Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 483–4
The study portrays a multinational sample of healers in Europe. Although there is an increasing interest in mental healing (MH) research, the prevalence of the various healing practices and socio-demographics and religious beliefs of healers is generally a neglected topic.
In a large-scale European distant healing (DH) study, 385 healers filled in questionnaires about various aspects of their occupation as healers, their religiosity and their socio-demographic status.
Most healers in the study are located in Germany (n = 171), Switzerland (n = 65), UK (n = 36) and Denmark (n = 32). The remainder (n = 81) are located in 16 other European countries. The healers are, on average, 50.3 (SD 9.6) years of age, have been practising for 10.3 (SD 11.3) years, and are mostly female (62%). Mental healing is a part-time occupation for 48.8%, a regular occupation for 30.6% and an occasional occupation for 20.6% of healers. On average healers treat 11.8 (SD 19.4) patients per week. They regularly use DH (64%) in addition to other forms of MH. Only 26.7% use DH exclusively. A minority (9.2%) use DH exceptionally. Most healers (78.2%) feel that DH is as effective as other forms of MH. A minority (7.7%) believe that it is more effective and 14.1% feel that it is less effective. Healers report to rely on various MH techniques, with therapeutic touch (70%), prayer/intercession (52%), reiki (33%) and chakra therapy (33%) to be the most frequently used. Almost two-thirds of the healers state that religion plays an important role in their life (n = 241).
Although evidence-based approaches to CAM are desirable, this purely descriptive approach illustrates that healing practice is a complex issue that should be investigated in more detail.
