Analyses were based on the methodological concept of directed qualitative content analysis. Data was analyzed using MAXQDA software, discussed and reviewed by a multidisciplinary research team consisting of medical anthropologists, medical doctors and a religious studies scholar.
In total 15 healers and 16 clients participated in this study, 24 interviews with healers, 20 interviews with clients and 8 participatory observations were analyzed. Healers and clients reported outcomes as positively perceived body sensations, increased well-being, positive emotions and symptomatic relief of medical complaints.
Clients often described changes in their self-concepts and adapted life values. Explanations for perceived effects included connecting with transcendent sources, construction of meaning, as a result of the client-healer relationship, and as empowerment to make changes. Because the interviewed clients were recruited by the healers, a selection bias towards positive healing experiences is possible.
Grounded in the emic perspective, we propose to use the following outcomes for further prospective studies: positive body sensations, changes of self-concepts and values, changes of medical symptoms and complaints. From the etic perspective, physical, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing, sense of coherence, meaningfulness of life, empowerment, resource activation, change and symptom control should be further explored as potential outcomes.
Peer Review reports. Due to globalization the techniques healers use have diversified and are derived from various spiritual and religious practices [ 2 ]. In Germany, some of these healing traditions have a long history. Today the total number of German healers is unknown, but may have increased considering the positive trend of CAM usage in the last decades [ 4 ]. The German Federal Constitutional Court decided to allow spiritual healing as non-medical consulting in and made it legal for laymen to practice as long as no diseases were treated.
Spiritual healing seems to be embedded in a general increase of spiritual interest by the German population, seen in the boost of esoteric and religious literature and corresponding offers on the seminar and counselling market. Globalization and the internet have also opened up new avenues to participate in a wide range of religious and spiritual systems. Over the past two decades some quantitative studies on spiritual healers were conducted in the field of medical and psychological research [ 5 — 9 ].
Many of these studies aimed to investigate whether spiritual healing has a specific effect compared to control therapies. Often, the basic assumptions about the aims of treatment between biomedical researchers and healers differ: In biomedical clinical research great value has been placed on the established diagnosis e. Therefore their success might rather be attributed to spiritual and personal development than in the disappearance of specific symptoms [ 1 , 10 ].
Many of the quantitative studies on spiritual healing presented inconclusive and heterogeneous results. Spiritual healing itself is not well understood and remains difficult to define. Therefore, it has been argued that qualitative research strategies might help to develop better hypotheses and study designs and thus should be applied before designing further quantitative studies [ 9 ]. While there is a large body of anthropological research about indigenous healing systems in non-western countries, not much anthropological research has been conducted on contemporary European spiritual healing see, however, [ 2 , 3 , 11 — 13 ].
Addressing this lack of literature on European healers, we therefore conducted a qualitative study with German spiritual healers and their clients from to This qualitative study, performed by a multidisciplinary study team, collected data about the subjective experiences, biographies, concepts and motivations of healers and their clients. The aim of this paper is to report how healers and their clients experienced, perceived, described and explained the outcomes of spiritual healing and to generate hypotheses for future research.
Semistructured interviews and participatory observations of healing treatments were used as qualitative research methods to collect data. A snowball sampling technique [ 14 ] was used for recruitment. This technique is often used in qualitative research to recruit hidden populations which are difficult for researchers to access.
Healers were selected on the basis of recommendations of several German healer organizations and personal recommendations of healers or patients already included in the study. We also visited and participated in healing events to gain access to the research field. The aim was to recruit contemporary German healers with a good reputation within their healers network. In particular we asked for addresses and contact of healers with a good reputation. We aimed to include medical doctors, non-medical CAM practitioners and lay healers.
The healers were asked to arrange contact with their clients so that they could be invited by the researchers to participate in the study and as well as recommend other healers.
The clients were then contacted in person, by telephone or by email and asked to participate. We paid an expense allowance of Euro to the healer for participating in the interviews and 50 Euro to the client.
Healers: 18 years of age and older, providing written informed consent. Clients: above 18 years of age, previous or current treatment by the healer, providing written informed consent. Clients: disease that makes the participation in the study impossible e. Based on the research questions and a literature review of publications about spiritual healing in the last 20 years a semi-structured comprehensive interview guide for healers and clients was developed by the research team.
The interview guide was used to support the interviewers and allowed flexibility to vary and deepen interesting aspects. After the first interviews, the interview guideline was critically reviewed by the research team and revised accordingly. Table 1 shows the interview guideline. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim including a pseudonymization of personal data.
Analyses were based on the methodological concept of a directed qualitative content analysis [ 15 ] by using MAXQDA software. We used a combination of deductive and inductive coding strategies: The main categories and first subcategories for coding the data were predefined by the research team according to our research questions and theexisting scientific literature.
The coding of the third and fourth subcategories of data analysis followed a continuous process of extracting codes from conducted interviews and discussion among the team members.
The team, consisting of three medical doctors, two medical anthropologists and one religious studies scholar with expertise in medical anthropology and health psychology, discussed the data collection and analysis every three months in a one-day research workshop.
These discussions were audiotaped to document every aspect of the analysis. All coded interviews were in addition reviewed and co-coded by randomly assigned members of the research team to improve quality and validity of the analyses. In total 15 healers and 16 clients participated in this study. We conducted and analyzed 24 interviews with healers and 20 interviews with clients; in addition we conducted and analyzed eight participatory observations of healing sessions.
Seven healers used combinations of healing methods, nine healers practiced mainly psychic healing, eight practiced healing by hands, and seven by prayer, one healer used incantations. Of the healers that used prayer, two healers were Christian Science Practitioners. Christian Science is a faith community in which healing is considered to be a basic mission for practitioners.
The other healers related to different philosophies and religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism and also Shamanism. Very often healers related to a mixture of religions and philosophies. Perceived outcomes of the healing sessions were described by all clients, but also by many healers. They can generally be assigned to the following categories:.
The majority of the interviewed clients reported experiencing pleasant sensations and feelings during the healing treatments, as well as in the subsequent time after the treatment.
This was a consistent theme, irrespective of the type of healing treatment. Experiences of relaxation, inner peace, an increased feeling of harmony, inner balance and joy were most frequently reported.
The state of consciousness during healing was described by some clients as a dreamlike condition in which the sense of time gets lost. After the treatment, clients reported experiencing more internal strength and power, e.
Some clients reported changes that started with a treatment several years back, the results continued to persist until date. I totally opened myself, to my own abilities. I perceive myself to be authentic, no longer playing the role that I had played for a long time. Things that were important before, now no longer have any significance. Yes, it usually was the case that I felt happy when I went shopping, but this is no longer important to me.
A majority of the interviewed clients reported having changed their lives significantly after participating in healing treatments. A process of change was described by many clients that resulted in changing self-concepts, values and lifestyles. Many clients expressed that after the healing they realized how important it is to use their lifetime for a meaningful purpose instead of shopping, tv-watching, smoking or other consumer-activities.
Improving family life was an important topic in talks with the healers after the treatments for many clients. Many clients reported that healing treatments helped them to focus more on social relations and to enjoy family-life and friendships. Family life was reported to have changed for the better in many cases. Some clients also embarked on new career paths, others discovered religion and spirituality, or felt more connected with transcendent sources.
Clients and healers explained both that in the process of healing clients regain confidence in the meaningfulness of life, activate resources and are empowered to change.
Specifically, the ability to feel and give love, to let go, to accept, to make peace and to reconcile with the personal fate, family and friends was mentioned. The healers described this as a process in which clients become more aware of themselves and work on problems and difficulties in their actual life and biography. They take more responsibility for themselves, thus gaining control and the ability to change. I slept for the first time, without the usual … drugs. Most clients described an increase in general well-being as important outcome of the healing treatments.
Ameliorations of medical symptoms and disease e. Clients and healers, however, did not consider the medical outcomes as most important result of the healing treatments. Most healers had the opinion that an improvement of well-being and vitality are first signs of successful healing treatments.
If this happens, an improvement of medical symptoms should naturally follow. Most healers and many clients had explanations and built hypotheses on how the healing treatments might work. The described explanations can be summarized under the following categories:.
And … when the divine is not there to heal, then I can not heal. This is the force that breathes in every cell of your body. It is the intelligence that lets the entire galaxy dance, that they do not collide together … , the intelligence acts as above, but also works in you.
Acting always and everywhere. You are connecting and merging with something, everything flows together. Connecting clients and healers with transcendent sources to enhance healing was the most important explanation of how spiritual healing might work.
Connecting to transcendent sources in our study can be understood as a communication about an experience of transcendence beyond oneself , as referring to something that is not in the everyday consciousness of the here and now, or something that is not experienced as a genuine part of the self [ 16 ]. She called me in some distress.
I could not feel that she had any cancer left in her body, arranged quickly to give her more healing and asked her to be re-tested as soon as possible as she was naturally distraught at the idea that it had returned as a secondary cancer and in a less easily treatable place in those days.
When they re-tested they found that the cancer was not there. What is the best time to try Spiritual Healing? Would you say it is a time of the year or before milestones in one's life such as marriage or a new job? Generally, people come when they have a problem in their life that has unsettled them. I also treat many friends and co-workers who are without particular problems, and who just need a personal boost. It can give you terrific energy if you just need a little extra spring in your step!
Sometimes people do come when they anticipate issues that might arise—these are generally people who already have had some positive experience of healing. I am frequently consulted by politicians before future elections, for example. I myself believe that pre-emptive is better than curative, but, I don't think the time of year or a particular milestone is an essential factor. I do see people come at a particular time of year when they have anniversaries of trauma or bereavement as it is also helpful for them to honour or pass these occasions peacefully.
Does it help for partners or families to try Spiritual Healing together so they can share their experiences? Interesting question! I do in fact treat couples, and sometimes whole families. But in the first instance, I always see each individually, as in the example of a couple, it is often one partner that is causing a problem for the other, and it isn't always helpful to see them together.
Some of the treatment and healing is done while talking, and sometimes without words. In any case, I never discuss what I do with people, even between husband and wife. It is their prerogative to discuss freely with each other if they choose. Once they are at that point, I am happy to see them together as well as individually. What's new in the beauty industry?
Perfect manscaping tips for millennial men. When Shruti Haasan openly admitted to undergoing plastic surgery. How to care for your baby's skin the right way. The perfect beauty product for oily skin. See all results matching 'mub'. Health News Weight loss story: " I had the same meal for lunch and dinner to shed 27 kilos".
This high-protein food can increase your risk of prostate cancer by 70 per cent: study. Study reveals the best time to sleep for a healthy heart. Are you left brained or right brained? Weight loss: Things to do differently if your workout isn't giving you the expected results.
Weight loss: Can you build lean muscles without protein shakes and supplements? Finding it tough to exercise in the winters? Ways to boost your workout motivation and endurance. Exercises to build stronger muscles in your 40s and 50s. Can eating too many oranges lead to side effects? AVOID buying foods that have these words on the label. Yellow ghee vs white ghee: Which is healthier? Saffron may protect against cancer and 5 other health benefits to reap.
Nutritionist shares three drinks to combat the effect of pollution. We bet you are making these five common mistakes while having water. The type of abuse that is the most difficult to detect and heal from. Dementia vs Alzheimer's: What's the difference between the two mental health conditions. The 2-minute mental health workout to increase your productivity. Shared Psychotic Disorder: The explanation behind the Burari deaths.
Mars Transit into Libra: What each zodiac sign can expect. Ready to head back to theatres? How to stay safe while watching movies. The four most common weight loss myths. Weight loss story: " I did cardio and weight training 5 days to lose 44 kilos". Weight loss story: "At 28, I weighed more than my mother and this is how I lost weight".
0コメント