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DISTANCE HEALING MAY BE BENEFICIAL

DISTANCE healing - which includes prayer, 'laying on of hands' or therapeutic touch - is used as a method of treating illness, despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting its proposed positive effects.

However, results from a new study show that patients who practice distance healing may benefit from it. "Lots of people practice prayer or are prayed for or receive these (other) interventions," lead author Dr. John A. Astin, said.

"Previous studies suggest that up to 40 per cent of the adult population has in the preceding year used some form of complementary or alternative medicine to treat health-related problems," said Astin, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland School of Medicine's complementary
medicine programme, and his colleagues.

The researchers analysed 23 studies including 2,774 patients to determine the effectiveness of
distance healing, including prayer, mental healing, therapeutic touch or spiritual healing. It is difficult
to draw definitive answers about distance healing because of problems with the studies included in the analysis. the authors said.

They added that there was a lack of uniformity in how the 23 studies were conducted. In addition, they cited weaknesses in study design, such as small sample sizes, as a possible explanation for the lack of significant effects observed in some of the trials.

As reported in Business Line News Service