A Word on 'Psychic Healing"

Over the centuries, miraculous recoveries from illnesses have been associated with the work of God, saints, healers, shamans, witch doctors, and power spots. Depending on the circumstances, we describe these different forms of recovery with terms like psychic healing, spiritual healing, faith healing, laying-on-of-hands, etc. What's common to all these phenomena is that a person has recovered from illness or injury without the use of any known curative agents - whether physical or psychological. But the question to really address here is whether such healing really involves some paranormal element -- like some 'cosmic energy,' or a form of psychokinesis -- or whether, appearances notwithstanding, it can be attributed to more mundane factors.

The issue is very complex, actually, because people sometimes do recover even from extreme illnesses, apparently without any intervention whatsoever -- whether medical, psychological, or psychic; in medical vernacular, this is called 'spontaneous remission.' Beyond this, we also know that people have an enormous self-healing potential, given the right conditions. It's been known for some time now that many illnesses are at least partly caused by psychological and mental issues. More recently, medical science has come to also recognize that the mind can have a very beneficial influence on the body, as well. For example, many studies show that people who are hypnotized and given the right suggestions can rid themselves of warts, or resist skin poisoning when touched by plants like poison ivy, or even undergo dental operations and surgery without anesthesia.

Even in the absence of hypnosis or mental training, people can heal themselves of a specific ailment, simply because they believe that they will be cured by a drug. The well-known placebo is an inert chemical substance, like a sugar pill, which is typically prescribed by a physician as if it were a "real" medication, along with the standard reassurances that it will cure the illness or alleviate symptoms. Controlled studies examining the effects of this "white lie" are truly incredible.