I agree that this draft article should be developed and used for the spiritual healing article. Tom Butler ( talk) 19:08, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
I have this on my clipboard for the faith healing article. May as well put it here and see if it can be applied. At point is the effecy of studies related to spiritual healing. Both of the kinds of healing here appear to be self-administered as they describe them.
Growing Western interest
Next steps in research
Distant Healing: Srinivasan Pillay, award-winning psychiatrist and brain-imaging researcher, conducted a study measuring the Skin conduction of people receiving distance healing. The study done in 2008 examined thirty-six couples. In twenty-two of these couples, one of the two people was a cancer patient. Some couples were trained in “directing intention” of healing towards the sick partners, and others received no training at all.
In this experiment, when people used intention to reach their partners who were in a shielded room, every time intention was sent, it created changes in the skin conductance that were very significant compared to the breaks when these changes would not be present. Thus, the experiment showed that intention can affect a partner’s body across distance.
The effects of distant healing have not been uniform and it appears that distant healing works in some situations but not in others. Dr Pillay writes, “I believe that the healing is not always effective for several reasons: (1) the quality of the intention is not high enough; (2) different intenders have different capacities; (3) different illnesses may require higher levels of intention; (4) there may be other intentions coming from elsewhere that disrupt the intention being measured … in a study that showed that distant healing had no effect on chronic fatigue, the expectation that one would get better did have an effect. I wonder if this implies that intention works best when we believe in our own capacities to get better.”
The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) is a nonprofit organization which has a policy of developing and promoting evidence-based ideas concerning human potential. As a "human"-based group, the term, "spiritual," is often used to signify a state of mind or point of view as characterized in the Wikipedia article for Spirituality but in the non-religious sense, more like the introduction and #5: Personal well being. As such, the term "spiritual healing" is most often used to signify the expression of Compassionate Intention, Prayer, and Distant Healing.
The concept, however, is evolving to a more process-oriented practice based on techniques and policies designed around academic/clinical studies. In this way, the term "spiritual healing " is being replaced by "energy healing" or some variation of that denoting the intentional influence of the subtle energy of the biofield. The lead scientist for IONS is one of the leading scholars for the concept of biofields and intentionality affecting that subtle energy.
The problem is that Power's comment: "Oppose; it's all "faith healing" to the layman. Powers T 17:07, 1 October 2010 (UTC) " is probably pretty close to the truth and simply saying they are different will not work when you continue to use faith-based terms. I support the separation of energy healing from faith healing, but I think titling the article "spiritual healing" will have us back at this same discussion in a few years. I suggest alternative terms should be explored. I cannot think past "Energy healing," but there should be a simple title that embraces both the human potential aspect of "spiritual healing" with the process oriented "Energy healing." In the end, I feel something like "Energy healing" will dominate as academics attempt to separate their research from religious connotations. Tom Butler ( talk) 20:11, 12 October 2010 (UTC)
This is the sort of stupid cr*p I expected to happen. I don't believe anybody on the Faith healing talk page signed up for an article with such a stupid title. "Biofields". Don't make me laugh. Famousdog ( talk) 10:00, 18 October 2010 (UTC)
"Biofield" is meaningless. Its just an attempt to make "energy-but-not-measurable-energy" sound more scientific. Why not subtle body or any of a host of other, frankly, synonomous terms. What's wrong with Energy healing, for example. Oh, that's just energy medicine - which includes qi, chi, prana ... except they're linked to religious belief, which makes them faith healing I guess, and so the whole miserable cycle begins again. You say "educate yourself". In the face of this meaningless double-talk and infinite regress, education is not an option. Famousdog ( talk) 12:57, 19 October 2010 (UTC)
I will try to take your sarcasms one at a time. First, the objective of a Wikipedia article is to correctly explain subjects using verifiable and reliable references. The objective here is to explain what it is and not to prove anything. It does not matter if biofields are real, it only matters that there is a form of healing practiced by some people that is not faith-based, but is based on the assumption that there is a form of energy associated with life that is responsive to the expression of intention and that is thought to produce beneficial effects in people. The idea is not to prove this, but to explain what it is.
REG is random event generator. There are a number of people producing them for research in many fields. they can be quite expensive. It is not necessary to address the "no such thing" red herring because REGs are used based on the norm for each device. What is being detected is differences in that norm and not differences in real randomness. What has been determined is that a random process is changed by the influence of intention. This can be written into the article as part of the explanation if you want.
As an aside, I think the actual influence is more on the average power than on the actual randomness. White noise would work as well, but they began being "scientific." The majority of the phenomena I study appear to depend on a psi influence of random process, so there is growing precedence that there may actually be a methodology to clinically study psi. This is an important point. For the most part, psi research has lacked a "psi meter", but the REG may be able to be used as one. That means that someone saying they are remote viewing could be tested with an REG meter. Such research is being conducted with positive results. This is pretty much original research and poses difficulty for Wikipedia, so I am not proposing it for inclusion.
Radin is sensitive to the "File Draw effect," and to my knowledge tries to report everything. Much of his recent work has been to determine what does and does not work with the REG meter. For instance, he placed on in the Monroe Institute and one in town. The Monroe Institute is a place in which considerable deep meditation occurs by many people working in concert. The REG at the center showed a convincing difference in randomness with the one in town. The indication is that there is not complete nonlocality of effect, but the many experiments to learn this probably produced null tests as well.
You said " a paper published in one of the 'wackier' journals, frankly" and then you went on about statistical analysis. We funded a study that will be reported as a "Failure to replicate" result. It depended on statistical analysis of the data which discarded what we refer to as Class A examples because they fell outside of the statistical norm. In fact, Class A examples are very rare and statistical analysis is an inappropriate tool for their evaluation.
This is why the article must be carefully written to only explain what the subject is and not to defend it ... or debunk it. Most of us are not qualified to address the legitimacy of the subject, but you have the power to keep this article in turmoil forever. As with that vote for name change, you can call up many people who will blindly defend the status quo or their religious beliefs and even have the article deleted. The pseudoskeptics pretty much have control of this wiki so it is your choice. Tom Butler ( talk) 16:59, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
Waffle, bargain-basement, 'wackier' journals, and stupid cr*p are the kind of language I expect from a pseudoskeptic. "...accept that it is down to belief and be done with it" is exactly what I see from Wikipedia pseudoskeptic who edit based on the assumption that something is impossible and therefore cannot be. The company you keep...
Questioning the randomness of the REGs is a red herring I suspect you use to avoid the issues of what the devices may be detecting.
I am not proposing that the article be written to endorse the concept. That would obviously not be a stable article. But the balancing points need to be based on good references that address the point. Saying scientists think it is wacco because there is no physical science to support it is simply not a viable counterpoint. As with any subject, there needs to be an explanation of alternative views.
But here is my concern. Wikipedia is edited by shadow people who only need access to a computer to contribute. The rule of what is a credible source has been debated for years without functional resolution and it ultimately comes down to who has the most votes. The expression of just about any view can be supported somewhere somewhen in the literature, even "it is all the same" probably officially written in the dog catcher's gazette.
You may not be a pseudoskeptic, but there is a whole cadre of aggressive editors defending the status quo over at Rational Skepticism that will eventually show up to force this article into spiritual nonsense. Tom Butler ( talk) 17:03, 21 October 2010 (UTC)
(undent) Yes, M, you are arrogant in the extreme and to some extent so am I, hence this argument. But your confidence in you power of argument is a little misplaced. Case in point: "all perception is projection". So no information comes into our heads from the outside world at all, eh? Secondly, my reference to Freud was ironic, cause in case you haven't noticed, that's pseudoscience too. (cue lengthy argument about psychoanalysis) Adrian: Ernst, Cochrane et al are investigating the efficacy of spiritual healing. Even if healing was "magic", if it had a genuine effect, this could be measured scientifically. I don't have any problem with that because while "biofields" could be unmeasurable by science, positive effects on health should be measurable (and the evidence shows a distinct trend: the more rigourous the study, the smaller the effects). Some editors, on the other hand, are trying to give the mechanism of healing an undeserved and dubious scientific credibility. That I object to. If you want to interpret subjects "feeling a bit wierd" while undergoing genuine healing as evidence for some effect, I can't argue with that. If you want to (as Tom does) interpret a failure to show an effect as resulting from psychic powers, I can't argue with that. If you want to (as Mbilitatu does) argue that the effect of biofields is detectable by a device the behaviour of which is assumed without further evidence to be caused by biofields (that logical enough for you, M? Sorry I don't live up to you impressive and rigorous standards), then I can't argue with that. Now I'm going to do what I said I'd do and give up talking to you all and concentrate on the article. Or better yet, do some real science. Famousdog ( talk) 09:17, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
Don't have any problem with this section being here, but it should be clear that these are speculative theories that have not, as far as I am aware, been furnished with supporting evidence (at least the citations don't include any evidence), the jargon needs cleaned up (you can't just wave your hands and say "oh, its quantum entanglement" and walk off...) and it should be pointed out that these interpretations of quantum theory are unorthodox at best. Famousdog ( talk) 10:37, 4 November 2010 (UTC)
I wasn't planning to "wave your hands and say "oh, its quantum entanglement" and walk off..." - getting a copy of the paper is what I have in mind, whatever people hope I'd do.
Adrian-from-london ( talk) 22:36, 4 November 2010 (UTC)
User: Enric Naval, Your reference: Ernst E. (Nov 2006), "Spiritual healing: more than meets the eye", J Pain Symptom Manage. 32 (5): 393-5, PMID 17085260 is a letter to the editor and not a peer reviewed article. See
Further, if you read his commentary here you will see that the author, Ernst E., refers to all of this as faith healing and spiritual healing and is highly dissatisfied with any form of alternative healing practice. He may have a good point, but he alone is just a ranting skeptic accusing everyone of virtually everyone outside of the mainstream as "Proponents of Absurd Claims".
Please find a better reference. Tom Butler ( talk) 17:47, 18 November 2010 (UTC)
I think you have it right. If you look at the literature you will see that there is a growing interest in proper study of this subject. I do not know where the line should be drawn between too old and current study. Older studies are based on older understanding and technique. There is hardly any effort to prove biofield therapy will heal the blind or cure cancer so much as to prove that it has some beneficial effects. I think that is the point of this article.
The subject does have problems and those need to be clearly stated, so I would continue if I were you. It is good to have other editors.
Oh, and don't let ScienceApologist confue the issue. He is a devout protectector of the status quo. Tom Butler ( talk) 22:05, 18 November 2010 (UTC)
Publication date is never an appropriate reason to exclude material. If new evidence has come to light between 2000 and 2007 which resulted in the same authors coming to different conclusions, then it is an easy enough matter to cite both reviews and explain the different conclusions. Tom, I think your attempts to smear one of the premier researchers in the field of CAM offensive, misguided and in extreme bad faith. Ernst is a hugely respected academic who has put his career prospects on the line by carefully and rigorously studying something that many other people have walked away from. In addition, please don't insult other editors or assume bad faith. Adrian, you have a strange definition of "secular"... Famousdog ( talk) 12:06, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
Edzard Ernst is a Professor of CAM in a respectable University in the UK. He collates research and conducts reviews of research. He is an eminently reliable source. Attempts to marginalise him from CAM articles as an unreliable extremist are probably doomed to failure. CAM proponents would do better to spend their time conducting more research. Fainites barley scribs 17:26, 20 November 2010 (UTC)
Yes, Tom. Clearly Edzard Ernst should be ignored because he is "biased". While we should all listen to you because you are a paragon of objectivity. (Thanks for your support on this, Fainites) Ernst has not made a "180 degree turn" between studies. It is the overly-positive interpretation of his earlier papers (which on the whole are pretty negative) by some editors that simply gives that impression. He's gone from saying "this is probably rubbish, but merits investigation" to "this is rubbish and now we've investigated further, its still rubbish". Maybe an 18 degree turn, but not 180. Adrian, I am still waiting for your definition of "secular" - and your attempts to smear a respected academic, while citing bullsh*t written by Gary Schwartz are a tad disingenuous ;-) Famousdog ( talk) 21:35, 20 November 2010 (UTC)
That takes us back to Power's statement: [ "it's all "faith healing" to the layman." In fact, there is a substantial difference. Psychical research today is increasingly focused on how intentionality is involved in healing. If you pay close attention to the evolution of the literature, you may notice that the emphasis is moving from using some college kid being paid to sit and stare during an experiment to the practice of using a person who has been trained in the energy healing arts.
I am particularly sensitive to this because "Failure to replicate" experiments in my field were conducted using college kids rather than qualified practitioners. That is a very effective way of debunking something while seeming to give it an honest try.
As I am seeing the evolution in research, a proper protocol requires the practitioner (sender) to be a trained healer. That is, to know how to enter into a meditative state, to have good visualization skills and to be able to focus attention for a prolonged period of time ... with compassion. Those are the skills a good practitioner has, while the average religious person praying for a loved one cannot be expected to have such training. A survey of studies that includes requirement for skilled practitioners in the protocol will produce a biased result. It is not much different than if you wrote a report about the economics of rebuilding car engines verses buying a new car and do not consider if the mechanic is trained or a shade tree one like me.
What I have been able to read of Ernst's reports is that he does not make a distinction between modalities of healing. What he is saying seems to be that he put them all in the same pile, averaged them and found no significant results; shad tree healers along with factory trained ones. That is a clever way of biasing results. Tom Butler ( talk) 23:31, 21 November 2010 (UTC)
I stand corrected. I have to admit that I began skimming when I hit "The usual wackos - " on page two. Obviously, if the results were based on creative data interpretation, then that should be reported to the public. I would feel better if I read it in one of the journals rather than Wired. I will attempt to get a read from some of Elisabeth's friends.
I don't know about my performing my own original research Enric. Whenever the tone of an article is so adamantly negative I feel it is important to look into the references. I cannot withdraw my view that Ernst is one sided about the subject. There are studies which are supportive of some action at a distance directed by intention. If any survey such as the A major scandal in the history of science article includes only the ugly and none of the good and bad, then it is difficult not to think of the author as biased. Tom Butler ( talk) 23:50, 22 November 2010 (UTC)
Dog, your statement "The other stuff I will get round to" is just simple arrogance. The talk page is for discussing the reasonableness of what is to be in the article. Please discuss and do not make unilateral changes as you have and apparently intend. You obviously know they are controversial changes and seem to be made just to make a pint.
I agree that Gary's "Summary Report" is self-published intended to be a summary and not a report in itself. As I read it, the report was supported by an organization for which he was offering an opinion. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, indicates it is peer reviewed. Journal of Scientific Exploration is as well. Those two references should be usable. I could not find a report on the findings of NCCAM’s “Think Tank Working Group Meeting on Biofield Energy Medicine” except for a Tribe report here. That lists the recommendations from the gathering.
As to the RS of the references, the question should be whether they are valid publications and bring a balanced view to the article. There is little sense in going off on a publication war. Tom Butler ( talk) 19:09, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
This is a little off-subject but still an interesting read: Reckless Medicine by Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee in the current issue of the science journal Discover. Is it just that health care of any kind is a very difficult subject to properly study? Tom Butler ( talk) 00:31, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
I started looking through this article. It's a mess. Not only are uncritical statements of nonsense from pseudophysics being coatracked in, there are inappropriate rejoinders to criticisms and a distinct lack of objectivity. I tagged the article and started to deal with some of the worst problems.
I was amazed that biofield energy was being shown to be an "electromagnetic frequency" and "chaos theory" was said to explain how distance healing works.
Absurd.
ScienceApologist ( talk) 06:00, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
Starting a new section for this discussion.
Adrian, trawling through the above mammoth discussion in order to find the point where you have "already given" your definition of secular, I see several points where you seem to be edging towards something substantive only to go ga-ga at the last minute. At first you say "my definition of "secular" as in spiritual healing specifically excludes reference to or use of faith healing." Which is like saying "my definition of " fish" as in orangutan specifically excludes reference to or use of chimpanzee." The term secular doesn't seem a sensible descriptor of either faith or spiritual healing in the same way that "fish" is not a sensible term to use when talking about primates.
Then you have a go at "those of you idolising Edzard Ernst" and claim that biofields are "just a 1Hz electromagnetic field" followed by an attack on me for "hiding behind a wikipedia alias" and start banging on about Edzard Ernst using "umbrella terms". No help there.
You say you won't repeat "my assertion that biofield therapy is completely unrelated to faith healing" and refer me to the discussion on the faith healing talk page ( Talk:Faith_healing#Requested_move). But in that discussion you also fail to explain how spiritual healing is secular and faith healing isn't secular. You say (I quote): "the word faith can be used in both a religious and a secular basis and that's what seems to be happening here. As you say Famousdog, healers...have to have (secular?) "faith" or confidence in their ability. For readers there is the confusing association with (religious) faith as in faith healing." I understand that the term "faith" can mean faith in superstition or a "secular" faith in your own abilities, but most secularists would include spiritual and faith healing in the former category - as examples of faith in something based on superstition. Having "secular" faith that you can pull off a roundhouse kick is not the same as having faith that you can channel healing energy.
The fact that in the above discussion you have referred to "my definition" and "my assertion", suggests that your definition of "secular" is simply your own. A definition in which you can choose (or not choose) to include spiritual healing pretty much on a whim. Yes? Famousdog ( talk) 12:02, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
Okay. Energy healer as a title was considered. I am not sure about they dynamic of how we got to biofield. Biofield is antiseptic and seems to be where the academic thinking is taking the research. Whether or not it can be used in any therapy is still a question, but that is the question most research seems to be asking. I am not personally stuck with Biofield and would yield to Adrian. The main thing is to avoid confusion with faith-based thinking. Tom Butler ( talk) 18:22, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
FD, the issue of ownership is a red herring. Adrian has a vision of what he is trying to do. It is not his fault that you do not understand the distinction.. Even so, I have not seen much out of you but edits to make a point. As you pointed out, you think it is all faith healing, so which is it: faith healing or energy healing? There is nothing stopping you from making legitimate edits.
A good example of how the term, "energy medicine" is use in here. The comment in the introduction of the Wikipedia article for Energy medicine "Some claims of those purveying 'energy medicine' devices are known to be fraudulent" tells the rest of the story.
What is considered energy medicine is a mixed bag of devices such as magnetic bracelets and radionic machines, and practices or treatments intended to mobilize body energies thought to naturally occur. I can talk about some of these from experience, and I am confident that parapsychologists and psychical researchers would shy away from associating their studies with them.
Biofield research has evolved out of the study of what causes changes in REG randomness (local and at a distance and not just touching and near contact). The direction of that study is toward the hypothesis that a person's focused intention is the operative influence in changes in REG randomness. Studies have included remote viewing and healing. As I understand the work, it is focused on healing because the effects are measurable.
The agent of influence is hypothesized to be an energetic field associated somehow with living organisms. From my study, some of the models depending on quantum theory or some etheric influence are interesting but none are dominant and calling it a "biofield" is probably as far as that speculation should go at this time. An example of this influence as told to me by Radin is a commonly conducted experiment in which an REG is placed near a meditating group and a second in a nearby town. The result is usually a detected decrease in randomness near the group and no change (or even increase) in the town. Two similar studies are [ deprecated source? here] and here.
There are also recent reports of the detection of changes in magnetic field near the target person in distant healing studies such as: Anomalous magnetic field activity during a bioenergy healing experiment, Journal of Scientific Exploration, Fall 2010.
The reason I pointed out to Adrian the current trend toward biofield research is specifically because of the results of the faith healing-spiritual healing discussion. If such knowledgeable editors are confused, then certainly the casual reader will be confused by the difference. It seemed that the main point was that you all saw faith healing and spiritual healing as the same, so perhaps it is better to follow the scientist's lead and call it what they are calling it. In that way, we might avoid having this discussion every few months.
Okay, so that is the logic. You all can take it as you wish. I have work to do. And Adrian, after they get through making the article appear to be about fringe pseudoscience, my offer still stands. I can give you at least as many page views. Tom Butler ( talk) 18:33, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
This source describes TT as a biofield energy therapy. This source listed Reiki, therapeutic touch, and healing touch as biofield therapies. On what basis are you removing these sources? Fainites barley scribs 00:27, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
I hope I wasn't too forward, but I redirected both to energy medicine. jps ( talk) 15:15, 30 November 2010 (UTC)
No coherent argument has been made to keep this page separate from energy medicine. Therefore, I am preparing for the merge. ScienceApologist ( talk) 23:21, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
Done. Please see Energy medicine and try to improve that article. More information on energy medicine devices and veritable energy medicine is needed there. jps ( talk) 15:14, 30 November 2010 (UTC)
Some primary sources that did in vitro TT, loony-toons seed magic studies, and other Alternative Medicine Journal baloney were being coatracked into this article. I removed them per WP:PSTS and WP:MEDRS. We will only include secondary sources and sources that have received independent notice and review. ScienceApologist ( talk) 23:24, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
I agree that this draft article should be developed and used for the spiritual healing article. Tom Butler ( talk) 19:08, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
I have this on my clipboard for the faith healing article. May as well put it here and see if it can be applied. At point is the effecy of studies related to spiritual healing. Both of the kinds of healing here appear to be self-administered as they describe them.
Growing Western interest
Next steps in research
Distant Healing: Srinivasan Pillay, award-winning psychiatrist and brain-imaging researcher, conducted a study measuring the Skin conduction of people receiving distance healing. The study done in 2008 examined thirty-six couples. In twenty-two of these couples, one of the two people was a cancer patient. Some couples were trained in “directing intention” of healing towards the sick partners, and others received no training at all.
In this experiment, when people used intention to reach their partners who were in a shielded room, every time intention was sent, it created changes in the skin conductance that were very significant compared to the breaks when these changes would not be present. Thus, the experiment showed that intention can affect a partner’s body across distance.
The effects of distant healing have not been uniform and it appears that distant healing works in some situations but not in others. Dr Pillay writes, “I believe that the healing is not always effective for several reasons: (1) the quality of the intention is not high enough; (2) different intenders have different capacities; (3) different illnesses may require higher levels of intention; (4) there may be other intentions coming from elsewhere that disrupt the intention being measured … in a study that showed that distant healing had no effect on chronic fatigue, the expectation that one would get better did have an effect. I wonder if this implies that intention works best when we believe in our own capacities to get better.”
The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) is a nonprofit organization which has a policy of developing and promoting evidence-based ideas concerning human potential. As a "human"-based group, the term, "spiritual," is often used to signify a state of mind or point of view as characterized in the Wikipedia article for Spirituality but in the non-religious sense, more like the introduction and #5: Personal well being. As such, the term "spiritual healing" is most often used to signify the expression of Compassionate Intention, Prayer, and Distant Healing.
The concept, however, is evolving to a more process-oriented practice based on techniques and policies designed around academic/clinical studies. In this way, the term "spiritual healing " is being replaced by "energy healing" or some variation of that denoting the intentional influence of the subtle energy of the biofield. The lead scientist for IONS is one of the leading scholars for the concept of biofields and intentionality affecting that subtle energy.
The problem is that Power's comment: "Oppose; it's all "faith healing" to the layman. Powers T 17:07, 1 October 2010 (UTC) " is probably pretty close to the truth and simply saying they are different will not work when you continue to use faith-based terms. I support the separation of energy healing from faith healing, but I think titling the article "spiritual healing" will have us back at this same discussion in a few years. I suggest alternative terms should be explored. I cannot think past "Energy healing," but there should be a simple title that embraces both the human potential aspect of "spiritual healing" with the process oriented "Energy healing." In the end, I feel something like "Energy healing" will dominate as academics attempt to separate their research from religious connotations. Tom Butler ( talk) 20:11, 12 October 2010 (UTC)
This is the sort of stupid cr*p I expected to happen. I don't believe anybody on the Faith healing talk page signed up for an article with such a stupid title. "Biofields". Don't make me laugh. Famousdog ( talk) 10:00, 18 October 2010 (UTC)
"Biofield" is meaningless. Its just an attempt to make "energy-but-not-measurable-energy" sound more scientific. Why not subtle body or any of a host of other, frankly, synonomous terms. What's wrong with Energy healing, for example. Oh, that's just energy medicine - which includes qi, chi, prana ... except they're linked to religious belief, which makes them faith healing I guess, and so the whole miserable cycle begins again. You say "educate yourself". In the face of this meaningless double-talk and infinite regress, education is not an option. Famousdog ( talk) 12:57, 19 October 2010 (UTC)
I will try to take your sarcasms one at a time. First, the objective of a Wikipedia article is to correctly explain subjects using verifiable and reliable references. The objective here is to explain what it is and not to prove anything. It does not matter if biofields are real, it only matters that there is a form of healing practiced by some people that is not faith-based, but is based on the assumption that there is a form of energy associated with life that is responsive to the expression of intention and that is thought to produce beneficial effects in people. The idea is not to prove this, but to explain what it is.
REG is random event generator. There are a number of people producing them for research in many fields. they can be quite expensive. It is not necessary to address the "no such thing" red herring because REGs are used based on the norm for each device. What is being detected is differences in that norm and not differences in real randomness. What has been determined is that a random process is changed by the influence of intention. This can be written into the article as part of the explanation if you want.
As an aside, I think the actual influence is more on the average power than on the actual randomness. White noise would work as well, but they began being "scientific." The majority of the phenomena I study appear to depend on a psi influence of random process, so there is growing precedence that there may actually be a methodology to clinically study psi. This is an important point. For the most part, psi research has lacked a "psi meter", but the REG may be able to be used as one. That means that someone saying they are remote viewing could be tested with an REG meter. Such research is being conducted with positive results. This is pretty much original research and poses difficulty for Wikipedia, so I am not proposing it for inclusion.
Radin is sensitive to the "File Draw effect," and to my knowledge tries to report everything. Much of his recent work has been to determine what does and does not work with the REG meter. For instance, he placed on in the Monroe Institute and one in town. The Monroe Institute is a place in which considerable deep meditation occurs by many people working in concert. The REG at the center showed a convincing difference in randomness with the one in town. The indication is that there is not complete nonlocality of effect, but the many experiments to learn this probably produced null tests as well.
You said " a paper published in one of the 'wackier' journals, frankly" and then you went on about statistical analysis. We funded a study that will be reported as a "Failure to replicate" result. It depended on statistical analysis of the data which discarded what we refer to as Class A examples because they fell outside of the statistical norm. In fact, Class A examples are very rare and statistical analysis is an inappropriate tool for their evaluation.
This is why the article must be carefully written to only explain what the subject is and not to defend it ... or debunk it. Most of us are not qualified to address the legitimacy of the subject, but you have the power to keep this article in turmoil forever. As with that vote for name change, you can call up many people who will blindly defend the status quo or their religious beliefs and even have the article deleted. The pseudoskeptics pretty much have control of this wiki so it is your choice. Tom Butler ( talk) 16:59, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
Waffle, bargain-basement, 'wackier' journals, and stupid cr*p are the kind of language I expect from a pseudoskeptic. "...accept that it is down to belief and be done with it" is exactly what I see from Wikipedia pseudoskeptic who edit based on the assumption that something is impossible and therefore cannot be. The company you keep...
Questioning the randomness of the REGs is a red herring I suspect you use to avoid the issues of what the devices may be detecting.
I am not proposing that the article be written to endorse the concept. That would obviously not be a stable article. But the balancing points need to be based on good references that address the point. Saying scientists think it is wacco because there is no physical science to support it is simply not a viable counterpoint. As with any subject, there needs to be an explanation of alternative views.
But here is my concern. Wikipedia is edited by shadow people who only need access to a computer to contribute. The rule of what is a credible source has been debated for years without functional resolution and it ultimately comes down to who has the most votes. The expression of just about any view can be supported somewhere somewhen in the literature, even "it is all the same" probably officially written in the dog catcher's gazette.
You may not be a pseudoskeptic, but there is a whole cadre of aggressive editors defending the status quo over at Rational Skepticism that will eventually show up to force this article into spiritual nonsense. Tom Butler ( talk) 17:03, 21 October 2010 (UTC)
(undent) Yes, M, you are arrogant in the extreme and to some extent so am I, hence this argument. But your confidence in you power of argument is a little misplaced. Case in point: "all perception is projection". So no information comes into our heads from the outside world at all, eh? Secondly, my reference to Freud was ironic, cause in case you haven't noticed, that's pseudoscience too. (cue lengthy argument about psychoanalysis) Adrian: Ernst, Cochrane et al are investigating the efficacy of spiritual healing. Even if healing was "magic", if it had a genuine effect, this could be measured scientifically. I don't have any problem with that because while "biofields" could be unmeasurable by science, positive effects on health should be measurable (and the evidence shows a distinct trend: the more rigourous the study, the smaller the effects). Some editors, on the other hand, are trying to give the mechanism of healing an undeserved and dubious scientific credibility. That I object to. If you want to interpret subjects "feeling a bit wierd" while undergoing genuine healing as evidence for some effect, I can't argue with that. If you want to (as Tom does) interpret a failure to show an effect as resulting from psychic powers, I can't argue with that. If you want to (as Mbilitatu does) argue that the effect of biofields is detectable by a device the behaviour of which is assumed without further evidence to be caused by biofields (that logical enough for you, M? Sorry I don't live up to you impressive and rigorous standards), then I can't argue with that. Now I'm going to do what I said I'd do and give up talking to you all and concentrate on the article. Or better yet, do some real science. Famousdog ( talk) 09:17, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
Don't have any problem with this section being here, but it should be clear that these are speculative theories that have not, as far as I am aware, been furnished with supporting evidence (at least the citations don't include any evidence), the jargon needs cleaned up (you can't just wave your hands and say "oh, its quantum entanglement" and walk off...) and it should be pointed out that these interpretations of quantum theory are unorthodox at best. Famousdog ( talk) 10:37, 4 November 2010 (UTC)
I wasn't planning to "wave your hands and say "oh, its quantum entanglement" and walk off..." - getting a copy of the paper is what I have in mind, whatever people hope I'd do.
Adrian-from-london ( talk) 22:36, 4 November 2010 (UTC)
User: Enric Naval, Your reference: Ernst E. (Nov 2006), "Spiritual healing: more than meets the eye", J Pain Symptom Manage. 32 (5): 393-5, PMID 17085260 is a letter to the editor and not a peer reviewed article. See
Further, if you read his commentary here you will see that the author, Ernst E., refers to all of this as faith healing and spiritual healing and is highly dissatisfied with any form of alternative healing practice. He may have a good point, but he alone is just a ranting skeptic accusing everyone of virtually everyone outside of the mainstream as "Proponents of Absurd Claims".
Please find a better reference. Tom Butler ( talk) 17:47, 18 November 2010 (UTC)
I think you have it right. If you look at the literature you will see that there is a growing interest in proper study of this subject. I do not know where the line should be drawn between too old and current study. Older studies are based on older understanding and technique. There is hardly any effort to prove biofield therapy will heal the blind or cure cancer so much as to prove that it has some beneficial effects. I think that is the point of this article.
The subject does have problems and those need to be clearly stated, so I would continue if I were you. It is good to have other editors.
Oh, and don't let ScienceApologist confue the issue. He is a devout protectector of the status quo. Tom Butler ( talk) 22:05, 18 November 2010 (UTC)
Publication date is never an appropriate reason to exclude material. If new evidence has come to light between 2000 and 2007 which resulted in the same authors coming to different conclusions, then it is an easy enough matter to cite both reviews and explain the different conclusions. Tom, I think your attempts to smear one of the premier researchers in the field of CAM offensive, misguided and in extreme bad faith. Ernst is a hugely respected academic who has put his career prospects on the line by carefully and rigorously studying something that many other people have walked away from. In addition, please don't insult other editors or assume bad faith. Adrian, you have a strange definition of "secular"... Famousdog ( talk) 12:06, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
Edzard Ernst is a Professor of CAM in a respectable University in the UK. He collates research and conducts reviews of research. He is an eminently reliable source. Attempts to marginalise him from CAM articles as an unreliable extremist are probably doomed to failure. CAM proponents would do better to spend their time conducting more research. Fainites barley scribs 17:26, 20 November 2010 (UTC)
Yes, Tom. Clearly Edzard Ernst should be ignored because he is "biased". While we should all listen to you because you are a paragon of objectivity. (Thanks for your support on this, Fainites) Ernst has not made a "180 degree turn" between studies. It is the overly-positive interpretation of his earlier papers (which on the whole are pretty negative) by some editors that simply gives that impression. He's gone from saying "this is probably rubbish, but merits investigation" to "this is rubbish and now we've investigated further, its still rubbish". Maybe an 18 degree turn, but not 180. Adrian, I am still waiting for your definition of "secular" - and your attempts to smear a respected academic, while citing bullsh*t written by Gary Schwartz are a tad disingenuous ;-) Famousdog ( talk) 21:35, 20 November 2010 (UTC)
That takes us back to Power's statement: [ "it's all "faith healing" to the layman." In fact, there is a substantial difference. Psychical research today is increasingly focused on how intentionality is involved in healing. If you pay close attention to the evolution of the literature, you may notice that the emphasis is moving from using some college kid being paid to sit and stare during an experiment to the practice of using a person who has been trained in the energy healing arts.
I am particularly sensitive to this because "Failure to replicate" experiments in my field were conducted using college kids rather than qualified practitioners. That is a very effective way of debunking something while seeming to give it an honest try.
As I am seeing the evolution in research, a proper protocol requires the practitioner (sender) to be a trained healer. That is, to know how to enter into a meditative state, to have good visualization skills and to be able to focus attention for a prolonged period of time ... with compassion. Those are the skills a good practitioner has, while the average religious person praying for a loved one cannot be expected to have such training. A survey of studies that includes requirement for skilled practitioners in the protocol will produce a biased result. It is not much different than if you wrote a report about the economics of rebuilding car engines verses buying a new car and do not consider if the mechanic is trained or a shade tree one like me.
What I have been able to read of Ernst's reports is that he does not make a distinction between modalities of healing. What he is saying seems to be that he put them all in the same pile, averaged them and found no significant results; shad tree healers along with factory trained ones. That is a clever way of biasing results. Tom Butler ( talk) 23:31, 21 November 2010 (UTC)
I stand corrected. I have to admit that I began skimming when I hit "The usual wackos - " on page two. Obviously, if the results were based on creative data interpretation, then that should be reported to the public. I would feel better if I read it in one of the journals rather than Wired. I will attempt to get a read from some of Elisabeth's friends.
I don't know about my performing my own original research Enric. Whenever the tone of an article is so adamantly negative I feel it is important to look into the references. I cannot withdraw my view that Ernst is one sided about the subject. There are studies which are supportive of some action at a distance directed by intention. If any survey such as the A major scandal in the history of science article includes only the ugly and none of the good and bad, then it is difficult not to think of the author as biased. Tom Butler ( talk) 23:50, 22 November 2010 (UTC)
Dog, your statement "The other stuff I will get round to" is just simple arrogance. The talk page is for discussing the reasonableness of what is to be in the article. Please discuss and do not make unilateral changes as you have and apparently intend. You obviously know they are controversial changes and seem to be made just to make a pint.
I agree that Gary's "Summary Report" is self-published intended to be a summary and not a report in itself. As I read it, the report was supported by an organization for which he was offering an opinion. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, indicates it is peer reviewed. Journal of Scientific Exploration is as well. Those two references should be usable. I could not find a report on the findings of NCCAM’s “Think Tank Working Group Meeting on Biofield Energy Medicine” except for a Tribe report here. That lists the recommendations from the gathering.
As to the RS of the references, the question should be whether they are valid publications and bring a balanced view to the article. There is little sense in going off on a publication war. Tom Butler ( talk) 19:09, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
This is a little off-subject but still an interesting read: Reckless Medicine by Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee in the current issue of the science journal Discover. Is it just that health care of any kind is a very difficult subject to properly study? Tom Butler ( talk) 00:31, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
I started looking through this article. It's a mess. Not only are uncritical statements of nonsense from pseudophysics being coatracked in, there are inappropriate rejoinders to criticisms and a distinct lack of objectivity. I tagged the article and started to deal with some of the worst problems.
I was amazed that biofield energy was being shown to be an "electromagnetic frequency" and "chaos theory" was said to explain how distance healing works.
Absurd.
ScienceApologist ( talk) 06:00, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
Starting a new section for this discussion.
Adrian, trawling through the above mammoth discussion in order to find the point where you have "already given" your definition of secular, I see several points where you seem to be edging towards something substantive only to go ga-ga at the last minute. At first you say "my definition of "secular" as in spiritual healing specifically excludes reference to or use of faith healing." Which is like saying "my definition of " fish" as in orangutan specifically excludes reference to or use of chimpanzee." The term secular doesn't seem a sensible descriptor of either faith or spiritual healing in the same way that "fish" is not a sensible term to use when talking about primates.
Then you have a go at "those of you idolising Edzard Ernst" and claim that biofields are "just a 1Hz electromagnetic field" followed by an attack on me for "hiding behind a wikipedia alias" and start banging on about Edzard Ernst using "umbrella terms". No help there.
You say you won't repeat "my assertion that biofield therapy is completely unrelated to faith healing" and refer me to the discussion on the faith healing talk page ( Talk:Faith_healing#Requested_move). But in that discussion you also fail to explain how spiritual healing is secular and faith healing isn't secular. You say (I quote): "the word faith can be used in both a religious and a secular basis and that's what seems to be happening here. As you say Famousdog, healers...have to have (secular?) "faith" or confidence in their ability. For readers there is the confusing association with (religious) faith as in faith healing." I understand that the term "faith" can mean faith in superstition or a "secular" faith in your own abilities, but most secularists would include spiritual and faith healing in the former category - as examples of faith in something based on superstition. Having "secular" faith that you can pull off a roundhouse kick is not the same as having faith that you can channel healing energy.
The fact that in the above discussion you have referred to "my definition" and "my assertion", suggests that your definition of "secular" is simply your own. A definition in which you can choose (or not choose) to include spiritual healing pretty much on a whim. Yes? Famousdog ( talk) 12:02, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
Okay. Energy healer as a title was considered. I am not sure about they dynamic of how we got to biofield. Biofield is antiseptic and seems to be where the academic thinking is taking the research. Whether or not it can be used in any therapy is still a question, but that is the question most research seems to be asking. I am not personally stuck with Biofield and would yield to Adrian. The main thing is to avoid confusion with faith-based thinking. Tom Butler ( talk) 18:22, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
FD, the issue of ownership is a red herring. Adrian has a vision of what he is trying to do. It is not his fault that you do not understand the distinction.. Even so, I have not seen much out of you but edits to make a point. As you pointed out, you think it is all faith healing, so which is it: faith healing or energy healing? There is nothing stopping you from making legitimate edits.
A good example of how the term, "energy medicine" is use in here. The comment in the introduction of the Wikipedia article for Energy medicine "Some claims of those purveying 'energy medicine' devices are known to be fraudulent" tells the rest of the story.
What is considered energy medicine is a mixed bag of devices such as magnetic bracelets and radionic machines, and practices or treatments intended to mobilize body energies thought to naturally occur. I can talk about some of these from experience, and I am confident that parapsychologists and psychical researchers would shy away from associating their studies with them.
Biofield research has evolved out of the study of what causes changes in REG randomness (local and at a distance and not just touching and near contact). The direction of that study is toward the hypothesis that a person's focused intention is the operative influence in changes in REG randomness. Studies have included remote viewing and healing. As I understand the work, it is focused on healing because the effects are measurable.
The agent of influence is hypothesized to be an energetic field associated somehow with living organisms. From my study, some of the models depending on quantum theory or some etheric influence are interesting but none are dominant and calling it a "biofield" is probably as far as that speculation should go at this time. An example of this influence as told to me by Radin is a commonly conducted experiment in which an REG is placed near a meditating group and a second in a nearby town. The result is usually a detected decrease in randomness near the group and no change (or even increase) in the town. Two similar studies are [ deprecated source? here] and here.
There are also recent reports of the detection of changes in magnetic field near the target person in distant healing studies such as: Anomalous magnetic field activity during a bioenergy healing experiment, Journal of Scientific Exploration, Fall 2010.
The reason I pointed out to Adrian the current trend toward biofield research is specifically because of the results of the faith healing-spiritual healing discussion. If such knowledgeable editors are confused, then certainly the casual reader will be confused by the difference. It seemed that the main point was that you all saw faith healing and spiritual healing as the same, so perhaps it is better to follow the scientist's lead and call it what they are calling it. In that way, we might avoid having this discussion every few months.
Okay, so that is the logic. You all can take it as you wish. I have work to do. And Adrian, after they get through making the article appear to be about fringe pseudoscience, my offer still stands. I can give you at least as many page views. Tom Butler ( talk) 18:33, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
This source describes TT as a biofield energy therapy. This source listed Reiki, therapeutic touch, and healing touch as biofield therapies. On what basis are you removing these sources? Fainites barley scribs 00:27, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
I hope I wasn't too forward, but I redirected both to energy medicine. jps ( talk) 15:15, 30 November 2010 (UTC)
No coherent argument has been made to keep this page separate from energy medicine. Therefore, I am preparing for the merge. ScienceApologist ( talk) 23:21, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
Done. Please see Energy medicine and try to improve that article. More information on energy medicine devices and veritable energy medicine is needed there. jps ( talk) 15:14, 30 November 2010 (UTC)
Some primary sources that did in vitro TT, loony-toons seed magic studies, and other Alternative Medicine Journal baloney were being coatracked into this article. I removed them per WP:PSTS and WP:MEDRS. We will only include secondary sources and sources that have received independent notice and review. ScienceApologist ( talk) 23:24, 27 November 2010 (UTC)