Alterations in Random Event Measures Associated with a Healing Practice

Abstract

Objective:

To determine whether alterations in random events, as measured by a Random event generator (REG), occur in association with a bioenergy healing practice.

Design and setting:

Two REGs were set up and run in parallel: one in a bioenergy healer's office and another at a local library as a control. Two multiday sets of data were collected in each setting. A third set was collected in which a reduced amount of attention was placed on the REG by the healer. REG excursions were calculated and compared for (1) overall days in the library and bioenergy healer's office, (2) healing and nonhealing phases in the healing office, and (3) overall excursions during high(sets 1 and 2) and low attention (set 3) by the healer.

Results:

The library REG produced excursions outside the 95% confidence interval (CI) on 35 of 61 days (58%), and the REG in the healing practice 47 of 51 days (92%) (mean difference, 34%; 95% CI, 18% to 49%; χ² = 16.3, 1 df, p < 0.0005). In the healer's office, 0.6496 excursions per segment for healing phases and 0.6548 excursions per segment for nonhealing phases were shown (t = -1.3, 6794 df, p = 0.182). A comparison with chance expectation derived from Monte Carlo runs showed significantly less mean excursions per segment (t = -7.8, 36625 df, p < 0.0005) for healing phases and no difference in nonhealing phases (t = -0.16, 6309 df, p = 0.872). There was no significant difference in excursions between the high- and low-attention situations in the healing practice.

Conclusions:

In the presence of a healer, an REG produced greater than chance excursions more often than a control REG in a library setting. The healing and nonhealing phases demonstrated inconsistent results. REG deviations were not influenced by the amount of attention directed toward the machine.