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- Title
Effectiveness of Distant Healing for Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Randomised Controlled Partially Blinded Trial (EUHEALS).
- Authors
Harald Walach; Holger Bösch; George Lewith; Johannes Naumann; Barbara Schwarzer; Sonja Falk; Niko Kohls; Erlendur Haraldsson; Harald Wiesendanger; Alain Nordmann; Helgi Tomasson; Phil Prescott; Heiner C. Bucher
- Abstract
AbstractBackground:Distant healing, a form of spiritual healing, is widely used for many conditions but little is known about its effectiveness. Methods:In order to evaluate distant healing in patients with a stable chronic condition, we randomised 409 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) from 14 private practices for environmental medicine in Germany and Austria in a two by two factorial design to immediate versus deferred (waiting for 6 months) distant healing. Half the patients were blinded and half knew their treatment allocation. Patients were treated for 6 months and allocated to groups of 3 healers from a pool of 462 healers in 21 European countries with different healing traditions. Change in Mental Health Component Summary (MHCS) score (SF-36) was the primary outcome and Physical Health Component Summary score (PHCS) the secondary outcome. Results:This trial population had very low quality of life and symptom scores at entry. There were no differences over 6 months in post-treatment MHCS scores between the treated and untreated groups. There was a non-significant outcome (p = 0.11) for healing with PHCS (1.11; 95 CI –0.255 to 2.473 at 6 months) and a significant effect (p = 0.027) for blinding; patients who were unblinded became worse during the trial (–1.544; 95 CI –2.913 to –0.176). We found no relevant interaction for blinding among treated patients in MHCS and PHCS. Expectation of treatment and duration of CFS added significantly to the model. Conclusions:In patients with CFS, distant healing appears to have no statistically significant effect on mental and physical health but the expectation of improvement did improve outcome.Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel
- Subjects
EUROPE; SPIRITUAL healing; THERAPEUTICS; CHRONIC fatigue syndrome; PATHOLOGICAL psychology; PUBLIC health
- Publication
Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, 2008, Vol 77, Issue 3, p158
- ISSN
0033-3190
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1159/000116609