More than 80 U.S. colleges and universities, mostly nursing, teach therapeutic touch. Proponents claim that more than 100,000 nurses in 70 countries have received training. Therapeutic touch is so popular that even Dr. Oz promotes it on his popular TV show. During his weekly hospital heart surgeries a Buddhist reiki master is present. The master can “detect human energy fields and manipulate them to heal the sick.” The American Cancer Society has concluded: "Available scientific evidence does not support any claims that TT can cure cancer or other diseases."
In 1999, nine year-old Emily Rosa of Fort Collins, Colorado, had a great
idea for her fourth-grade science fair project. She obtained the cooperation of
21 therapeutic touch healers to test the authenticity of their extra-sensory
abilities. She asked each one to sit behind a partition that blocked any view
between Emily and the healer. There were two hand-sized holes where the healer
could place their palms. Rosa flipped a coin and then put her own palm just
above each healer’s right or left palm. She then asked each healer which palm
she had chosen. Surprisingly, the healers didn’t even reach the probable odds
of 50%. The healers were correct only 44% of the time!
Emily Rosa concluded: “Their failure to substantiate therapeutic touch’s
most fundamental claim is un-refuted evidence that (their beliefs) are
groundless and that further professional use is unjustified.” Her mother, a
nurse, helped to write up her findings as a scientific paper. She submitted her
paper to the Journal of the American Medical Association and
it got published! She is the youngest person to publish a paper in a medical or
scientific journal. Emily’s project received recognition from the media – The
New York Times, People, Time, the Associated Press,
PBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and the BBC.
However, before all the notoriety, Emily didn’t win the science fair and
no classmates or teachers were impressed with her project. Emily’s mother would
later recount: “Some of the teachers were getting therapeutic touch during the
noon hour. They didn’t recommend (Emily’s project) for the district science
fair. It just wasn’t well received at school.”
In his book examining dubious medical claims, Timothy Caulfield
summarizes the connection between facts and beliefs: “People see, select, and
interpret information about health (and many other topics) through an
individual and largely self-constructed lens of preconceived beliefs, values,
and fears. We all, including many researchers, typically behave like cognitive
contortionists in order to find ways to keep believing what we’re predisposed
to believe. And, of course, the facts themselves are often either disputed or
twisted beyond recognition.”
ABC News report on Emily Rosa and the power of the placebo effect
Paul A. Offit, M.D. Do you Believe in Magic: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine, Harper Collins, 2013
Timothy Caulfield, The Cure for Everything: Untangling the
Twisted Messages About Health, Fitness, and Happiness, Viking Press, 2012
Comprehensive study of therapeutic touch:
Photo: http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/gcms/Therapeutic-Touch-for-Anxiety-722x406.jpg
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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