Healing Touch "Therapy" Thrives Despite its Bullfu

[Flagg]

I figured this was more of a SLAM story, so I'm posting it here. If it belongs in N&P, then my apologies in advance.

Link

Healing touch therapy thrives despite skeptics

By Vivianne Rodrigues
Fri Nov 16, 4:26 PM ET


NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's not traditional medicine but patients love it: an unconventional therapy called the healing touch that is gaining acceptance in some U.S. hospitals.

The technique uses light touch and deep breathing to address energy imbalances, its advocates say. Though research on it is limited, the therapy is practiced at 30 U.S. hospitals and by nearly 2,000 certified therapists, according to Healing Touch International, based in Denver.

"Healing touch raised my awareness and brought me a deep state of relaxation, which is not something you can get just by taking pain medicine," said Sarla Santos, 40, a nurse who underwent lung surgery in October and receives healing touch therapy at New York University Medical Center.

"Pain medication takes the pain out but doesn't make you feel good or calm."

The U.S. National Institutes of Health classifies healing touch as "energy medicine," in which practitioners believe illness results from disturbances of subtle energy fields, and calls it controversial.

The NIH says neither the external energy fields nor the therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly.

NYU Medical Center has approved it as a complement to traditional rehabilitation, offering patients and staff free sessions as part of the hospital's MindBody Patient Care Program.

The system incorporates ancient Asian healing techniques and was developed in the 1980s by Janet Mentgen, a nurse in Colorado.

A healing touch therapist will gently touch or glide his hands through the patient's energy points or affected areas, such as shoulders, feet and forehead. The practitioner concentrates on each point for a few minutes.

Lisa Anselme, executive director at the Denver organization, said the method was not meant to stand alone.

"Healing touch is not intended to replace standard treatment. It's a complementary therapy," said Anselme, a registered nurse and healing touch practitioner.

Jackie Levin, a nurse who coordinates the NYU program, said the treatment works well for people with anxiety, depression and stress associated with surgery and cancer treatments.

"It's very safe, very calming and in the end, almost everyone can benefit from it," said Levin.

Nancy Hauserman, 58, a college professor in Iowa City, sought healing touch therapy twice, first during a period of emotional distress and then after foot surgery.

"I would still see my doctor, but I wanted to make sure that there were no blockages between my mind and body at that time," Hauserman said. "In fact, my own doctor was extremely impressed with how fast my wound has healed."

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

I love how blatantly stupid these people are.

"Healing touch is not intended to replace standard treatment. It's a complementary therapy," said Anselme, a registered nurse and healing touch practitioner.

Yeah, it's not meant to replace standard (also known as real) treatment, but to complement that treatment. So when the normal treatment works, people will ignore the fact that science saved their lives and blame it on this total horseshit! Why are these cunting liars allowed to keep their licenses?

[Flagg]

Gah. Last word in title is "bullfuckery".

[Darth Wong]

It doesn't surprise me that "healing touch" can make patients feel calmer, but it's not because of "energy". It's because patients are lonely, and simply having someone give you a massage or talk to you in a calming, caring demeanour will make you feel much better.

News flash: a hospital is a shitty place to hang out. There's nothing to do, the environment is ugly, the nurses are harried and irritable so you feel guilty asking them for anything, your family only shows up for a few minutes each day if you're lucky, and your friends usually figure it's good enough to send you a "Get Well" card in the mail. Virtually anything is an improvement on the status quo in hospitals.

They should compare the calming effects of "healing touch" with the calming effects of bringing in callgirls to give blowjobs and flirt with the patients. I'd bet they'd feel even better after that, but I doubt any hospital would dare try the experiment.

[Flagg]

It doesn't surprise me that "healing touch" can make patients feel calmer, but it's not because of "energy". It's because patients are lonely, and simply having someone give you a massage or talk to you in a calming, caring demeanour will make you feel much better.

News flash: a hospital is a shitty place to hang out. There's nothing to do, the environment is ugly, the nurses are harried and irritable so you feel guilty asking them for anything, your family only shows up for a few minutes each day if you're lucky, and your friends usually figure it's good enough to send you a "Get Well" card in the mail. Virtually anything is an improvement on the status quo in hospitals.

They should compare the calming effects of "healing touch" with the calming effects of bringing in callgirls to give blowjobs and flirt with the patients. I'd bet they'd feel even better after that, but I doubt any hospital would dare try the experiment.

Yeah, I spent 6 weeks in a hospital, I know how bad it can be. Especially when you have fucktards like this pestering you with their woowoo shit, nurses and doctors telling you that if you have faith you'll be so much better, and fucking Priests trying to convert you.
Luckily I had painkillers. Those work wonders.

[Junghalli]

Meh, if it makes them feel better it's their money to waste. I can think of far more offensive stupidities, at least this does no harm and gives a placebo benefit if nothing else.

[Darth Wong]

I'm not actually joking. I would love to see one of these studies on "alternative therapies" to make patients feel better, only done with callgirls instead of shamans or witch doctors or faith healers or whatever else the woo-woo crowd is trying to sell. I'd bet that the results are at least as good, if not better.

[Flagg]

I'm not actually joking. I would love to see one of these studies on "alternative therapies" to make patients feel better, only done with callgirls instead of shamans or witch doctors or faith healers or whatever else the woo-woo crowd is trying to sell. I'd bet that the results are at least as good, if not better.

I'd love to see that too. Prefferably while I'm in the hospital they're performing the study in.

[Spin Echo]

I'm not actually joking. I would love to see one of these studies on "alternative therapies" to make patients feel better, only done with callgirls instead of shamans or witch doctors or faith healers or whatever else the woo-woo crowd is trying to sell. I'd bet that the results are at least as good, if not better.

I smell an ignoble in the making.

[Darth Wong]

I'm not actually joking. I would love to see one of these studies on "alternative therapies" to make patients feel better, only done with callgirls instead of shamans or witch doctors or faith healers or whatever else the woo-woo crowd is trying to sell. I'd bet that the results are at least as good, if not better.

I smell an ignoble in the making.

Back when I was a youthful university student, I ... well, I would have said almost exactly the same thing. I guess I haven't changed that much after all.

[mr friendly guy]

So healing touch is just a glorified version of a massage. Yeah, well you can get those for $30-40 AUD and its even cheaper in SE Asia. At the end of the day they make you feel relaxed and good, but thats all. Just don't take it as a method of healing.

[Zablorg]

What the fuck are "energy imbalances"? Is that a nifty term for being hungry?

[Zixinus]

I'm not actually joking. I would love to see one of these studies on "alternative therapies" to make patients feel better, only done with callgirls instead of shamans or witch doctors or faith healers or whatever else the woo-woo crowd is trying to sell. I'd bet that the results are at least as good, if not better.

Ya'know, the more I hear the idea, the more I like it. No pseudo-scientific bullshit after all.

What the fuck are "energy imbalances"? Is that a nifty term for being hungry?

It's a problem you don't have but they fixed anyway. And ask money I reckon.

Ya'know, even with the recent political bullshit, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't allow anything like this.

[Zixinus]

After post addamantum: Even with the recent political bullshit, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't allow something like this IN MY COUNTRY.

[Johonebesus]

I'm not actually joking. I would love to see one of these studies on "alternative therapies" to make patients feel better, only done with callgirls instead of shamans or witch doctors or faith healers or whatever else the woo-woo crowd is trying to sell. I'd bet that the results are at least as good, if not better.

This is slightly off topic, but your comments reminded me of a case a few years back. A dieing teenage boy wanted to experience sex before he passed, so someone at the hospital hired a prostitute for him. After his death the parents found out and sued the hospital. I think it happened in Australia, but I'm not sure. Does anyone remember that case and know how it turned out (though I'd be shocked if it didn't end in a nice fat settlement for the family)?

[Zablorg]

This is slightly off topic, but your comments reminded me of a case a few years back. A dieing teenage boy wanted to experience sex before he passed, so someone at the hospital hired a prostitute for him. After his death the parents found out and sued the hospital. I think it happened in Australia, but I'm not sure. Does anyone remember that case and know how it turned out (though I'd be shocked if it didn't end in a nice fat settlement for the family)?

Why bother suing? It's a complete waste of time.

[Flagg]

This is slightly off topic, but your comments reminded me of a case a few years back. A dieing teenage boy wanted to experience sex before he passed, so someone at the hospital hired a prostitute for him. After his death the parents found out and sued the hospital. I think it happened in Australia, but I'm not sure. Does anyone remember that case and know how it turned out (though I'd be shocked if it didn't end in a nice fat settlement for the family)?

Why bother suing? It's a complete waste of time.

Money.

[Winston Blake]

What the fuck are "energy imbalances"? Is that a nifty term for being hungry?

I think of it more like an expansion and distortion of the colloquial meaning of energy as 'liveliness'. Like 'You look energetic today' or 'I feel great and full of energy!'. The word 'energy' can be treated like a substance in conversation, just the same way a person can be 'full of resolve', or have 'low satisfaction'.

Moods can spread to people around you, and most people are familiar with the nature of magnetic fields (e.g. children with fridge magnets). If all 'substance-like' positive and negative feelings can be generalised as 'energies', then it's natural for pseudo-scientific bullshit to play off the scientific term 'energy' and describe moods in terms of aura-like 'energy fields'.

The same basic idea has been taken from pre-germ-theory cultures by New Agers and twisted into faux-technical medical treatments. 'Re-aligning a person's energy field' is essentially a self-aggrandising way of saying 'Correcting a person's feelings, which are implied to be the only mechanism causing illness'.

[salm]

I feel with you. The German equivalent is homeopathy. People love it and it feels like it´s on the rise. Even people whom i otherwise think of as reasonable people, some of them holding engeneering and even fucking science degrees will take some bullfuckering homeopathy globulies to "rince out the bad things from the painkillers" they´re taking because they just had an operation.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Did someone say "healing touch"?

Homoeopathy is big in the UK too, salm. See, we can still try and beat you Germans at everything, including rampant idiocy. The US has her faith healers. We have our spiritualist healers. Whatever it means, science and medicine are on the arse fucking end of it.

[Darth Wong]

I feel with you. The German equivalent is homeopathy. People love it and it feels like it´s on the rise. Even people whom i otherwise think of as reasonable people, some of them holding engeneering and even fucking science degrees will take some bullfuckering homeopathy globulies to "rince out the bad things from the painkillers" they´re taking because they just had an operation.

Frankly, you can blame the failures of conventional medicine for the rise of alternative medicine. Look at all the world's hospitals and how they treat you. When you're in inpatient care, you feel like you're a fucking prisoner. Doctors don't seem to care at all how you're feeling; they figure you're fine as long as you don't have symptoms that can be tied to a serious complication. Conventional medicine has neglected the patient's feelings in a big way.

[Gil Hamilton]

When I read the article, my thoughts were "So, they gave the patients a damn massage, and they felt relaxed? Well, gee willickers!" I know sometimes a bit of theater is good to make the medicine go down, but c'mon...

Well, I suppose it is harmless and the actual thing they are doing is beneficial (as Mike noted, a massage and company). After all, it could well speed their recovery a little bit if they honestly thought it was working and the company helps (honestly believing treatment is working destresses you and stress is a killer). And it's better than Christian Science whackos who don't believe in life saving blood transfusions and practice faith healing INSTEAD of treatment rather than this which is in ADDITION to real medicine.

So I suppose it isn't bad per se so long as no one attempts to do this in lieu of real treatment. If people think it helps and aren't getting charged an arm and a leg for it, then by all means have a shaman give your "energy" a tickle after your regular treatment. It does kind of remind me of the Scrubs episode where Turk had to perform surgery on a woman who insisted on hypnosis rather than anesthesia, though.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Why not cut through the bullshit and just have therapeutic massage therapists in the hospital?

[aerius]

A special massage from one of these women will definitely cheer me up and make me feel better for hours. There's a reason they call it a "health studio" even though it's a "rub & tug" parlour.

[Turin]

Frankly, you can blame the failures of conventional medicine for the rise of alternative medicine. Look at all the world's hospitals and how they treat you. When you're in inpatient care, you feel like you're a fucking prisoner. Doctors don't seem to care at all how you're feeling; they figure you're fine as long as you don't have symptoms that can be tied to a serious complication. Conventional medicine has neglected the patient's feelings in a big way.

Interestingly enough, it appears that at least some hospitals are starting to recognize these sorts of "environmental" effects on the patient. My firm does a lot of heathcare/hospital design work. There's been a considerable trend on the design side of thing to make inpatient rooms more comfortable for the patient -- warmer and more natural lighting, sound insulation from the 24hr hustle-and-bustle of the rest of the hospital, and furnishing & finishes that look more like a hotel than a hospital room. (At the same time, of course, all these finishes are microbe-growth-resistant, and those warm lights can be turned into bazillion-watt bright lamps with the flick of a switch if the patient crashes.)

Of course, I'd agree that simple company would probably work wonders for just about anyone, even in the nicest hospital there is.

[Metatwaddle]

I feel with you. The German equivalent is homeopathy. People love it and it feels like it´s on the rise. Even people whom i otherwise think of as reasonable people, some of them holding engeneering and even fucking science degrees will take some bullfuckering homeopathy globulies to "rince out the bad things from the painkillers" they´re taking because they just had an operation.

I hear you, and that's not confined to Europe. Even my grandmother, a reasonably intelligent person who worked as a nurse for her entire career, said she was taking a homeopathic treatment for something or other. I expected my dad, who's got a PhD in biomedical engineering and has little patience for pseudoscience, to tactfully explain to her that homeopathic medicine didn't really work. But he didn't.