by Bob Lloyd

Created on: January 26, 2010

Energy healing is based on the idea that there is a ubiquitous energy source which can be transferred to human beings and which can enhance the body's natural self-healing capability.  Many branches of energy healing therapy exist but all depend on the existence of this special kind of energy.

Practitioners claim to be able to harness this energy and apply it to patients and in doing so, effect changes in the health of their customers.  This is a radical claim and goes against conventional medical knowledge, so much so that often healing energy practitioners feel constrained to state that they will not contradict clinical medical diagnoses.

In conventional medicine, treatments have to be evidenced before they can be brought into service.  In other words, they have to show evidence of efficacy in controlled trials so that a claim can be fairly made that the treatment will do the patient some good.

That requirement is not met by healing energy practitioners because they are unable to demonstrate the existence of healing energy.  Since it cannot be detected, it cannot be demonstrated, measured, or tangibly controlled.  For that reason, there is no known evidence of the existence of healing energy nor the efficacy of the treatment.

Since the source of the energy healing treatment cannot be demonstrated, it is impossible to detect any change in the patients consequent upon receiving this energy.  Any changes that are observed in patients could therefore be caused by any number of other factors.

In clinical science, use is made of controlled, double-blind trials which ensure that the measured effects are directly related to the treatment given.  The measurements made in the trials therefore provide quantitative and qualitative evidence of the efficacy of treatment.

When this has been done with healing energy treatments, there has been no discernable difference between the treatment and the placebo effect which accompanies all consultations.  The placebo effect is a neurochemical change in the brain brought about by conditioning and expectation in which, if the patient expects to receive treatment, they will automatically feel a little better.  Endorphins and other opioids are released in the brain when the patient is conditioned to expect to receive something beneficial from the treatment.  If the sales pitch was successful, there will be an automatic placebo effect. This gives rise to consistent subjective bias in all anecdotal accounts and renders them untrustworthy as evidence.

As a result, energy healing practitioners are unable to demonstrate any changes in patients which can be attributed to their actions, other than those which are the inevitable result of the placebo effect.  The research is well-documented on public databases such as PubMed, and the Cochrane Collaboration.

For this reason, energy healing practices will have no discernable effect on the health of those treated.  Even if customers report that they feel better, there is no evidence that such changes in perception are the result of changes in the health of the individual, nor even that they were brought about by the actions of the practitioner.

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