healthy living etc. But I would really recommend therapies. They are natural and encourage the body to heal itself. I seen them improving peoples' health over years.
I agree that there is no clear answer to whether Faith Healing is what it claims to be, but only when there is a human 'healer' claiming to posses the power to heal.
However, when the faithful, on his/her own, believes that prayer and meditation will bring about total cure, how can I dispute it?
How can I prove that a person who has experienced a total remission and got cured against all 'scientific odds,' did not in fact caused the remission via the power of his or her deep faith, prayers and meditation?
How can I prove it was a placebo effect that was responsible?
Since none of the above can be proven, I'd rather allow room for the possibility that faith is able to produce healing.
Energy Medicine is a new type of faith healing. Have you heard of Reiki or Qigong Healing?
I have had a similar accusation made about the work I do in the field of hypnotherapy. I believe that there is a more medical/biological angle to how hypnotherapy works as is refelcted in some studies but there is still a large proportion of critics who claim it is a version of faith healing. I can't prove anything myself one way or another, only offer my opinion and eveidence from different groups to support their claims but if it works it works. I apply a similar belieft to faith healing
My question is does it have to be an either/or situation?
What does the brain do with the 90% we can't measure activity for?
How does either belief system explain the effectiveness of ho'oponopono?
If my understanding is correct, ho'oponopono, never addresses the problem in the patient. The ho'oponopono practitioner works on healing himself.
How does one explain documented spontaneous remissions?
There seem to be many things our most advanced instruments can't measure but we can still see the results.
What if there is a common explanation for healing whether by alternative, Western or faith we haven't imagined yet?
Maybe its a mistake to believe that because we can't measure it, it can't be real.
Just my thoughts.
Mano - perhaps you touch on the most profound aspect of this discussion in your single line "The history of medicine is the history of the placebo" . . .
But now, as a sincere and respected scientist your read on that line is distinctly different than my own (also a scientist)... Where you feel double blind test will enhance and improve our knowledge of the empirical, I respectfully disagree...
You see, and I beg you to consider this simple point, "It is the role of medicine to measure, enhance, and improve the placebo." While double blind studies are sincere, and highly valuable, they fail to measure the single most important aspect of medicine - - - The Placebo!
After all, when considering that no tests on human subjects can possibly blind the subject to their own use of Positive Affirmations or Negative Affiramtions (before and during the trials)-and as we well know the placebo affect can be extraordinarily strong, the subjects' mental states (perhaps the most important aspects) cannot be removed from the trial.
So while the Ethics of Faith healing are vast and multi-faceted, the empiricist is instead ethically bound to devise a means by which to measure and potentially enhance the results and mechanism of such methodologies...
After all, where would either field be without Paracelsus? An unmistakable common root grows inextricably connected branches!
Tish,
I practice healing by magick and laying of hands. Like you said about on or the other. Most people see this subject in black and white only. I mix modern medicine, magick and herbalism. I would never dream of telling someone they do not need a doctor! It is too bad most of the people I see can not afford to go to a hospital.
Wow Mano, your not afraid to stir up a can of worms are you :) Faith healing has about as many people passionately for it as there are people passionately against it. Like anything else I suspect that there is some truth in the middle ground, between the hype and the denial. That you mention faith as a placebo effect is interesting but when I think about it, you might be on to something. A placebo has no effectiveness unless the person strongly believes in its effectiveness. Likewise faith is of no effect unless the person believes and believes with heart soul and mind. I think I'm going to start thinking a little more "edgy" with my blog posts over at . Your example is inspiring.
I love the power of attraction. We are truly powerful beings!! Thank God!
Our thoughts have such a huge effect on our lives as well as our bodies.
Faith is all part of our thoughts. If you really believe and have faith in your healing then that alone will go along way to your recovery.
I believe a great deal in the Law of Attraction and that what you can be, do and have whatever you want if you have enough belief and faith.
Surely, faith plays an important role in any sort of healing, Even non-believers in any religious faith need to have some sort of faith in their ability to overcome what life?fate/whatever has dealt them. Without hope, there is nothing.
Great discussion! Glad you guys gave me some great stuff to read.
It is interesting how faith effects everything in our lives...
Can;t live without it, no matter how we have faith. Whether this faith manifests in religion, or whatever, whether we no it or not it is what sustains us.
I think, that faith healers have a place, the moral dilemna can be interesting though. I just feel like why not have the best of everything.
Am I crazy for thinking this?