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Related links
Spiritual healing — is there a ghost of a chance that it works?
After MANTRA II: when is the evidence negative enough to stop researching spiritual healing? Article by Leslie B Rose, BSc CBiol MIBiol FICR MAPM, Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies [FACT] (June 2006)
A pragmatic, three-arm randomised controlled trial of spiritual healing for asthma in primary care
Concludes that spiritual healing does not appear to have any specific affect on patient asthma related quality of life. British Journal of General Practice (June 2006)
The effect of spiritual healing on in vitro tumour cell proliferation and viability--an experimental study
Study conclusion: "The results do not support previous reports of beneficial effects of spiritual healing on malignant cell growth in vitro. Reported beneficial effects of spiritual healing on the well-being of cancer patients seem more likely to be mediated by psychosocial and psychophysiological effects of the healer-patient relationship." British Journal of Cancer (September 2005)
Spiritual healing as a therapy for chronic pain: a randomized, clinical trial
Concludes that a specific effect of face-to-face or distant healing on chronic pain could not be demonstrated over eight treatment sessions with 121 patients suffering from chronic pain. Pain (2001)
Spirituality and Alternative Medicine in the New Millennium
"Part of alternative medicine's appeal is its claim to satisfy people's hunger for spirituality and the transcendent… There is a real danger that when spirituality and health are linked, health can become the measure of one's spirituality. Those who are ill may be seen as having insufficient faith to produce healing. This can inflict much guilt on the infirm, especially if they become terminally ill." Article by Dónal P. O'Mathúna, PhD, fellow of The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity and Professor of Bioethics and Chemistry at Mount Carmel College of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio.
Spiritual Healing
Including background, theory, evidence, unproven uses and potential dangers. Concludes that possible benefits remain scientifically unproven. (Intelihealth)