Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies
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Plain English Summary
Can people heal living things from a distance, without any physical contact? After tossing out fraudulent studies by a discredited researcher, this sweeping review looked at over 100 experiments — some on cells, animals, and plants, others on actual human patients. The non-human studies are especially clever because cells in a petri dish can't experience a placebo effect (they don't know anyone's rooting for them). The verdict? Statistically significant positive effects showed up in both categories, even after filtering for study quality. That said, higher-quality studies tended to find smaller effects, and there are signs that unsuccessful experiments may have gone unpublished. So the signal is real but modest, and the jury is still deliberating on just how strong it truly is.
Research Notes
The most comprehensive healing meta-analysis post-Wirth, directly updating Astin et al. (2000). Central to the distant healing controversy: significant effects survive quality filtering, but publication bias and quality-outcome correlations temper confidence. The non-whole-human phase is especially important as it sidesteps placebo confounds.
Are the positive findings from noncontact healing studies robust after excluding fraudulent work and accounting for methodological quality? Two meta-analyses examined 49 non-whole-human biological studies (cell cultures, animals, plants) and 57 whole-human clinical trials of distant healing, excluding the discredited studies of Daniel P. Wirth. Phase 1 yielded weighted r = .258 (CI95 .239-.278), reducing to r = .115 when restricted to 22 quality-threshold studies. Phase 2 yielded r = .203 (CI95 .180-.232), increasing to r = .224 for 27 quality-filtered studies. Both databases were heterogeneous and showed quality-outcome correlations, but significant effects survived quality filtering.
Links
Related Papers
Meta Analyzes
- The Effect of the 'Laying On of Hands' on Transplanted Breast Cancer in Mice — Bengston, William F (2000)
- Effects of Healing Intention on Cultured Cells and Truly Random Events — Radin, Dean (2004)
- Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in Cardiac Bypass Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Uncertainty and Certainty of Receiving Intercessory Prayer — Benson, Herbert (2006)
- Integrative Noetic Therapies as Adjuncts to Percutaneous Intervention During Unstable Coronary Syndromes: Monitoring and Actualization of Noetic Training (MANTRA) Feasibility Pilot — Krucoff, Mitchell W (2001)
- Music, Imagery, Touch, and Prayer as Adjuncts to Interventional Cardiac Care: The Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings (MANTRA) II Randomised Study — Krucoff, Mitchell W (2005)
- Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial — Leibovici, Leonard (2001)
- Positive Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer in a Coronary Care Unit Population — Byrd, Randolph C (1988)
Extends
Cites
- Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: Two meta-analyses — Schmidt, Stefan (2004)
- Consciousness Interactions with Remote Biological Systems: Anomalous Intentionality Effects — Braud, William G (1991)
- Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in Cardiac Bypass Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Uncertainty and Certainty of Receiving Intercessory Prayer — Benson, Herbert (2006)
Companion
- Can We Help Just by Good Intentions? A Meta-Analysis of Experiments on Distant Intention Effects — Schmidt, Stefan (2012)
- Prayer and Health: Review, Meta-Analysis, and Research Agenda — Masters, Kevin S (2007)
- Nonlocality, Intention, and Observer Effects in Healing Studies: Laying a Foundation for the Future — Schwartz, Stephan A (2010)
- Distant Healing of Surgical Wounds: An Exploratory Study — Schlitz, Marilyn (2012)
- Intercessory Prayer for the Alleviation of Ill Health — Roberts, Leanne (2009)
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📋 Cite this paper
Roe, Chris A, Sonnex, Charmaine, Roxburgh, Elizabeth C (2015). Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies. Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2014.10.001
@article{roe_2015_distant_healing,
title = {Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies},
author = {Roe, Chris A and Sonnex, Charmaine and Roxburgh, Elizabeth C},
year = {2015},
journal = {Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing},
doi = {10.1016/j.explore.2014.10.001},
}