Tested at scale, no benefit found

Psychic healing

Psychic healing is the claimed ability of improving health by intention, touch without contact, or prayer at a distance. It has been tested — The STEP trial, Benson and colleagues, American Heart Journal, 2006. No difference in complications between prayed-for and not-prayed-for groups. Patients who were told with certainty that they were being prayed for fared slightly worse — 59% complications against 51%.

The experiment

The STEP trial, Benson and colleagues, American Heart Journal, 2006

How it was run Cardiac bypass patients were randomised into three groups: prayed for and told they might be, prayed for and told they were, and not prayed for. Prayer was performed by congregations who received first names only.
Sample 1,802 patients across six hospitals — the largest trial of its kind
Result No difference in complications between prayed-for and not-prayed-for groups. Patients who were told with certainty that they were being prayed for fared slightly worse — 59% complications against 51%.

Therapeutic Touch has its own famous test: in 1998 a nine-year-old, Emily Rosa, asked 21 practitioners to say which of their hands hers was near, behind a screen. They scored 44% — below chance. It was published in JAMA, and she remains its youngest author.

Claim Improving health by intention, touch without contact, or prayer at a distance
Status Tested at scale, no benefit found
Searched 25,870/mo

Where the word comes from

Modern forms — Reiki 1922, Therapeutic Touch 1972 — are twentieth-century inventions, not ancient traditions.

Terms in this field are younger than they sound. Most were coined between 1840 and 1930, in the Spiritualist and Theosophical revivals, and then presented as ancient. Dating them is the cheapest reality check available.

The other 10

Mediumship Clairvoyance Telepathy Precognition Clairsentience Clairaudience Psychometry Psychic empathy Astral projection Aura reading

All eleven, with what was tested →