Abbot, Neil C, Healing as a therapy for human disease: a systematic review, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2000, 6(2), 159-169.

This meta-analysis covers 59 randomized controlled studies, (including 10 dissertation abstracts and 5 pilot studies) of healing in humans up to the year 2000. Of 22 fully reported trials, 10 suggested significant effects. There were 8 studies rated as methodologically sound, of which 5 showed significant effects. The heterogeneity of the studies precluded a meta-analysis. Small sample sizes in the 15 studies in the dissertations and pilot group may have contributed to the lack of significant effects in 11 of them.

The inclusion of the the abstracts and pilot studies weakens this analysis.

Astin, John A/ Harkness, Elaine/ Ernst, Edzard, The efficacy of "distant healing": a systematic review of randomized trials, Annals of Internal Medicine 2000, 132, 903-910.     http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/06jun00/astin.htm

John Astin, assistant professor at the University of Maryland Medical School, Edzard Ernst, Chairman of the Department of Complementary Therapies at the University of Exeter in England, and Elaine Harkness, reviewed 23 studies: 5 with prayer healing, 11 with non-contact Therapeutic Touch, and 7 miscellaneous distant healing approaches. A positive effect was found in 57 percent of these.

The study is a bit peculiar in including non-contact Therapeutic Touch as distant healing, but within the study this category is analyzed separately.

Overall, for the 16 trials with double blinds, the average effect size was 0.40 (p < .001). For 10 TT studies meeting their selection criteria, the average effect size was 0.63 (p < .003). For the prayer studies the effect size was 0.25 (p < .009). For the "other" studies the average effect size was 0.38 (p < .073).

The authors conclude that "the evidence thus far warrants further study."

This is an acknowledgment (in research reviewers' terminology) that the evidence has merit.

A second acknowledgment was published in the New York Times, op-ed page, June 6, 2000, in the column "Vital Signs" by Eric Nagourney, titled, "A cautious nod to "Distance Healing."

Previously, the New York Times was reluctant to acknowledge healing research as valid.

Braud, William and Schlitz, Marilyn. A methodology for the objective study of transpersonal imagery, Journal of Scientific Exploration 1989, 3(1), 43-63. (See also Schmidt, et al. below)

This meta-analysis focuses on electrodermal activity (EDA), a measure of skin resistance that reflects states of tension. Healers have been able to selectively lower and raise EDA, aided by feedback from a meter attached to the healee's skin.

In a series of studies by William Braud and Marilyn Schlitz there were 323 sessions with 4 experimenters, 62 influencers and 271 subjects. Of the 15 studies, 6, (40 per cent) produced significant results. Of the 323 sessions, 57 percent were successful (p = .000023). That is, such results could have occurred by chance only twenty three times in a million.

Jonas, Wayne B and Crawford, Cindy C. Science and spiritual healing: a critical review of spritual healing, �energy� medicine, and intentionality, Alternative Therapies Supplement: Definitions and Standards in Healing Research 2003, 9(2), A56-71.

A series of meta-analyses are presented for

1. Health impact of spiritual and religious practices - Of 130 cotrolled epidemiological studies of "reasonable quality" 78% reported statisitcally significant effects. These are not RCTs so the research is not considered rigorous. (Reviewer Linda K. George)

2. Intercessory or healing prayer - Of 13 randomized studies, 46% found statistically significant effects, with a mean effect size across trials of .30. Quality of research judged "fair." (Reviewer John Astin)

3. 'Energy' healing approaches - Of 19 RCTs (all but one on TT) 58% reported statistically significant effects, with a mean effect size .60. Quality of research judged "poor to fair." (Reviewers Sarah Warber, Gaia Kile, Brenda Gillespie)

4. Therapeutic qigong (Chinese energy healing) - Of 58 studies, almost all reported positive results. Quality of research judged "poor." (Reviewer Juliann Kiang)

5. Direct mental interaction with living systems - Of 24 studies using electrodermal activity as a measure, 37.5% had significant results. Quality of research judged "fair to good." (Reviewer Stefan Schmidt)

6. Mind-matter interaction studies - Of 516 experiments, "The magnitude of the overall effect size per experiment was small, on average less than the equivalent of 1% for binary REGs, but statitstically the overallk effect was more than 16 standard errors from chance (highly significant). Quality of research judged "good to excellent." (Reviewers Dean Radin, Roger Nelson)

 
Peters, R.. The effectiveness of therapeutic touch: A meta-analytic review. Nursing Science Quarterly 1999, 12(1), 52-61.

Out of 36 studies identified that were empirically based research 9 were analyzed. TT was found to have a positive, medium effect on physiological and psychological variables.

Schlitz, Marilyn/ Braud, William, Distant intentionality and healing: assessing the evidence, Alternative Therapies 1997, 3(6), 62-73.

Analyzing 19 experiments in which one person sought to influence another person's electrodermal activity (EDA), they found highly significant effects (p < .0000007).

Schmidt, Stefan/ Schneider, Rudi/ Utts, Jessica/ Walach, H. Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: Two meta-analyses, British J of Psychology 2004, 95, 235-247.

Analyzing 40 studies of distant mental influence on living systems (DMILS - same model as Braud/ Schlitz meta-analysis) covering 1,055 individual trials 1977-2000, overall results showed significant effects (p < .001).

Warber, SL/ Gillespie, BW/ Kile, GLM/ Gorenflo, D/ Bolling, SF. Meta-analysis of the effects of therapeutic touch on anxiety symptoms, Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies, March 2000, 5(1).

This review covers 9 randomized studies published 1966 to March 1998 and meeting the reviewer's criteria. TT significantly reduced transient anxiety as measured on the State Trait Anxiety Index. :

Winstead-Fry, Patricia/ Kijek, Jean, An integrative review and meta-analysis of Therapeutic Touch research, Alternative Therapies 1999, 5(6) 59-67.

Out of 29 dissertation and research studies that addressed questions of efficacy, 19 showed at least partial support for the research hypothesis. The other 10 rejected the hypotheses.

Deficiencies in reporting details of the studies make it very difficult to compare studies. A moderate combined effect size was found (0.39) in the 13 studies that included means and standard deviations for treatment and control groups (p < .001).