‘Laying on of hands’: magic or medicine?

Excerpt

In this issue, Pohl et al. [1] report the results of a study which suggests that cancer patients’ well-being improves through the ‘laying on of hands’. Magic (faith, paranormal, or spiritual) healers who claim that the ‘laying on of hands’ generates positive health effects believe that they are mere instruments who channel (cosmic or divine) ‘energy’ into patients’ bodies which, in turn, activates or enhances the body’s own capacity for healing. Some healers claim to achieve very specific effects (i.e. cure of a disease) others, like the healer employed by Pohl et al. [1], say they can generate positive non-specific effects. …