Showing posts with label Deep Emotional Release. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deep Emotional Release. Show all posts
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Shamanic Energy Healer James Hyman: Shaman Or Shenanigans: The Emperors New Clothes
SHAMANIC HEALER OR SHAMANIC HYPE? The Emperor's New Clothes
James Hyman says his experiments reveal our natural power to heal based on our ability to sense and manipulate "shamanic energy" and "human energy fields."
Has he discovered scientific truths, or has he only demonstrated the human talent for self-deception?
James Hyman and his "practice manager" ex wife believe many things.
They believe in life after death, past life regression, and they believe that chanting mantras can heal you from anything and there is scientific evidence to support these beliefs.
Hyman is now focusing his powers of belief on a new field: "Shamanic Energy Healing" "Energy Healing" and "Energy Medicine."
On their new web site, located at the following URL; http://www.emotionalrelease.com , Barbara Hyman explains that we all emit "shamanic energy" and there are "human energy" fields."
Hyman believes that some amongst us (primarily her "genius" ex-husband, "shamanic healer," "qigong master" and "quantum theta" energy healer, James) can sense each other’s fields, and that healers can influence these fields to heal illnesses and injury.
She believes these are not just theories but scientifically supported facts.
The web site has numerous “gee-whiz” testimonials of supposed "shamanic healing" and energy healing (which are frankly not very convincing and could be easily outdone by any self-respecting purveyor of quack remedies).
She goes on to describe her ex-husband James Hyman's claims that he has the ability to detect and alter this purported "shamanic energy," "quantum theta" energy and human energy fields.
Throughout the web site she descends into blethering about quantum physics, the oneness of the universe, the connectedness of all things, and the possibility that "shamanic energy" or "quantum theta" energy awareness will solve all of mankind’s problems.
Although given scientific proof to the contrary, she is not deterred, she goes on to describe purported measurements of subtle human energy emissions, Kam Yuen's influence on human energy fields, the power of "The Secret," the healing power of "Qigong" (of which James is of course a "Master") among other phenomena of dubious reality or significance.
She makes a big deal of the fact that humans emit energy (of course we do, it is picked up by EKG, EEG, etc.), and she would like to think "shamanic healers" or "energy healers," especially her "genius" husband James can pick up that energy and decode it in the same way your radio picks up Rush Limbaugh out of the atmosphere.
And then she would like to think that "shamanic healers" and "energy healers" can send something back into the patient’s body to enable healing.
I know, I know, in this time of sever economic instability, budgetary crisis and nasty political bickering you would think Americans would be fed up with such nonsense, most are, but when it comes to the Hymans, you'd be wrong.
Barbara Hyman misses the crucial fact that there is information encoded in the electromagnetic waves your radio detects, but there is no reason to think there is any analogous information coming from the body, much less any way to change that information and send it back to produce healing.
I only wish we could use "shamanic healing" or “energy healing” on radio and TV waves to improve the quality of programming!
She makes a big deal of the fact that everything affects everything else.
She seems to mean this in a holistic, metaphysical, New Age, “the universe is one and is conscious and we can create our own health” sense.
Science recognizes that small events can have far-reaching effects, but that doesn’t mean one thing can predict or control another.
Theoretically, a change in the magnitude or position of your body mass will enter into the overall gravity equations of the universe, but that doesn’t mean one thing can control or predict another.
You could hardly expect to meaningfully influence someone out there beyond Alpha Centauri by losing ten or fifteen pounds (a practice of which Ms. Hyman might be better off practicing as opposed to constantly espousing the same drek over and over again).
You can’t expect to change the EEG of an astronaut in the Space Station by exercising to change your own EKG.
We are talking about very small influences.
If a gnat pushes an elephant, it’s not likely to fall over; it’s not likely to even notice.
And then there are inconvenient complications like quantum theory and chaos theory.
There is nothing of substance in these multiple free web sites. Indeed the mere fact that she has to repeat the same things over and over again on virtually every free forum offered on the Internet would render any intelligent being to recognize the obvious, i.e. she is attempting what is known in main stream scientific circles as; "Proof By Assertion.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_assertion
Proof by assertion, sometimes informally referred to as proof by repeated assertion, is a logical fallacy in which a proposition is repeatedly restated regardless of contradiction. Sometimes this may be repeated until challenges dry up, at which point it is asserted as fact due to its not being contradicted (argumentum ad nauseam).
In other cases its repetition may be cited as evidence of its truth, in a variant of the appeal to authority or appeal to belief fallacies.
The Hyman's claims lose credibility because they have never been in a controlled, double blind clinical study.
Nothing Ms. Hyman has ever written has been accepted for publication in mainstream peer-reviewed journals.
I feel sorry for James Hyman: he’s a smart guy, he means well, he really believes he has found something wonderful, but he has a blind spot and just doesn’t get it when others try to point out the flaws in his methods and reasoning.
To put the accusation of “politics” into perspective, consider the Helicobacter experiments. When researchers first suggested that ulcers might be caused by bacteria, they were laughed at.
They published their results, peer review had a field day, other labs looked into the idea, more data came in, results from various lines of research coalesced, and within a mere ten years it became standard practice to treat ulcers with antibiotics.
It didn’t matter that the idea sounded crazy at first; science responded to good evidence. (See Kimball C. Atwood IV, “Bacteria, Ulcers, and Ostracism,” Skeptical Inquirer, November/December 2004.)
If Hyman had evidence of equal quality, he would get an equal hearing by the scientific community.
A good scientist considers the entire body of available evidence, not just the claims of one group of researchers.
The Hyman's never bring up the fact that other experiments have directly contradicted their assertions.
They never get around to mentioning Emily Rosa’s landmark experiment, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998, which showed that therapeutic touch practitioners could not sense human energy fields as they claimed.
She tested twenty-one experienced practitioners of therapeutic touch.1
They all thought they could detect Rosa’s human energy field and feel whether she was holding her hand over their right or left hand, but when they were prevented from seeing where her hand was, their performance was no better than chance.
Rosa was nine years old at the time, and the article grew out of her school science fair project.
The experiment was beautiful in its simplicity.
Adult true believers had published much research on the techniques and effects of therapeutic touch, but in the true spirit of childlike questioning, Rosa went back to basics and asked the crucial question:
“Is the phenomenon itself real?
Can they really feel something or is it possible they are fooling themselves?”
Amazingly, no researcher had ever asked that question before.
They had ignored one of the basic principles of the scientific method as explained by Karl Popper: it’s easy to find confirmation for any hypothesis, but every genuine test of a hypothesis is an attempt to falsify it.
Emily Rosa's experiment is dismissed by other so called "shamanic healers," "energy healers," or 'therapeutic touch' practitioners as having five “potential problems”:
1. It was a science-fair project done by a young girl.
2. She was the only experimenter.
3. She randomized by flipping a coin, which he calls “an unreliable procedure.”
4. One of the authors was the founder of Quackwatch.
5. The subjects did worse than chance.
These objections are just silly; they are either inaccurate or are ad hominem attacks:
1.It shouldn’t make any difference whether Rosa was a young girl or an old man or a sentient purple octopus from an alien planet.
It shouldn’t matter whether she did the experiment for an elementary school project, a doctoral dissertation, a Coca Cola commercial, or a government grant.
What matters is the quality of the evidence. In this case, her project was well designed and executed, had clearly significant findings, and was of high enough quality to be approved for publication in a prestigious peer-reviewed medical journal.
2.She was not the only experimenter.
Others were involved; the experiment was repeated under expert supervision on Scientific American Frontiers.
This should preclude any accusations of deliberate cheating or inadvertent failure to follow the protocol properly.
Rosa was the only one to carry out the trials, but what would multiple testers have added to the experiment?
The results didn’t depend on any special ability or quality of hers, but on the ability of the subjects who claimed they could sense anyone’s energy fields.
For the televised trials, they even got to “feel” the “shamanic energy” from each of Rosa’s hands and choose which one they wanted her to use in the trials.
About half chose her left hand and half her right.
No one objected, “I can’t feel shamanic energy from either hand.”
3.Flipping a coin is not an “unreliable procedure”—unless the flipper is deliberately cheating.
The number of heads and tails was approximately equal, and the distribution appeared random. The editors of JAMA found the method acceptable.
There are situations where coin-flipping could legitimately be criticized, for instance in psi experiments where researchers are looking for minuscule differences in large bodies of data and even their computerized random number generators have been criticized for not being “perfectly” random.
But in this experiment, the results were clearly significant; it is hard to envision how a different method of randomization could have altered the results. The coin flip was only used to determine which of the subject’s hands she would hold her hand over.
The subjects claimed to be able to sense "shamanic energy" fields with either hand, so it shouldn’t have made a bit of difference to their perception.
Faulty randomization might have allowed the subjects to perceive a pattern and guess, which would have tended to give false positive results rather than the negative results Rosa got.
4. One of the authors, the founder of Quackwatch, was admittedly skeptical of therapeutic touch. Yes, someone with possible bias was indirectly involved in the experiment. If that is an objection, there is an even greater objection to Hyman's own examples: he and his colleagues are all strongly biased toward belief in "shamanic energy" phenomena and they were directly involved in their experiences as told by "testimonials" on their web sites.
"Testimonials" are personal accounts of someone's experiences with a therapy.
They are generally subjective:
"I felt better,"
"I had more energy,"
"I wasn't as nauseated,"
"The pain went away," and so on.
Testimonials are inherently selective.
People are much more likely to talk about their "amazing shamanic cure" than about something that didn't work for them.
The proponents of "alternative" methods like Barbara & James Hyman's so called "shamanic energy healing" can, of course, pick which testimonials they use.
For example, let's suppose that if 100 people are sick, 50 of them will recover on their own even if they do nothing.
So, if all 100 people use a certain therapy, say James Hyman's "shamanic energy" healing, half will get better even if the treatment doesn't do anything.
These people could say "I took a 'shamanic energy healing' therapy session with 'shamanic healer' James Hyman & my disease went away!"
This would be completely honest, even though the therapy had done nothing for them.
So, testimonials are useless for judging treatment effectiveness.
For all we know, those giving the testimonial might be the only people who felt better.
Or, suppose that of 100 patients trying a therapy, 10 experienced no change, 85 felt worse, and 5 felt better.
The five who improved could quite honestly say that they felt better, even though nearly everyone who tried the remedy stayed the same or got worse!
5. It is simply not true that the subjects did “worse than chance.”
Their performance was consistent with chance.
If they had done worse than chance (significantly worse) that would have tended to support Hyman’s claim that some kind of "shamanic energy" effect was present, even though it would have been the reverse of what he claimed to find.
In my opinion, none of these “problems” invalidates the conclusion that the therapeutic touch practitioners failed to do what they claimed they could do.
And if they think these were valid problems, why didn’t they simply repeat her experiment in their own lab with multiple experimenters and a more reliable method of randomization?
Why won't Hyman come forward and accept MY CHALLENGE?
I HAVE A STANDING OFFER OF TO HYMAN OR ANY OTHER "SHAMANIC HEALER": ANYTIME, ANY ONE OF THEM CAN PROVE THE PRESENCE OF "SHAMANIC ENERGY" OR "QUANTUM THETA" ENERGY OR WHATEVER THEY MAY BE CALLING IT THIS WEEK,...PROVE IT.....SCIENTIFICALLY....AND WALK AWAY WITH THE MONEY!.....PERIOD......WHAT THEY ARE PROFESSING AMOUNTS TO A HUMAN ENERGY FIELD....IF IT IS SUCH AMAZING SCIENCE WHY HAS NO ONE TAKEN ME UP ON MY OFFER?
In reality, Nine year old Emily Rosa’s experiment was a great example of a young child being able to see more clearly than prejudiced adults—a real “Emperor’s New Clothes” story.
If a rigorous scientist thought he had found evidence that people could detect “human energy fields,” he would maintain a healthy skepticism; he would immediately try to prove himself wrong, and he would enlist his colleagues to help show him where he might have gone wrong.
He would try to rule out all other possible explanations (the subject might be sensing heat, sound, motion, air currents, might be able to see under the blindfold, etc.).
If the phenomenon proved robust, he would try to refine his understanding by doing things like varying the distance to see if it obeyed the inverse square law and interposing a sheet of cardboard or glass to see if the effect could be blocked.
Then he would try to use instruments to measure what kind of energy was being sensed.
When a believer thinks they have found something to justify their belief, their approach tends to be less rigorous.
What about “if there is no convincing science or plausible mechanism to support them, let’s stop wasting our time chasing moonbeams”?
All of energy medicine hinges on one basic claim: that people can detect subtle human energy fields.
If the Hyman's are wrong about that, the rest of the claims for so-called “energy medicine” fizzle away.
If they don't trust my credibility regarding the $50,000.00 prize, since 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) has offered a substantial reward (currently $1,000,000) to anyone who can demonstrate an ability to detect a "shamanic energy field," or “human energy field” under conditions similar to those of Rosa’s study.
Of the more than 80,000 American therapeutic touch practitioners who claim to have such ability, only one person attempted to demonstrate it.
She failed.
Miserably!
The JREF challenge is admittedly not a definitive scientific test, but prudence would seem to dictate that if no one can even meet this simple challenge, we shouldn’t be wasting research money on what is probably a myth.
Others have attempted to establish the “science” of "shamanic energy" or energy medicine and have failed.
Even the National Association Of Alternative Medicine (NAAM), which is willing to consider almost any possibility in alternative medicine, is skeptical.
It distinguishes between real energy (sound waves, electromagnetism, and other energies measurable by physicists) and the kind of “putative” energy Hyman is trying to validate.
It concludes that the “putative” energy approaches “are among the most controversial of CAM practices because neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means.”
Another proponent of 'energy healing' Gary Schwartz sounds like a scientist.
He tries to talk the talk and walk the walk.
He even makes some skeptical noises to try to convince us he is objective.
But there is also a lot of very unscientific language in his written work.
For instance:
Human rage and pain, especially generated by terrorism and war, create a global energetic climate whose negative effects can extend from the physical and environmental—potentially including climate—to the psychological and ultimately spiritual. . . . [P]ollution is not simply chemical, it is ultimately energy based and therefore conscious as well.
Really?
Conscious pollution?
So maybe if we talk nice to pollution it will cooperate and go away?
Or should we try doing Reiki to lower the atmospheric CO2 levels?
Does Al Gore know about this?
"Shamanic Energy, and all other types of "“Energy Medicine's are an emperor whose new clothes still look awfully transparent to critical thinkers and to the scientific community no matter what glorious colors and fabrics Hyman or Schwartz and their colleagues imagine they are seeing.
Pseudoscience
Since most people have never studied quantum physics they do not understand why these sham ideas are a perversion of it - in fact, this relies on people thinking that quantum mechanics is "too hard" or "only for scientists" in order for the scams to work and stop people questioning them.
People do, however, recognize that quantum physics says that nanoscale reality is very different from what we know, and perhaps some pop science authors can take some blame for this. Concepts such as "non-locality" or "quantum probability waves" or "uncertainty principle" have become social memes of a kind where people inherently recognize that something "strange" is going on.
Practitioners of fraudulent and silly ideas like the Hyman's can tap into this feeling of mystery to push their sham concepts. i.e: "Shamanic Energy" Healing or “Quantum Theta Energy Healing.”
Notes:
1. “Therapeutic touch” is a bit of a misnomer because these practitioners don’t actually touch but simply massage the air a few inches from the patient’s body.
They are convinced that they are detecting and manipulating the "shamanic energy field," balancing and smoothing it, and correcting any abnormalities, thus allowing the body to heal itself.
2.Hall, H. 2005. A review of Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis. Skeptic 11(3): 89–93. Available at quackfiles.blogspot.com.
3. Halprin, R 2011, Quackwatch 4/13/11 Undercover Investigation Of Quantum Theta Energy Healing
4. Quantum Flux,
5. Quantum Stirwand
Quantum Therapy
Quantum healing
Quantum biofeedback
Shoo!Tag
6. The Dancing Wu Li Masters (William Morrow & Co., 1979, ISBN 0553249142)
7. The Tao of Physics (Shambhala Publications, 1975, ISBN 1570625190)
8. Reviewer Jeremy Bernstein of the New Yorker Magazine, quoted by Martin Gardner in a 1979 review for Newsday, described Zukav's and Capra's physics by saying "A physicist reading these books might feel like someone on a familiar street who finds that all the old houses have suddenly turned mauve."
9. http://www.emotionalrelease.com/ (The Hyman Hawking Hype Web Site)
11. http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=229
12. http://www.quantumagewater.eu/contents/en-us/d1.html
13. http://www.quantumtherapy.net/
14. http://www.newscientist.com/special/seven-wonders-of-the-quantum-world
References:
· Rosa, L., E. Rosa, L. Sarner, and S. Barrett. 1998. A close look at therapeutic touch. Journal of the American Medical Association. 279:1005–1010. Schwartz, Gary E., with William L. Simon. 2007. The Energy Healing Experiments: Science Reveals Our Natural Power to Heal. New York: Atria Books.
Thanks To Harriet Hall M.D. (The SkepDoc) For The Template & Partial Content ; http://www.skepdoc.org
James Hyman's Deep Emotional Release Bodywork: The Emperors New Clothes?
JAMES HYMAN'S DEEP EMOTIONAL RELEASE BODYWORK: SHAMANIC HEALER OR SHAMANIC HYPE?
The Emperor's New Clothes
James Hyman says his experiments reveal our natural power to heal based on our ability to sense and manipulate "shamanic energy" and "human energy fields."
Has he discovered scientific truths, or has he only demonstrated the human talent for self-deception?
James Hyman and his "practice manager" ex wife believe many things.
They believe in life after death, past life regression, and they believe that chanting mantras can heal you from anything and there is scientific evidence to support these beliefs.
Hyman is now focusing his powers of belief on a new field: "Shamanic Energy Healing" "Energy Healing" and "Energy Medicine." as well as rehashing an old field from the 1990's "Deep Emotional Release Bodywork!"
On their new web site, located at the following URL; http://www.emotionalrelease.com , Barbara Hyman explains that we all emit "shamanic energy" and there are "human energy" fields."
Hyman believes that some amongst us (primarily her "genius" ex-husband, "shamanic energy healer," "qigong master" and "quantum theta" energy healer, James) can sense each other’s fields, and that healers can influence these fields to heal illnesses and injury.
She believes these are not just theories but scientifically supported facts.
The web site has numerous “gee-whiz” testimonials of supposed "shamanic healing" and energy healing (which are frankly not very convincing and could be easily outdone by any self-respecting purveyor of quack remedies).
She goes on to describe her ex-husband James Hyman's claims that he has the ability to detect and alter this purported "shamanic energy," "quantum theta" energy and human energy fields.
Throughout the web site she descends into blethering about quantum physics, the oneness of the universe, the connectedness of all things, and the possibility that "shamanic energy" or "quantum theta" energy awareness will solve all of mankind’s problems.
Although given scientific proof to the contrary, she is not deterred, she goes on to describe purported measurements of subtle human energy emissions, Kam Yuen's influence on human energy fields, the power of "The Secret," the healing power of "Qigong" (of which James is of course a "Master") among other phenomena of dubious reality or significance.
She makes a big deal of the fact that humans emit energy (of course we do, it is picked up by EKG, EEG, etc.), and she would like to think "shamanic healers" or "energy healers," especially her "genius" husband James can pick up that energy and decode it in the same way your radio picks up Rush Limbaugh out of the atmosphere.
And then she would like to think that "shamanic healers" and "energy healers" can send something back into the patient’s body to enable healing.
I know, I know, in this time of sever economic instability, budgetary crisis and nasty political bickering you would think Americans would be fed up with such nonsense, most are, but when it comes to the Hymans, you'd be wrong.
Barbara Hyman misses the crucial fact that there is information encoded in the electromagnetic waves your radio detects, but there is no reason to think there is any analogous information coming from the body, much less any way to change that information and send it back to produce healing.
I only wish we could use "shamanic healing" or “energy healing” on radio and TV waves to improve the quality of programming!
She makes a big deal of the fact that everything affects everything else.
She seems to mean this in a holistic, metaphysical, New Age, “the universe is one and is conscious and we can create our own health” sense.
Science recognizes that small events can have far-reaching effects, but that doesn’t mean one thing can predict or control another.
Theoretically, a change in the magnitude or position of your body mass will enter into the overall gravity equations of the universe, but that doesn’t mean one thing can control or predict another.
You could hardly expect to meaningfully influence someone out there beyond Alpha Centauri by losing ten or fifteen pounds (a practice of which Ms. Hyman might be better off practicing as opposed to constantly espousing the same drek over and over again).
You can’t expect to change the EEG of an astronaut in the Space Station by exercising to change your own EKG.
We are talking about very small influences.
If a gnat pushes an elephant, it’s not likely to fall over; it’s not likely to even notice.
And then there are inconvenient complications like quantum theory and chaos theory.
There is nothing of substance in these multiple free web sites.
Indeed the mere fact that she has to repeat the same things over and over again on virtually every free forum offered on the Internet would render any intelligent being to recognize the obvious, i.e. she is attempting what is known in main stream scientific circles as; "Proof By Assertion.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_assertion
Proof by assertion, sometimes informally referred to as proof by repeated assertion, is a logical fallacy in which a proposition is repeatedly restated regardless of contradiction.
Sometimes this may be repeated until challenges dry up, at which point it is asserted as fact due to its not being contradicted (argumentum ad nauseam).
In other cases its repetition may be cited as evidence of its truth, in a variant of the appeal to authority or appeal to belief fallacies.
The Hyman's claims lose credibility because they have never been in a controlled, double blind clinical study.
Nothing Ms. Hyman has ever written has been accepted for publication in mainstream peer-reviewed journals.
I feel sorry for James Hyman: he’s a smart guy, he means well, he really believes he has found something wonderful, but he has a blind spot and just doesn’t get it when others try to point out the flaws in his methods and reasoning.
To put the accusation of “politics” into perspective, consider the Helicobacter experiments.
When researchers first suggested that ulcers might be caused by bacteria, they were laughed at.
They published their results, peer review had a field day, other labs looked into the idea, more data came in, results from various lines of research coalesced, and within a mere ten years it became standard practice to treat ulcers with antibiotics.
It didn’t matter that the idea sounded crazy at first; science responded to good evidence. (See Kimball C. Atwood IV, “Bacteria, Ulcers, and Ostracism,” Skeptical Inquirer, November/December 2004.)
If Hyman had evidence of equal quality, he would get an equal hearing by the scientific community.
A good scientist considers the entire body of available evidence, not just the claims of one group of researchers.
The Hyman's never bring up the fact that other experiments have directly contradicted their assertions.
They never get around to mentioning Emily Rosa’s landmark experiment, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998, which showed that therapeutic touch practitioners could not sense human energy fields as they claimed.
She tested twenty-one experienced practitioners of therapeutic touch.1
They all thought they could detect Rosa’s human energy field and feel whether she was holding her hand over their right or left hand, but when they were prevented from seeing where her hand was, their performance was no better than chance.
Rosa was nine years old at the time, and the article grew out of her school science fair project.
The experiment was beautiful in its simplicity.
Adult true believers had published much research on the techniques and effects of therapeutic touch, but in the true spirit of childlike questioning, Rosa went back to basics and asked the crucial question:
“Is the phenomenon itself real?
Can they really feel something or is it possible they are fooling themselves?”
Amazingly, no researcher had ever asked that question before.
They had ignored one of the basic principles of the scientific method as explained by Karl Popper: it’s easy to find confirmation for any hypothesis, but every genuine test of a hypothesis is an attempt to falsify it.
Emily Rosa's experiment is dismissed by other so called "shamanic healers," "energy healers," or 'therapeutic touch' practitioners as having five “potential problems”:
1. It was a science-fair project done by a young girl.
2. She was the only experimenter.
3. She randomized by flipping a coin, which he calls “an unreliable procedure.”
4. One of the authors was the founder of Quackwatch.
5. The subjects did worse than chance.
These objections are just silly; they are either inaccurate or are ad hominem attacks:
1.It shouldn’t make any difference whether Rosa was a young girl or an old man or a sentient purple octopus from an alien planet.
It shouldn’t matter whether she did the experiment for an elementary school project, a doctoral dissertation, a Coca Cola commercial, or a government grant.
What matters is the quality of the evidence. In this case, her project was well designed and executed, had clearly significant findings, and was of high enough quality to be approved for publication in a prestigious peer-reviewed medical journal.
2.She was not the only experimenter.
Others were involved; the experiment was repeated under expert supervision on Scientific American Frontiers.
This should preclude any accusations of deliberate cheating or inadvertent failure to follow the protocol properly.
Rosa was the only one to carry out the trials, but what would multiple testers have added to the experiment?
The results didn’t depend on any special ability or quality of hers, but on the ability of the subjects who claimed they could sense anyone’s energy fields.
For the televised trials, they even got to “feel” the “shamanic energy” from each of Rosa’s hands and choose which one they wanted her to use in the trials.
About half chose her left hand and half her right.
No one objected, “I can’t feel shamanic energy from either hand.”
3.Flipping a coin is not an “unreliable procedure”—unless the flipper is deliberately cheating.
The number of heads and tails was approximately equal, and the distribution appeared random. The editors of JAMA found the method acceptable.
There are situations where coin-flipping could legitimately be criticized, for instance in psi experiments where researchers are looking for minuscule differences in large bodies of data and even their computerized random number generators have been criticized for not being “perfectly” random.
But in this experiment, the results were clearly significant; it is hard to envision how a different method of randomization could have altered the results. The coin flip was only used to determine which of the subject’s hands she would hold her hand over.
The subjects claimed to be able to sense "shamanic energy" fields with either hand, so it shouldn’t have made a bit of difference to their perception.
Faulty randomization might have allowed the subjects to perceive a pattern and guess, which would have tended to give false positive results rather than the negative results Rosa got.
4. One of the authors, the founder of Quackwatch, was admittedly skeptical of therapeutic touch. Yes, someone with possible bias was indirectly involved in the experiment. If that is an objection, there is an even greater objection to Hyman's own examples: he and his colleagues are all strongly biased toward belief in "shamanic energy" phenomena and they were directly involved in their experiences as told by "testimonials" on their web sites.
"Testimonials" are personal accounts of someone's experiences with a therapy.
They are generally subjective:
"I felt better,"
"I had more energy,"
"I wasn't as nauseated,"
"The pain went away," and so on.
Testimonials are inherently selective.
People are much more likely to talk about their "amazing shamanic cure" than about something that didn't work for them.
The proponents of "alternative" methods like Barbara & James Hyman's so called "shamanic energy healing" can, of course, pick which testimonials they use.
For example, let's suppose that if 100 people are sick, 50 of them will recover on their own even if they do nothing.
So, if all 100 people use a certain therapy, say James Hyman's "shamanic energy" healing, half will get better even if the treatment doesn't do anything.
These people could say "I took a 'shamanic energy healing' therapy session with 'shamanic healer' James Hyman & my disease went away!"
This would be completely honest, even though the therapy had done nothing for them.
So, testimonials are useless for judging treatment effectiveness.
For all we know, those giving the testimonial might be the only people who felt better.
Or, suppose that of 100 patients trying a therapy, 10 experienced no change, 85 felt worse, and 5 felt better.
The five who improved could quite honestly say that they felt better, even though nearly everyone who tried the remedy stayed the same or got worse!
5. It is simply not true that the subjects did “worse than chance.”
Their performance was consistent with chance.
If they had done worse than chance (significantly worse) that would have tended to support Hyman’s claim that some kind of "shamanic energy" effect was present, even though it would have been the reverse of what he claimed to find.
In my opinion, none of these “problems” invalidates the conclusion that the therapeutic touch practitioners failed to do what they claimed they could do.
And if they think these were valid problems, why didn’t they simply repeat her experiment in their own lab with multiple experimenters and a more reliable method of randomization?
Why won't Hyman come forward and accept MY CHALLENGE?
I HAVE A STANDING OFFER OF TO HYMAN OR ANY OTHER "SHAMANIC HEALER": ANYTIME, ANY ONE OF THEM CAN PROVE THE PRESENCE OF "SHAMANIC ENERGY" OR "QUANTUM THETA" ENERGY OR WHATEVER THEY MAY BE CALLING IT THIS WEEK,...PROVE IT.....SCIENTIFICALLY....AND WALK AWAY WITH THE MONEY!.....PERIOD......WHAT THEY ARE PROFESSING AMOUNTS TO A HUMAN ENERGY FIELD....IF IT IS SUCH AMAZING SCIENCE WHY HAS NO ONE TAKEN ME UP ON MY OFFER?
In reality, Nine year old Emily Rosa’s experiment was a great example of a young child being able to see more clearly than prejudiced adults—a real “Emperor’s New Clothes” story.
If a rigorous scientist thought he had found evidence that people could detect “human energy fields,” he would maintain a healthy skepticism; he would immediately try to prove himself wrong, and he would enlist his colleagues to help show him where he might have gone wrong.
He would try to rule out all other possible explanations (the subject might be sensing heat, sound, motion, air currents, might be able to see under the blindfold, etc.).
If the phenomenon proved robust, he would try to refine his understanding by doing things like varying the distance to see if it obeyed the inverse square law and interposing a sheet of cardboard or glass to see if the effect could be blocked.
Then he would try to use instruments to measure what kind of energy was being sensed.
When a believer thinks they have found something to justify their belief, their approach tends to be less rigorous.
What about “if there is no convincing science or plausible mechanism to support them, let’s stop wasting our time chasing moonbeams”?
All of energy medicine hinges on one basic claim: that people can detect subtle human energy fields.
If the Hyman's are wrong about that, the rest of the claims for so-called “energy medicine” fizzle away.
If they don't trust my credibility regarding the $50,000.00 prize, since 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) has offered a substantial reward (currently $1,000,000) to anyone who can demonstrate an ability to detect a "shamanic energy field," or “human energy field” under conditions similar to those of Rosa’s study.
Of the more than 80,000 American therapeutic touch practitioners who claim to have such ability, only one person attempted to demonstrate it.
She failed.
Miserably!
The JREF challenge is admittedly not a definitive scientific test, but prudence would seem to dictate that if no one can even meet this simple challenge, we shouldn’t be wasting research money on what is probably a myth.
Others have attempted to establish the “science” of "shamanic energy" or energy medicine and have failed.
Even the National Association Of Alternative Medicine (NAAM), which is willing to consider almost any possibility in alternative medicine, is skeptical.
It distinguishes between real energy (sound waves, electromagnetism, and other energies measurable by physicists) and the kind of “putative” energy Hyman is trying to validate.
It concludes that the “putative” energy approaches “are among the most controversial of CAM practices because neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means.”
Another proponent of 'energy healing' Gary Schwartz sounds like a scientist.
He tries to talk the talk and walk the walk.
He even makes some skeptical noises to try to convince us he is objective.
But there is also a lot of very unscientific language in his written work.
For instance:
Human rage and pain, especially generated by terrorism and war, create a global energetic climate whose negative effects can extend from the physical and environmental—potentially including climate—to the psychological and ultimately spiritual. . . . [P]ollution is not simply chemical, it is ultimately energy based and therefore conscious as well.
Really?
Conscious pollution?
So maybe if we talk nice to pollution it will cooperate and go away?
Or should we try doing Reiki to lower the atmospheric CO2 levels?
Does Al Gore know about this?
"Shamanic Energy, and all other types of "“Energy Medicine's are an emperor whose new clothes still look awfully transparent to critical thinkers and to the scientific community no matter what glorious colors and fabrics Hyman or Schwartz and their colleagues imagine they are seeing.
Pseudoscience
Since most people have never studied quantum physics they do not understand why these sham ideas are a perversion of it - in fact, this relies on people thinking that quantum mechanics is "too hard" or "only for scientists" in order for the scams to work and stop people questioning them.
People do, however, recognize that quantum physics says that nanoscale reality is very different from what we know, and perhaps some pop science authors can take some blame for this. Concepts such as "non-locality" or "quantum probability waves" or "uncertainty principle" have become social memes of a kind where people inherently recognize that something "strange" is going on.
Practitioners of fraudulent and silly ideas like the Hyman's can tap into this feeling of mystery to push their sham concepts. i.e: "Shamanic Energy" Healing or “Quantum Theta Energy Healing.”
Notes:
1. “Therapeutic touch” is a bit of a misnomer because these practitioners don’t actually touch but simply massage the air a few inches from the patient’s body.
They are convinced that they are detecting and manipulating the "shamanic energy field," balancing and smoothing it, and correcting any abnormalities, thus allowing the body to heal itself.
2.Hall, H. 2005. A review of Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis. Skeptic 11(3): 89–93. Available at quackfiles.blogspot.com.
3. Halprin, R 2011, Quackwatch 4/13/11 Undercover Investigation Of Quantum Theta Energy Healing
4. Quantum Flux,
5. Quantum Stirwand
Quantum Therapy
Quantum healing
Quantum biofeedback
Shoo!Tag
6. The Dancing Wu Li Masters (William Morrow & Co., 1979, ISBN 0553249142)
7. The Tao of Physics (Shambhala Publications, 1975, ISBN 1570625190)
8. Reviewer Jeremy Bernstein of the New Yorker Magazine, quoted by Martin Gardner in a 1979 review for Newsday, described Zukav's and Capra's physics by saying "A physicist reading these books might feel like someone on a familiar street who finds that all the old houses have suddenly turned mauve."
9. http://www.emotionalrelease.com/ (The Hyman Hawking Hype Web Site)
11. http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=229
12. http://www.quantumagewater.eu/contents/en-us/d1.html
13. http://www.quantumtherapy.net/
14. http://www.newscientist.com/special/seven-wonders-of-the-quantum-world
References:
· Rosa, L., E. Rosa, L. Sarner, and S. Barrett. 1998. A close look at therapeutic touch. Journal of the American Medical Association. 279:1005–1010. Schwartz, Gary E., with William L. Simon. 2007. The Energy Healing Experiments: Science Reveals Our Natural Power to Heal. New York: Atria Books.
Thanks To Harriet Hall M.D. (The SkepDoc) For The Template & Partial Content ; http://www.skepdoc.org
The Emperor's New Clothes
James Hyman says his experiments reveal our natural power to heal based on our ability to sense and manipulate "shamanic energy" and "human energy fields."
Has he discovered scientific truths, or has he only demonstrated the human talent for self-deception?
James Hyman and his "practice manager" ex wife believe many things.
They believe in life after death, past life regression, and they believe that chanting mantras can heal you from anything and there is scientific evidence to support these beliefs.
Hyman is now focusing his powers of belief on a new field: "Shamanic Energy Healing" "Energy Healing" and "Energy Medicine." as well as rehashing an old field from the 1990's "Deep Emotional Release Bodywork!"
On their new web site, located at the following URL; http://www.emotionalrelease.com , Barbara Hyman explains that we all emit "shamanic energy" and there are "human energy" fields."
Hyman believes that some amongst us (primarily her "genius" ex-husband, "shamanic energy healer," "qigong master" and "quantum theta" energy healer, James) can sense each other’s fields, and that healers can influence these fields to heal illnesses and injury.
She believes these are not just theories but scientifically supported facts.
The web site has numerous “gee-whiz” testimonials of supposed "shamanic healing" and energy healing (which are frankly not very convincing and could be easily outdone by any self-respecting purveyor of quack remedies).
She goes on to describe her ex-husband James Hyman's claims that he has the ability to detect and alter this purported "shamanic energy," "quantum theta" energy and human energy fields.
Throughout the web site she descends into blethering about quantum physics, the oneness of the universe, the connectedness of all things, and the possibility that "shamanic energy" or "quantum theta" energy awareness will solve all of mankind’s problems.
Although given scientific proof to the contrary, she is not deterred, she goes on to describe purported measurements of subtle human energy emissions, Kam Yuen's influence on human energy fields, the power of "The Secret," the healing power of "Qigong" (of which James is of course a "Master") among other phenomena of dubious reality or significance.
She makes a big deal of the fact that humans emit energy (of course we do, it is picked up by EKG, EEG, etc.), and she would like to think "shamanic healers" or "energy healers," especially her "genius" husband James can pick up that energy and decode it in the same way your radio picks up Rush Limbaugh out of the atmosphere.
And then she would like to think that "shamanic healers" and "energy healers" can send something back into the patient’s body to enable healing.
I know, I know, in this time of sever economic instability, budgetary crisis and nasty political bickering you would think Americans would be fed up with such nonsense, most are, but when it comes to the Hymans, you'd be wrong.
Barbara Hyman misses the crucial fact that there is information encoded in the electromagnetic waves your radio detects, but there is no reason to think there is any analogous information coming from the body, much less any way to change that information and send it back to produce healing.
I only wish we could use "shamanic healing" or “energy healing” on radio and TV waves to improve the quality of programming!
She makes a big deal of the fact that everything affects everything else.
She seems to mean this in a holistic, metaphysical, New Age, “the universe is one and is conscious and we can create our own health” sense.
Science recognizes that small events can have far-reaching effects, but that doesn’t mean one thing can predict or control another.
Theoretically, a change in the magnitude or position of your body mass will enter into the overall gravity equations of the universe, but that doesn’t mean one thing can control or predict another.
You could hardly expect to meaningfully influence someone out there beyond Alpha Centauri by losing ten or fifteen pounds (a practice of which Ms. Hyman might be better off practicing as opposed to constantly espousing the same drek over and over again).
You can’t expect to change the EEG of an astronaut in the Space Station by exercising to change your own EKG.
We are talking about very small influences.
If a gnat pushes an elephant, it’s not likely to fall over; it’s not likely to even notice.
And then there are inconvenient complications like quantum theory and chaos theory.
There is nothing of substance in these multiple free web sites.
Indeed the mere fact that she has to repeat the same things over and over again on virtually every free forum offered on the Internet would render any intelligent being to recognize the obvious, i.e. she is attempting what is known in main stream scientific circles as; "Proof By Assertion.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_assertion
Proof by assertion, sometimes informally referred to as proof by repeated assertion, is a logical fallacy in which a proposition is repeatedly restated regardless of contradiction.
Sometimes this may be repeated until challenges dry up, at which point it is asserted as fact due to its not being contradicted (argumentum ad nauseam).
In other cases its repetition may be cited as evidence of its truth, in a variant of the appeal to authority or appeal to belief fallacies.
The Hyman's claims lose credibility because they have never been in a controlled, double blind clinical study.
Nothing Ms. Hyman has ever written has been accepted for publication in mainstream peer-reviewed journals.
I feel sorry for James Hyman: he’s a smart guy, he means well, he really believes he has found something wonderful, but he has a blind spot and just doesn’t get it when others try to point out the flaws in his methods and reasoning.
To put the accusation of “politics” into perspective, consider the Helicobacter experiments.
When researchers first suggested that ulcers might be caused by bacteria, they were laughed at.
They published their results, peer review had a field day, other labs looked into the idea, more data came in, results from various lines of research coalesced, and within a mere ten years it became standard practice to treat ulcers with antibiotics.
It didn’t matter that the idea sounded crazy at first; science responded to good evidence. (See Kimball C. Atwood IV, “Bacteria, Ulcers, and Ostracism,” Skeptical Inquirer, November/December 2004.)
If Hyman had evidence of equal quality, he would get an equal hearing by the scientific community.
A good scientist considers the entire body of available evidence, not just the claims of one group of researchers.
The Hyman's never bring up the fact that other experiments have directly contradicted their assertions.
They never get around to mentioning Emily Rosa’s landmark experiment, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998, which showed that therapeutic touch practitioners could not sense human energy fields as they claimed.
She tested twenty-one experienced practitioners of therapeutic touch.1
They all thought they could detect Rosa’s human energy field and feel whether she was holding her hand over their right or left hand, but when they were prevented from seeing where her hand was, their performance was no better than chance.
Rosa was nine years old at the time, and the article grew out of her school science fair project.
The experiment was beautiful in its simplicity.
Adult true believers had published much research on the techniques and effects of therapeutic touch, but in the true spirit of childlike questioning, Rosa went back to basics and asked the crucial question:
“Is the phenomenon itself real?
Can they really feel something or is it possible they are fooling themselves?”
Amazingly, no researcher had ever asked that question before.
They had ignored one of the basic principles of the scientific method as explained by Karl Popper: it’s easy to find confirmation for any hypothesis, but every genuine test of a hypothesis is an attempt to falsify it.
Emily Rosa's experiment is dismissed by other so called "shamanic healers," "energy healers," or 'therapeutic touch' practitioners as having five “potential problems”:
1. It was a science-fair project done by a young girl.
2. She was the only experimenter.
3. She randomized by flipping a coin, which he calls “an unreliable procedure.”
4. One of the authors was the founder of Quackwatch.
5. The subjects did worse than chance.
These objections are just silly; they are either inaccurate or are ad hominem attacks:
1.It shouldn’t make any difference whether Rosa was a young girl or an old man or a sentient purple octopus from an alien planet.
It shouldn’t matter whether she did the experiment for an elementary school project, a doctoral dissertation, a Coca Cola commercial, or a government grant.
What matters is the quality of the evidence. In this case, her project was well designed and executed, had clearly significant findings, and was of high enough quality to be approved for publication in a prestigious peer-reviewed medical journal.
2.She was not the only experimenter.
Others were involved; the experiment was repeated under expert supervision on Scientific American Frontiers.
This should preclude any accusations of deliberate cheating or inadvertent failure to follow the protocol properly.
Rosa was the only one to carry out the trials, but what would multiple testers have added to the experiment?
The results didn’t depend on any special ability or quality of hers, but on the ability of the subjects who claimed they could sense anyone’s energy fields.
For the televised trials, they even got to “feel” the “shamanic energy” from each of Rosa’s hands and choose which one they wanted her to use in the trials.
About half chose her left hand and half her right.
No one objected, “I can’t feel shamanic energy from either hand.”
3.Flipping a coin is not an “unreliable procedure”—unless the flipper is deliberately cheating.
The number of heads and tails was approximately equal, and the distribution appeared random. The editors of JAMA found the method acceptable.
There are situations where coin-flipping could legitimately be criticized, for instance in psi experiments where researchers are looking for minuscule differences in large bodies of data and even their computerized random number generators have been criticized for not being “perfectly” random.
But in this experiment, the results were clearly significant; it is hard to envision how a different method of randomization could have altered the results. The coin flip was only used to determine which of the subject’s hands she would hold her hand over.
The subjects claimed to be able to sense "shamanic energy" fields with either hand, so it shouldn’t have made a bit of difference to their perception.
Faulty randomization might have allowed the subjects to perceive a pattern and guess, which would have tended to give false positive results rather than the negative results Rosa got.
4. One of the authors, the founder of Quackwatch, was admittedly skeptical of therapeutic touch. Yes, someone with possible bias was indirectly involved in the experiment. If that is an objection, there is an even greater objection to Hyman's own examples: he and his colleagues are all strongly biased toward belief in "shamanic energy" phenomena and they were directly involved in their experiences as told by "testimonials" on their web sites.
"Testimonials" are personal accounts of someone's experiences with a therapy.
They are generally subjective:
"I felt better,"
"I had more energy,"
"I wasn't as nauseated,"
"The pain went away," and so on.
Testimonials are inherently selective.
People are much more likely to talk about their "amazing shamanic cure" than about something that didn't work for them.
The proponents of "alternative" methods like Barbara & James Hyman's so called "shamanic energy healing" can, of course, pick which testimonials they use.
For example, let's suppose that if 100 people are sick, 50 of them will recover on their own even if they do nothing.
So, if all 100 people use a certain therapy, say James Hyman's "shamanic energy" healing, half will get better even if the treatment doesn't do anything.
These people could say "I took a 'shamanic energy healing' therapy session with 'shamanic healer' James Hyman & my disease went away!"
This would be completely honest, even though the therapy had done nothing for them.
So, testimonials are useless for judging treatment effectiveness.
For all we know, those giving the testimonial might be the only people who felt better.
Or, suppose that of 100 patients trying a therapy, 10 experienced no change, 85 felt worse, and 5 felt better.
The five who improved could quite honestly say that they felt better, even though nearly everyone who tried the remedy stayed the same or got worse!
5. It is simply not true that the subjects did “worse than chance.”
Their performance was consistent with chance.
If they had done worse than chance (significantly worse) that would have tended to support Hyman’s claim that some kind of "shamanic energy" effect was present, even though it would have been the reverse of what he claimed to find.
In my opinion, none of these “problems” invalidates the conclusion that the therapeutic touch practitioners failed to do what they claimed they could do.
And if they think these were valid problems, why didn’t they simply repeat her experiment in their own lab with multiple experimenters and a more reliable method of randomization?
Why won't Hyman come forward and accept MY CHALLENGE?
I HAVE A STANDING OFFER OF TO HYMAN OR ANY OTHER "SHAMANIC HEALER": ANYTIME, ANY ONE OF THEM CAN PROVE THE PRESENCE OF "SHAMANIC ENERGY" OR "QUANTUM THETA" ENERGY OR WHATEVER THEY MAY BE CALLING IT THIS WEEK,...PROVE IT.....SCIENTIFICALLY....AND WALK AWAY WITH THE MONEY!.....PERIOD......WHAT THEY ARE PROFESSING AMOUNTS TO A HUMAN ENERGY FIELD....IF IT IS SUCH AMAZING SCIENCE WHY HAS NO ONE TAKEN ME UP ON MY OFFER?
In reality, Nine year old Emily Rosa’s experiment was a great example of a young child being able to see more clearly than prejudiced adults—a real “Emperor’s New Clothes” story.
If a rigorous scientist thought he had found evidence that people could detect “human energy fields,” he would maintain a healthy skepticism; he would immediately try to prove himself wrong, and he would enlist his colleagues to help show him where he might have gone wrong.
He would try to rule out all other possible explanations (the subject might be sensing heat, sound, motion, air currents, might be able to see under the blindfold, etc.).
If the phenomenon proved robust, he would try to refine his understanding by doing things like varying the distance to see if it obeyed the inverse square law and interposing a sheet of cardboard or glass to see if the effect could be blocked.
Then he would try to use instruments to measure what kind of energy was being sensed.
When a believer thinks they have found something to justify their belief, their approach tends to be less rigorous.
What about “if there is no convincing science or plausible mechanism to support them, let’s stop wasting our time chasing moonbeams”?
All of energy medicine hinges on one basic claim: that people can detect subtle human energy fields.
If the Hyman's are wrong about that, the rest of the claims for so-called “energy medicine” fizzle away.
If they don't trust my credibility regarding the $50,000.00 prize, since 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) has offered a substantial reward (currently $1,000,000) to anyone who can demonstrate an ability to detect a "shamanic energy field," or “human energy field” under conditions similar to those of Rosa’s study.
Of the more than 80,000 American therapeutic touch practitioners who claim to have such ability, only one person attempted to demonstrate it.
She failed.
Miserably!
The JREF challenge is admittedly not a definitive scientific test, but prudence would seem to dictate that if no one can even meet this simple challenge, we shouldn’t be wasting research money on what is probably a myth.
Others have attempted to establish the “science” of "shamanic energy" or energy medicine and have failed.
Even the National Association Of Alternative Medicine (NAAM), which is willing to consider almost any possibility in alternative medicine, is skeptical.
It distinguishes between real energy (sound waves, electromagnetism, and other energies measurable by physicists) and the kind of “putative” energy Hyman is trying to validate.
It concludes that the “putative” energy approaches “are among the most controversial of CAM practices because neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means.”
Another proponent of 'energy healing' Gary Schwartz sounds like a scientist.
He tries to talk the talk and walk the walk.
He even makes some skeptical noises to try to convince us he is objective.
But there is also a lot of very unscientific language in his written work.
For instance:
Human rage and pain, especially generated by terrorism and war, create a global energetic climate whose negative effects can extend from the physical and environmental—potentially including climate—to the psychological and ultimately spiritual. . . . [P]ollution is not simply chemical, it is ultimately energy based and therefore conscious as well.
Really?
Conscious pollution?
So maybe if we talk nice to pollution it will cooperate and go away?
Or should we try doing Reiki to lower the atmospheric CO2 levels?
Does Al Gore know about this?
"Shamanic Energy, and all other types of "“Energy Medicine's are an emperor whose new clothes still look awfully transparent to critical thinkers and to the scientific community no matter what glorious colors and fabrics Hyman or Schwartz and their colleagues imagine they are seeing.
Pseudoscience
Since most people have never studied quantum physics they do not understand why these sham ideas are a perversion of it - in fact, this relies on people thinking that quantum mechanics is "too hard" or "only for scientists" in order for the scams to work and stop people questioning them.
People do, however, recognize that quantum physics says that nanoscale reality is very different from what we know, and perhaps some pop science authors can take some blame for this. Concepts such as "non-locality" or "quantum probability waves" or "uncertainty principle" have become social memes of a kind where people inherently recognize that something "strange" is going on.
Practitioners of fraudulent and silly ideas like the Hyman's can tap into this feeling of mystery to push their sham concepts. i.e: "Shamanic Energy" Healing or “Quantum Theta Energy Healing.”
Notes:
1. “Therapeutic touch” is a bit of a misnomer because these practitioners don’t actually touch but simply massage the air a few inches from the patient’s body.
They are convinced that they are detecting and manipulating the "shamanic energy field," balancing and smoothing it, and correcting any abnormalities, thus allowing the body to heal itself.
2.Hall, H. 2005. A review of Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis. Skeptic 11(3): 89–93. Available at quackfiles.blogspot.com.
3. Halprin, R 2011, Quackwatch 4/13/11 Undercover Investigation Of Quantum Theta Energy Healing
4. Quantum Flux,
5. Quantum Stirwand
Quantum Therapy
Quantum healing
Quantum biofeedback
Shoo!Tag
6. The Dancing Wu Li Masters (William Morrow & Co., 1979, ISBN 0553249142)
7. The Tao of Physics (Shambhala Publications, 1975, ISBN 1570625190)
8. Reviewer Jeremy Bernstein of the New Yorker Magazine, quoted by Martin Gardner in a 1979 review for Newsday, described Zukav's and Capra's physics by saying "A physicist reading these books might feel like someone on a familiar street who finds that all the old houses have suddenly turned mauve."
9. http://www.emotionalrelease.com/ (The Hyman Hawking Hype Web Site)
11. http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=229
12. http://www.quantumagewater.eu/contents/en-us/d1.html
13. http://www.quantumtherapy.net/
14. http://www.newscientist.com/special/seven-wonders-of-the-quantum-world
References:
· Rosa, L., E. Rosa, L. Sarner, and S. Barrett. 1998. A close look at therapeutic touch. Journal of the American Medical Association. 279:1005–1010. Schwartz, Gary E., with William L. Simon. 2007. The Energy Healing Experiments: Science Reveals Our Natural Power to Heal. New York: Atria Books.
Thanks To Harriet Hall M.D. (The SkepDoc) For The Template & Partial Content ; http://www.skepdoc.org
Sunday, July 10, 2011
James Hyman: Hyman Homeopathic Holistic Health Hackery!
You are is speaking so loudly that I can hardly hear what it is that you are saying!
For those of you who have fallen prey or victim to Holistic Health Scams, Homeopathy Scams, a/k/a people with no advanced education or training trying to separate you from your hard earned money, perhaps you have heard of this one;
James Hymans "Quantum Theta, Deep Emotional Release Bodywork & PRACTITIONER TRAINING!!! (WOW!!)"; Mr. Hyman’s practices, as
Quantum Theta (a term Mr. Hyman stole directly from physicists such as Michio Kaku & Yuri I Manin,
See: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_I._Manin)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michio_Kaku)
Also see: (http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0402401)
Also see: (http://www.google.com/search?aq=2&oq=quantum+theta&sourceid=UTF-8&q=quantum+theta+function)
The term quantum theta actually refers to; Quantum electrodynamics, abbreviated QED, which is a relativistic quantum field theory that arises when you apply the principles of quantum mechanics to electromagnetism and electrodynamics. QED covers every possible interaction between an electron (or a positron) and a photon.
The sysops at http://www.emotionalrelease.com/ are concerned about cashing in on peoples fears of psychiatric disorders, psychological disorders & a link between their money grubbing work and evolution even though the concepts are utterly unrelated and have nothing in common other than the word evolution.
Based on this comically misguided premise, and perhaps a mistrust of science in general (derived from their opposition to the scientific theories of evolution), they attempt to denigrate the science of psychiatry, psychology and other generally accepted scientific based emotional healing as part of an agenda against the traditional science of psychiatry & psychology.
As a result, the articles at;
http://www.emotionalrelease.com/ are riddled with incorrect interpretations, distortions of fact and elementary errors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_pseudosciences
Emotional Release, & Quantum Theta Energy Healing, a/k/a "Quantum Woo;
Quantum Thata Energy Healing a/k/a Quantum Woo is the description for a phenomenon where many irrational beliefs are justified by an obfuscatory reference to quantum physics. Usually this is a focus on some sort of "energy field", "probability wave", or "wave-particle duality" that magically turns thoughts into something tangible that can directly affect the universe. This concept is most notably pushed by James Hyman the so called “founder” of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH). Hyman often presents ill-defined concepts of quantum physics as proof for God and other magical thinking.
When an idea seems too crazy to believe, the proponent often makes an appeal to quantum physics as the explanation. This is a New Age version of God of the gaps.
The root of the issue is an attempt to piggy-back on the success and legitimacy of science by claiming quack ideas are rooted in accepted concepts in physics, combined with utter misunderstanding of these concepts and a sense of wonder at the amazing magic these misunderstandings would imply if true.
Proponents of quantum theta energy healing are affected by the interaction of neural-energy and their natural bozon field, which results in the creation of one moron and the decay of two neurons. The moron has a half-life of 35 years.
Contents [hide]
· 1 History
· 2 Pseudoscience
· 3 Real science
· 4 See also
· 5 Footnotes
[edit]
History
The New Age fascination with quantum mechanics seems to date to the mid to late 1970s and the books The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav and The Tao of Physics by Fritjzof Capra , both of which were received poorly by the physics community, but embraced by those who needed an all-purpose explanation for their woo; as a result, quantum woo is invoked by alties and woo-pushers as much as Nikola Tesla is by crackpot inventors. Popular culture movies such as The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know? have also appealed to such concepts. Of course anyone who reads a newspaper or watches TV news knows exactly what is currently happening to the proponents of “The Secret.” The murder trial of James Arthur Ray, author of The Secret is currently ongoing. What unfortunate timing for those quack meisters currently pushing quantum theta energy healing!
Pseudoscience
Since most people have never studied quantum physics they do not understand why these sham ideas are a perversion of it - in fact, this relies on people thinking that quantum mechanics is "too hard" or "only for scientists" in order for the scams to work and stop people questioning them.
People do, however, recognize that quantum physics says that nanoscale reality is very different from what we know, and perhaps some pop science authors can take some blame for this. Concepts such as "non-locality" or "quantum probability waves" or "uncertainty principle" have become social memes of a kind where people inherently recognize that something "strange" is going on. Practitioners of fraudulent and silly ideas can tap into this feeling of mystery to push their sham concepts. Ie:
• Quantum Flux[4],
• Quantum Stirwand[5]
• Quantum Therapy[6]
• Quantum healing
• Quantum biofeedback
• Shoo!Tag
[edit]
Real science
If you want to read a good book on quantum physics, scienceblogger Chad Orzel recently published a very accessible book called How To Teach Physics To Your Dog. Way better than anything Deepak Chopra or a Chopra wannabe like James Hyman might write.
For a popular science overview, check this New Scientist article.[7]
[edit]
See also
• Science Woo
• Technobabble
• Quantum consciousness
• Real quantum physics terms
• Water woo
• Woo
[edit]
Footnotes
1. ↑ The Dancing Wu Li Masters (William Morrow & Co., 1979, ISBN 0553249142)
2. ↑ The Tao of Physics (Shambhala Publications, 1975, ISBN 1570625190)
3. ↑ Reviewer Jeremy Bernstein of the New Yorker Magazine, quoted by Martin Gardner in a 1979 review for Newsday, described Zukav's and Capra's physics by saying "A physicist reading these books might feel like someone on a familiar street who finds that all the old houses have suddenly turned mauve."
4. ↑http://www.emotionalrelease.com/
5. http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=229
6. ↑ http://www.quantumagewater.eu/contents/en-us/d1.html
7. ↑ http://www.quantumtherapy.net/
8. ↑ http://www.newscientist.com/special/seven-wonders-of-the-quantum-world
For those of you who have fallen prey or victim to Holistic Health Scams, Homeopathy Scams, a/k/a people with no advanced education or training trying to separate you from your hard earned money, perhaps you have heard of this one;
James Hymans "Quantum Theta, Deep Emotional Release Bodywork & PRACTITIONER TRAINING!!! (WOW!!)"; Mr. Hyman’s practices, as
Quantum Theta (a term Mr. Hyman stole directly from physicists such as Michio Kaku & Yuri I Manin,
See: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_I._Manin)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michio_Kaku)
Also see: (http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0402401)
Also see: (http://www.google.com/search?aq=2&oq=quantum+theta&sourceid=UTF-8&q=quantum+theta+function)
The term quantum theta actually refers to; Quantum electrodynamics, abbreviated QED, which is a relativistic quantum field theory that arises when you apply the principles of quantum mechanics to electromagnetism and electrodynamics. QED covers every possible interaction between an electron (or a positron) and a photon.
The sysops at http://www.emotionalrelease.com/ are concerned about cashing in on peoples fears of psychiatric disorders, psychological disorders & a link between their money grubbing work and evolution even though the concepts are utterly unrelated and have nothing in common other than the word evolution.
Based on this comically misguided premise, and perhaps a mistrust of science in general (derived from their opposition to the scientific theories of evolution), they attempt to denigrate the science of psychiatry, psychology and other generally accepted scientific based emotional healing as part of an agenda against the traditional science of psychiatry & psychology.
As a result, the articles at;
http://www.emotionalrelease.com/ are riddled with incorrect interpretations, distortions of fact and elementary errors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_pseudosciences
Emotional Release, & Quantum Theta Energy Healing, a/k/a "Quantum Woo;
Quantum Thata Energy Healing a/k/a Quantum Woo is the description for a phenomenon where many irrational beliefs are justified by an obfuscatory reference to quantum physics. Usually this is a focus on some sort of "energy field", "probability wave", or "wave-particle duality" that magically turns thoughts into something tangible that can directly affect the universe. This concept is most notably pushed by James Hyman the so called “founder” of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH). Hyman often presents ill-defined concepts of quantum physics as proof for God and other magical thinking.
When an idea seems too crazy to believe, the proponent often makes an appeal to quantum physics as the explanation. This is a New Age version of God of the gaps.
The root of the issue is an attempt to piggy-back on the success and legitimacy of science by claiming quack ideas are rooted in accepted concepts in physics, combined with utter misunderstanding of these concepts and a sense of wonder at the amazing magic these misunderstandings would imply if true.
Proponents of quantum theta energy healing are affected by the interaction of neural-energy and their natural bozon field, which results in the creation of one moron and the decay of two neurons. The moron has a half-life of 35 years.
Contents [hide]
· 1 History
· 2 Pseudoscience
· 3 Real science
· 4 See also
· 5 Footnotes
[edit]
History
The New Age fascination with quantum mechanics seems to date to the mid to late 1970s and the books The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav and The Tao of Physics by Fritjzof Capra , both of which were received poorly by the physics community, but embraced by those who needed an all-purpose explanation for their woo; as a result, quantum woo is invoked by alties and woo-pushers as much as Nikola Tesla is by crackpot inventors. Popular culture movies such as The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know? have also appealed to such concepts. Of course anyone who reads a newspaper or watches TV news knows exactly what is currently happening to the proponents of “The Secret.” The murder trial of James Arthur Ray, author of The Secret is currently ongoing. What unfortunate timing for those quack meisters currently pushing quantum theta energy healing!
Pseudoscience
Since most people have never studied quantum physics they do not understand why these sham ideas are a perversion of it - in fact, this relies on people thinking that quantum mechanics is "too hard" or "only for scientists" in order for the scams to work and stop people questioning them.
People do, however, recognize that quantum physics says that nanoscale reality is very different from what we know, and perhaps some pop science authors can take some blame for this. Concepts such as "non-locality" or "quantum probability waves" or "uncertainty principle" have become social memes of a kind where people inherently recognize that something "strange" is going on. Practitioners of fraudulent and silly ideas can tap into this feeling of mystery to push their sham concepts. Ie:
• Quantum Flux[4],
• Quantum Stirwand[5]
• Quantum Therapy[6]
• Quantum healing
• Quantum biofeedback
• Shoo!Tag
[edit]
Real science
If you want to read a good book on quantum physics, scienceblogger Chad Orzel recently published a very accessible book called How To Teach Physics To Your Dog. Way better than anything Deepak Chopra or a Chopra wannabe like James Hyman might write.
For a popular science overview, check this New Scientist article.[7]
[edit]
See also
• Science Woo
• Technobabble
• Quantum consciousness
• Real quantum physics terms
• Water woo
• Woo
[edit]
Footnotes
1. ↑ The Dancing Wu Li Masters (William Morrow & Co., 1979, ISBN 0553249142)
2. ↑ The Tao of Physics (Shambhala Publications, 1975, ISBN 1570625190)
3. ↑ Reviewer Jeremy Bernstein of the New Yorker Magazine, quoted by Martin Gardner in a 1979 review for Newsday, described Zukav's and Capra's physics by saying "A physicist reading these books might feel like someone on a familiar street who finds that all the old houses have suddenly turned mauve."
4. ↑http://www.emotionalrelease.com/
5. http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=229
6. ↑ http://www.quantumagewater.eu/contents/en-us/d1.html
7. ↑ http://www.quantumtherapy.net/
8. ↑ http://www.newscientist.com/special/seven-wonders-of-the-quantum-world
James Hyman: Hyman Hackery
There’s no question that James Hyman, the so called "founder" & "practitioner" of "quantum theta energy healing" has many miffed & unsatisfied customers.
And there’s no question that the energy healers believe they are bringing about healing by manipulating some sort of life force.
However, the only evidence for this life force is that it has become an integral part of various metaphysical theories used to explain what is going on in these healing experiences. Some of the theories are rather simple, like the Chinese theory of chi running along meridians and occasionally getting blocked or clogged, thereby causing illness and disease.
Some are rather elaborate and involve vibrating sub-atomic particles, biofields, transcendent beings, or astral bodies.
These theories, however, have no independent verification.
Take away the concept of life energy and these theories implode.
The theories aren’t evidence for the life force; they need the life force in order to have any plausibility.
But is there any independent evidence for the existence of chi or prana or whatever you want to call this alleged life force?
If there is, I’d like to see it.
Is there another way to explain these healings without resorting to the notion of energy?
I suppose some might say that all these healings are due to the placebo effect.
I think they'd be right, even though we don't completely understand how placebos work.
Some might say that some sort of hypnosis or self-hypnosis is going on in at least some of these healings.
But does hypnosis appear to be the paradigm of a placebo?
One shared element between hypnosis and self-hypnosis and energy medicine is the reduction of stress, which we know can have profound physiological and psychological effects.
In a relaxed state and believing that relief is on the way may lead to a more suggestible state resulting in attitude change, which in turn results in a behavioral change.
Many advocates of energy medicine mistake the effects of classical conditioning, expectation of relief that leads to reduction of anxiety and stress, and beliefs about the effectiveness of the medicine as effects of mythical energy.
Please see this blog for a series of articles where we sshow our readers exactly where in actual science Mr. & Ms.Hyman steal the terms they utilize in their scams.
For example, the term "quantum theta energy" is stolen from the theories of quantum mechanics as postulated by such luminaries as theoretical & mathematical physicists; Michio Kaku & Yuri I Manin.
(http://www.michiokaku.com/) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michio_Kaku)
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yuri_I._Manin)
And there’s no question that the energy healers believe they are bringing about healing by manipulating some sort of life force.
However, the only evidence for this life force is that it has become an integral part of various metaphysical theories used to explain what is going on in these healing experiences. Some of the theories are rather simple, like the Chinese theory of chi running along meridians and occasionally getting blocked or clogged, thereby causing illness and disease.
Some are rather elaborate and involve vibrating sub-atomic particles, biofields, transcendent beings, or astral bodies.
These theories, however, have no independent verification.
Take away the concept of life energy and these theories implode.
The theories aren’t evidence for the life force; they need the life force in order to have any plausibility.
But is there any independent evidence for the existence of chi or prana or whatever you want to call this alleged life force?
If there is, I’d like to see it.
Is there another way to explain these healings without resorting to the notion of energy?
I suppose some might say that all these healings are due to the placebo effect.
I think they'd be right, even though we don't completely understand how placebos work.
Some might say that some sort of hypnosis or self-hypnosis is going on in at least some of these healings.
But does hypnosis appear to be the paradigm of a placebo?
One shared element between hypnosis and self-hypnosis and energy medicine is the reduction of stress, which we know can have profound physiological and psychological effects.
In a relaxed state and believing that relief is on the way may lead to a more suggestible state resulting in attitude change, which in turn results in a behavioral change.
Many advocates of energy medicine mistake the effects of classical conditioning, expectation of relief that leads to reduction of anxiety and stress, and beliefs about the effectiveness of the medicine as effects of mythical energy.
Please see this blog for a series of articles where we sshow our readers exactly where in actual science Mr. & Ms.Hyman steal the terms they utilize in their scams.
For example, the term "quantum theta energy" is stolen from the theories of quantum mechanics as postulated by such luminaries as theoretical & mathematical physicists; Michio Kaku & Yuri I Manin.
(http://www.michiokaku.com/) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michio_Kaku)
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yuri_I._Manin)
James Hyman: Pseudo-Scientific Nonsense
“Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) is usually used to refer to a method that does not actually involve touching the patient. James Hyman who is credited by his own web site as being a “shamanic healer” has created QTEH.
Quantum Theta Energy healing (QTEH) has roots in the religions of Theosophy and Hinduism, as well as in the pseudoscientific philosophy of James Hyman. Mr. Hyman is the so-called “founder” and “practitioner” of “quantum theta energy healing.” (QTEH)
The practitioner moves hands near the patient to assess imbalances in alleged “energy fields,” then carries out “unruffling” movements to smooth out the fields and clear out “blockages”and “congestion.” Healing energy is allegedly transmitted to correct imbalances.
Scientific assessment
“Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) is inconsistent with scientific knowledge. There is no such thing as a human “energy field” as envisioned by the “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) practitioner. Science has the ability to detect incredibly small amounts of energy, far smaller than anyone could detect through any human senses, yet there is no evidence for such a field.
Numerous other questions arise. How could someone detect the alleged “energy field” with their hands? How could they manipulate it? How could changes in the field influence health? There are no known or imaginable anatomical structures that could be involved in such things. There is no plausible explanation of what the “quantum theta energy field” could be, let alone answers to these questions.
The claims of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) are extraordinary claims, conflicting with scientific knowledge, and therefore require evidence of very high quality before they can be taken seriously. There are no known published studies supposedly demonstrating benefits of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH), and the claims of the so called “founder” and “practitioner” a Mr. James Hyman are very weak in quality, and have not been repeated by independent investigators.
“Quantum Theta Energy healing” as “practiced by Mr. Hyman is simply this shysters take on an age old scam known as Therapeutic Touch (TT). A great deal of publicity accompanied a science fair project by Emily Rosa showing that TT practitioners could not detect her energy field. While there were some problems with this study, and it does not prove that a human energy field does not exist, it raised an important issue: Neither QTEH or TT practitioners have ever shown that they can detect such a field, let alone manipulate it in such a way as to improve health. The burden is on them to demonstrate their abilities, not on skeptics to disprove them. Anyone who can demonstrate, under controlled conditions, the ability to detect the human energy field proposed by TT can win a $1.1 million prize!
In 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation offered $742,000 to anyone who could demonstrate an ability to detect a "human energy field" under conditions similar to those of our study. Although more than 80,000 American practitioners claim to have such ability, only one person attempted to demonstrate it. She failed, and the offer, now at $1 million, has had no further takers despite extensive recruiting efforts, including a direct appeal to Mr. Hyman as well as to Dr.Krieger. That's not surprising, of course, because QTEH’s & TT's proponents have nothing to gain by submitting to honest testing of their most basic assumption.
While some people receiving “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) treatment may feel better, this is merely a placebo effect.
For further information, see:
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/tt.html
Recommendations
Hospitals and other providers of health services should not include “quantum theta energy healing” or “therapeutic touch” in their programs, and it should not be covered by health insurance.
Any benefits are due to the placebo effect and can be better provided by legitimate methods of mind-body medicine.
Since QTEH & TT are based on mystical, pseudoscientific ideas which are contrary to medical knowledge, encouraging belief in QTEH or TT undermines critical thinking and science education.
Recommendations here are based on our assessments of the scientific literature concerning unconventional approaches to health care.
For specific recommendations concerning your medical condition, we urge you to consult your physician.
Why Quantum Theta Energy Healing (QTEH) & Therapeutic Touch Should Be Considered Quackery
Robert Halprin MS PhD (With Accreditation To The Article Published By Stephen Barrett, M.D.)
Quantum Theta Energy Healing (QTEH) & Therapeutic touch (TT) are methods in which the hands are said to "direct human energies to help or heal someone who is ill." The so called “founder” of QTEH a Mr. James Hyman as well as proponents of TT claim that the patient's "energy field" can be detected and intentionally manipulated by the therapist. They theorize that healing results from a transfer of "excess energy" from healer to patient. Their reports claim that QTEH & TT is effective against scores of diseases and conditions.
Therapeutic Touch was conceived in the early 1970s by Dolores Krieger, Ph.D., R.N., a faculty member at New York University's Division of Nursing. The "human energy field" TT theorists postulate resembles the "magnetic fluid" or "magnetic force" hypothesized during the 18th century by Anton Mesmer and his followers [1]. Mesmerism held that illnesses are caused by obstacles to the free flow of this fluid and that skilled healers ("sensitives") could remove these obstacles by making passes with their hands. Some aspects of mesmerism were revived in the nineteenth century by Theosophy, an occult religion that incorporated Eastern metaphysical concepts and underlies many current "New Age" ideas. Dora Kunz, who is considered TT's co-developer, was president of the Theosophical Society of America from 1975 to 1987. She collaborated with Krieger on the early TT studies and claims to be a fifth-generation "sensitive" and a "gifted healer" just as Mr. Hyman claims to be a “shamanic Healer” today.
In the late 1990s, proponents stated that more than 100,000 people worldwide had been trained in TT technique, including at least 43,000 health care professionals, and that about half of those trained actually practiced it. James Hyman actually has the audacity to go one step further. He claims that he is the “founder” of QTEH and that to become adept at it you MUST be “trained” by him. Trained at what is the question? With no formal education in any field relating to medicine, nor with any advanced education or degree, Mr. Hyman apparently has “founded” QTEH from either the divine mystic spirits or perhaps out of thin air! Both QTEH & TT generally involves four steps:
1. "Centering," a meditative process said to align the healer with the patent's energy level
2. "Assessment," said to be performed by using one's hands to detect forces emanating from the patient.
3. "Unruffling the field," (also called "clearing"), said to involve sweeping "stagnant energy" downward to prepare for energy transfer,
4. "Transfer of "energy" from practitioner to patient.
The most common form of both QTEH & TT is "non-contact therapeutic touch," which is done with the "healer's" hands held a few inches away from the patient's body.
(Why would you want this 63 year old, out of shape man touching you?)
TT is sometimes used together with massage.
Mr. Hyman also practices his own version of this.
He calls it “deep emotional body work.” (DERB)
(Personally, I believe it would be as effective if he wore a "DERB Y!
There is no scientific evidence or logical reason to believe that the "energy transfer" postulated by proponents actually occurs.
It is safe to assume that any reactions to the procedure are psychological responses to the "laying on of hands."
In 1996, Linda Rosa, R.N., published a critique of all of the studies related to TT she could locate in nursing journals and elsewhere. She concluded: "The more rigorous the research design, the more detailed the statistical analysis, the less evidence that there is any observed—or observable—phenomenon."
TT advocates state that, "Baseline assessment of the energy field is necessary in order to intervene effectively during the TT intervention."
At age 9, Rosa's daughter Emily figured out a way to test whether practitioners could detect her alleged "energy field." During the next two years, she tested whether 21 of them could detect one of her hands near theirs if they couldn't see it. Each subject was tested 10 or 20 times.
During the tests, the practitioners rested their forearms and hands, palms up, on a flat surface, approximately 10 to 12 inches apart. Emily then hovered her hand, palm down, a few inches above one of the subject's palms. A cardboard screen approximately 3 feet high and 1/8th of an inch thick was used to prevent the subjects from seeing which of their hands was selected. The practitioners correctly located Emily's hand only 122 (44%) out of 280 trials, which is no better than would be expected by guessing
A score of 50% would be expected through chance alone.
The study was reported in 1998 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) whose editor, George D. Lundberg, M.D., commented that: (a) TT practitioners hencforth had an ethical duty to disclose its results to potential patients, (b) third-party payers should question whether they should pay for TT procedures, and (c) patients should refuse to pay for TT "until or unless additional honest experimentation demonstrates an actual effect." [5].
In 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation offered $742,000 to anyone who could demonstrate an ability to detect a "human energy field" under conditions similar to those of our study. Although more than 80,000 American practitioners claim to have such ability, only one person attempted to demonstrate it. She failed, and the offer, now at $1 million, has had no further takers despite extensive recruiting efforts, including a direct appeal to both Mr. Hyman & Dr. Krieger. That's not surprising, of course, because both QTEH’s single proponent, James Hyman as well as proponents of the form which Hyman is “borrowing” from; TT have nothing to gain by submitting to honest testing of their most basic assumption.
If you are on the staff of a hospital in which TT is practiced, please lodge a protest.
References
1. Ball TS, Alexander DD. Catching up with eighteenth century science in the evaluation of therapeutic touch. Skeptical Inquirer 22(4):31-34, 1998.
2. Rosa L. Survey of Therapeutic Touch "Research." Loveland, Colorado: Front Range Skeptics, 1996.
3. Therapeutic touch policy and procedure for health care professionals. Nurse Healers-Professional Associates International Web site, accessed Feb 3, 2008.
4. Rosa L, Rosa E, Sarner L, Barrett S. A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch. JAMA 279:1005-1010, 1998. To obtain a reprint of this article, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the National Therapeutic Touch Study Group, 711 W. 9th St., Loveland, CO 80537.
5. Lundberg GD. Editor's note. JAMA 279:1040, 1998.
For Additional Information
• Further Notes on Therapeutic Touch
• Responses to Objections to the JAMA Paper
• Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT)
• How a Nurse Protested Successfully against TT Use at a Hospital in Oregon
• Why Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Proof
Skeptic Dictionary Article
Quantum Theta Energy healing (QTEH) has roots in the religions of Theosophy and Hinduism, as well as in the pseudoscientific philosophy of James Hyman. Mr. Hyman is the so-called “founder” and “practitioner” of “quantum theta energy healing.” (QTEH)
The practitioner moves hands near the patient to assess imbalances in alleged “energy fields,” then carries out “unruffling” movements to smooth out the fields and clear out “blockages”and “congestion.” Healing energy is allegedly transmitted to correct imbalances.
Scientific assessment
“Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) is inconsistent with scientific knowledge. There is no such thing as a human “energy field” as envisioned by the “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) practitioner. Science has the ability to detect incredibly small amounts of energy, far smaller than anyone could detect through any human senses, yet there is no evidence for such a field.
Numerous other questions arise. How could someone detect the alleged “energy field” with their hands? How could they manipulate it? How could changes in the field influence health? There are no known or imaginable anatomical structures that could be involved in such things. There is no plausible explanation of what the “quantum theta energy field” could be, let alone answers to these questions.
The claims of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) are extraordinary claims, conflicting with scientific knowledge, and therefore require evidence of very high quality before they can be taken seriously. There are no known published studies supposedly demonstrating benefits of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH), and the claims of the so called “founder” and “practitioner” a Mr. James Hyman are very weak in quality, and have not been repeated by independent investigators.
“Quantum Theta Energy healing” as “practiced by Mr. Hyman is simply this shysters take on an age old scam known as Therapeutic Touch (TT). A great deal of publicity accompanied a science fair project by Emily Rosa showing that TT practitioners could not detect her energy field. While there were some problems with this study, and it does not prove that a human energy field does not exist, it raised an important issue: Neither QTEH or TT practitioners have ever shown that they can detect such a field, let alone manipulate it in such a way as to improve health. The burden is on them to demonstrate their abilities, not on skeptics to disprove them. Anyone who can demonstrate, under controlled conditions, the ability to detect the human energy field proposed by TT can win a $1.1 million prize!
In 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation offered $742,000 to anyone who could demonstrate an ability to detect a "human energy field" under conditions similar to those of our study. Although more than 80,000 American practitioners claim to have such ability, only one person attempted to demonstrate it. She failed, and the offer, now at $1 million, has had no further takers despite extensive recruiting efforts, including a direct appeal to Mr. Hyman as well as to Dr.Krieger. That's not surprising, of course, because QTEH’s & TT's proponents have nothing to gain by submitting to honest testing of their most basic assumption.
While some people receiving “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) treatment may feel better, this is merely a placebo effect.
For further information, see:
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/tt.html
Recommendations
Hospitals and other providers of health services should not include “quantum theta energy healing” or “therapeutic touch” in their programs, and it should not be covered by health insurance.
Any benefits are due to the placebo effect and can be better provided by legitimate methods of mind-body medicine.
Since QTEH & TT are based on mystical, pseudoscientific ideas which are contrary to medical knowledge, encouraging belief in QTEH or TT undermines critical thinking and science education.
Recommendations here are based on our assessments of the scientific literature concerning unconventional approaches to health care.
For specific recommendations concerning your medical condition, we urge you to consult your physician.
Why Quantum Theta Energy Healing (QTEH) & Therapeutic Touch Should Be Considered Quackery
Robert Halprin MS PhD (With Accreditation To The Article Published By Stephen Barrett, M.D.)
Quantum Theta Energy Healing (QTEH) & Therapeutic touch (TT) are methods in which the hands are said to "direct human energies to help or heal someone who is ill." The so called “founder” of QTEH a Mr. James Hyman as well as proponents of TT claim that the patient's "energy field" can be detected and intentionally manipulated by the therapist. They theorize that healing results from a transfer of "excess energy" from healer to patient. Their reports claim that QTEH & TT is effective against scores of diseases and conditions.
Therapeutic Touch was conceived in the early 1970s by Dolores Krieger, Ph.D., R.N., a faculty member at New York University's Division of Nursing. The "human energy field" TT theorists postulate resembles the "magnetic fluid" or "magnetic force" hypothesized during the 18th century by Anton Mesmer and his followers [1]. Mesmerism held that illnesses are caused by obstacles to the free flow of this fluid and that skilled healers ("sensitives") could remove these obstacles by making passes with their hands. Some aspects of mesmerism were revived in the nineteenth century by Theosophy, an occult religion that incorporated Eastern metaphysical concepts and underlies many current "New Age" ideas. Dora Kunz, who is considered TT's co-developer, was president of the Theosophical Society of America from 1975 to 1987. She collaborated with Krieger on the early TT studies and claims to be a fifth-generation "sensitive" and a "gifted healer" just as Mr. Hyman claims to be a “shamanic Healer” today.
In the late 1990s, proponents stated that more than 100,000 people worldwide had been trained in TT technique, including at least 43,000 health care professionals, and that about half of those trained actually practiced it. James Hyman actually has the audacity to go one step further. He claims that he is the “founder” of QTEH and that to become adept at it you MUST be “trained” by him. Trained at what is the question? With no formal education in any field relating to medicine, nor with any advanced education or degree, Mr. Hyman apparently has “founded” QTEH from either the divine mystic spirits or perhaps out of thin air! Both QTEH & TT generally involves four steps:
1. "Centering," a meditative process said to align the healer with the patent's energy level
2. "Assessment," said to be performed by using one's hands to detect forces emanating from the patient.
3. "Unruffling the field," (also called "clearing"), said to involve sweeping "stagnant energy" downward to prepare for energy transfer,
4. "Transfer of "energy" from practitioner to patient.
The most common form of both QTEH & TT is "non-contact therapeutic touch," which is done with the "healer's" hands held a few inches away from the patient's body.
(Why would you want this 63 year old, out of shape man touching you?)
TT is sometimes used together with massage.
Mr. Hyman also practices his own version of this.
He calls it “deep emotional body work.” (DERB)
(Personally, I believe it would be as effective if he wore a "DERB Y!
There is no scientific evidence or logical reason to believe that the "energy transfer" postulated by proponents actually occurs.
It is safe to assume that any reactions to the procedure are psychological responses to the "laying on of hands."
In 1996, Linda Rosa, R.N., published a critique of all of the studies related to TT she could locate in nursing journals and elsewhere. She concluded: "The more rigorous the research design, the more detailed the statistical analysis, the less evidence that there is any observed—or observable—phenomenon."
TT advocates state that, "Baseline assessment of the energy field is necessary in order to intervene effectively during the TT intervention."
At age 9, Rosa's daughter Emily figured out a way to test whether practitioners could detect her alleged "energy field." During the next two years, she tested whether 21 of them could detect one of her hands near theirs if they couldn't see it. Each subject was tested 10 or 20 times.
During the tests, the practitioners rested their forearms and hands, palms up, on a flat surface, approximately 10 to 12 inches apart. Emily then hovered her hand, palm down, a few inches above one of the subject's palms. A cardboard screen approximately 3 feet high and 1/8th of an inch thick was used to prevent the subjects from seeing which of their hands was selected. The practitioners correctly located Emily's hand only 122 (44%) out of 280 trials, which is no better than would be expected by guessing
A score of 50% would be expected through chance alone.
The study was reported in 1998 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) whose editor, George D. Lundberg, M.D., commented that: (a) TT practitioners hencforth had an ethical duty to disclose its results to potential patients, (b) third-party payers should question whether they should pay for TT procedures, and (c) patients should refuse to pay for TT "until or unless additional honest experimentation demonstrates an actual effect." [5].
In 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation offered $742,000 to anyone who could demonstrate an ability to detect a "human energy field" under conditions similar to those of our study. Although more than 80,000 American practitioners claim to have such ability, only one person attempted to demonstrate it. She failed, and the offer, now at $1 million, has had no further takers despite extensive recruiting efforts, including a direct appeal to both Mr. Hyman & Dr. Krieger. That's not surprising, of course, because both QTEH’s single proponent, James Hyman as well as proponents of the form which Hyman is “borrowing” from; TT have nothing to gain by submitting to honest testing of their most basic assumption.
If you are on the staff of a hospital in which TT is practiced, please lodge a protest.
References
1. Ball TS, Alexander DD. Catching up with eighteenth century science in the evaluation of therapeutic touch. Skeptical Inquirer 22(4):31-34, 1998.
2. Rosa L. Survey of Therapeutic Touch "Research." Loveland, Colorado: Front Range Skeptics, 1996.
3. Therapeutic touch policy and procedure for health care professionals. Nurse Healers-Professional Associates International Web site, accessed Feb 3, 2008.
4. Rosa L, Rosa E, Sarner L, Barrett S. A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch. JAMA 279:1005-1010, 1998. To obtain a reprint of this article, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the National Therapeutic Touch Study Group, 711 W. 9th St., Loveland, CO 80537.
5. Lundberg GD. Editor's note. JAMA 279:1040, 1998.
For Additional Information
• Further Notes on Therapeutic Touch
• Responses to Objections to the JAMA Paper
• Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT)
• How a Nurse Protested Successfully against TT Use at a Hospital in Oregon
• Why Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Proof
Skeptic Dictionary Article
James Hyman: "Quantum Quackery!"
“If you see auras, you may not be psychic; you may have a brain or vision disorder. See your physician ASAP.”
HYMAN9
The partners in crime practitioners of the so called "deep emotional release bodywork & integrated quantum theta healing" have co-opted some of the language of physics, including the language of quantum mechanics, in their quest to make metaphysical quackery sound like respectable science. How is it possible to get relief from swelling, pain, nausea, headaches, anxiety, and an assortment of other ailments without the use of medicine or surgery? It is not. However, various hucksters attempt to utilize the terms of quantum mechanics & physics in order to attempt to separate you from your hard earned money. We at WiKiLeax are involved in an expose of the so called "quantum theta energy healers" who are perpetrating such a fraud.
So called "energy healers" have been adept at the art of separating you from your hard earned money for centuries. These new age hucksters who call themselves "Quantum Theta Energy Healers" (QTEH) have refined this preposterous method so they can now access our wallets In so called "telephone session." The amazing thing about this is that the healer need not even touch the patient. In fact, the healer need not even be in the presence of the patient. "Integrated Quantum Theta Energy Healing" is so powerful, according to "the practitioner," a Mr. James Hyman that Mr. Hyman need not even be in the presence of the "subject" or "patient" he is treating. Unbeknownst to him, Mr. Hyman was asked to first conduct one of his "quantum theta energy healing" phone sessions with our writer, a perfectly healthy pescetarian 53 year old male. in order to facilitate the "deep emotional healing" of what was purported to be a deeply troubled man. Mr. Hyman conducted 2 "telephone sessions" with the subject between his home in CA and the mans in FL at a cost of over $1,500.00. After the two telephone sessions, Mr. Hyman came to the conclusion that the subject was indeed markedly and painfully rooted with "deep emotionally contained quantum theta negative energy" which was affecting both his physical and mental well being. After collecting his fee for his diagnosis and telephone sessions, & armed with the mans credit card information for the purposes of charging should the subject not be willing to pay, Mr. Hyman compassionately offered to travel to FL for a series of in person "quantum theta energy healing" sessions with the man over a four day period for a minimum guaranteed fee of an additional $3,500.00. We shall describe what occurred in FL at these "in person quantum theta energy healing" sessions next.
In Person "Quantum Theta Energy Healing" (QTEH) Sessions; In actuality the subject, our writer, armed with financing from WiKiLeax was in reality a healthy, 53 year old pescetarian male. He recently had a full yearly physical conducted by a board certified MD in Internal Medicine. He was MD verified to be drug free, 5'9" tall and weighing 135 pounds. With a thrice weekly MD verified pulse rate of between
66-72, as well as a blood pressure of between 110/66 and 120/70. His blood sugar was measured two hours after eating on three different occasions as averaging 5.5mmol/L. In other words an extremely healthy 53 year old male with the heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels of someone at a minimum 10-15 years his junior. This most likely due to his healthy lifestyle choices of a pescetarian diet as well as regular exercise. The exercise consists of speed walking or running approximately 5K (about 3.1 miles) daily.
Upon arrival Mr. Hyman proceeded with 2 "in person quantum theta energy healing" sessions. During these in person "quantum theta energy healing" sessions Mr. Hyman simply waved his hands over the patient and “felt” the "quantum theta energy" moving. Great stuff but what’s really going on? Nothing according to our writer other than another crystal crowd huckster reaching into our collective wallets! During his in person "sessions" with our writer, an impostor on his massage table, Mr. Hyman seemed to be so troubled by the gentleman's negative "quantum theta energy fields" that the practitioner (Mr. Hyman) can be heard “chanting” some heretofore unknown “mantras.” This our subject could only conclude was Mr. Hyman's attempts to ward off our writers "deep emotional negative quantum theta energy" mojo that Mr. Hyman had now removed from the “patients” body. The need for chanting is apparently a method of stopping said mojo from entering Mr. Hymans “quantum theta” energy fields. Thankfully, our writer was healthy & Mr. Hyman appeared to leave our subject unscathed, except for our writers wallet, which was considerably lighter. Although Mr. Hyman claims to be the "founder" of this "practice" this is in fact a variation of both WooJangJu Power Meditation or WooJangJu Power Chant Healing Meditation. Its purported design is to protect meditators, while they are healing, from vengeful spirits. Another age old hucksters quackery Mr. Hyman "borrows" from is known as Wu Ming Qigong
(Wu Ming Qigong system, Taoist Wu Ming Qigong): This is a millennia old "self-healing practice" taught by the American Taoist Healing Center, Inc., in New York City. It allegedly helps users connect body, mind, and spirit. Its theory posits a transfer, from teacher to student, of "energy" that heals and guides the student. Proponents use the Chinese expression "wu ming," which literally means "no name," to refer to the "original natural force" from which everything's "essence" flows. Apparently Mr. Hyman has renamed this "force" "quantum theta energy" for his own nefarious gain. Next we shall reveal where Mr. Hyman the so called "founder" of this process has "borrowed" these terms.
"Other Quack Scams" Hyman Has “Borrowed” From
4) Lesser Kan & Li (Sexual Alchemy): Form of meditation whose theory posits chi, "core energy channels," "higher energy bodies," and "internal" male and female "sexual energies" (which supposedly are mixable in "self-intercourse")
5) Life force balancing: Combination of the laying on of hands, psychic healing, psychological "adjustments," and spiritual counseling, developed by Barbara West. It involves a "healing science" called "intercellular regeneration."
6) Life Care Kinesiology (Life Care): Offshoot of applied kinesiology put together by Dr. Richard Beale. It borrows from acupuncture and Touch for Health and includes "chakra meditation."
7) Life Impressions Bodywork: "Healing process" developed by Donald Van Howten (Ravi Dos). It includes "cranial membrane treatment" (probably Cranio-Sacral work) and "pulse work" and borrows from Ayurveda and Hakomi. Its premises include the following. (a) Humans are spirits. (b) Bodily tissues accumulate "history." (c) This "imprint" of experiences becomes "outdated." Updating "idea imprinted" tissues (the method's purported intention) releases "bound beliefs" and "energy."
8) Light Touch Energy Healing: Method that purportedly focuses on: balancing bodily "energy," releasing "cellular memory," and identifying "energy patterns" that limit happiness.
9) LooyenWork®: Approach to "body therapy" that involves "body reading" and "movement re-education" and allegedly can increase the "flow" of clients' "energy." "Body reading" purportedly is a sophisticated form of observation that enables practitioners to reach the root of the client's problem.
Research
The most comprehensive review of “quantum theta energy healing” is right here! I have concluded that the evidence is insufficient to suggest “quantum theta” energy healing & “deep emotional release body work are an ineffective treatment for any condition.
I further state that “quantum theta energy healing" & "deep emotional release body work" lacks scientific credibility! The scientific and medical communities have not accepted them as an effective therapy.
Plausible scientific explanation as to how it could possibly be efficacious is not to be found.
The explanation of the efficacy of “quantum theta” energy healing or “deep emotional release” depends entirely on a particular view of the world as permeated by this "universal life energy" (“quantum theta” energy) that is subject to manipulation by human thought and will.
Mr. Hyman the self professed “founder”, “inventor”, “discoverer” & “practitioner claims that his training allows him to channel the "quantum theta energy" that is present in all living beings.
The most obvious first question is what training?
From what University did you receive such training?
In what field is your advanced training?
What degree have you been presented, bestowed or awarded?
The answer to all of the above is nothing. Nada. Bupkus. A big fat Zilch!
This "quantum theta energy," is unknown to natural science.
As the presence of such energy has not been observed by means of natural science, the justification for these therapies necessarily must come from something other than science.
Next we shall discuss Mr. Hyman's highest priced pseudo-scientific scam; his "Quantum Theta Deep Emotional Body Work" (QTDEBW) Practitioner Training!
Practitioner Training
No special background or credentials are needed to receive “quantum theta energy healing” (QTEH) or “deep emotional release” (DER) training.
To become a practitioner, one must receive an "initiation" or "attunement" from Mr. Hyman himself.
Mr. Hyman quotes the costs of this beginning at $500.00 for a single 8 hour session.
Of course, as is the hucksters’ normal philosophy you cannot "learn" Mr. Hyman's technique in one session.
Since he purports to be the founder of course only he can teach it.
This will require numerous sessions & will cost frankly whatever Mr. Hyman can fleece from his unsuspecting "student."
Mr. Hyman will certainly accept your $500.00 for a one day 8 hour training session.
He will then attempt to convince you that to be a "practitioner" you will purportedly require further training.
Ultimately when he determines he has dispossessed you from all the funds possible in this "training session" you are now allowed to practice at the lower levels.
Typically this takes 1 or 2 days and begins with the previously mentioned attunement.
Many practitioners are massage therapists.
However, no licensing or professional standards exist for the practice of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” itself.
Like wise for “Deep Emotional Release Bodywork.”
Whether QTEH or DERB can be considered the unlicensed practice of medicine varies from state to state.
Of course to practice at the higher levels, Mr. Hyman will require further payment in order to complete your "training."
At the higher levels, one can allegedly channel “quantum theta energy” and effect healings at a distance, without physical contact.
This would fall in line with Mr. Hyman's aforementioned "quantum theta telephone energy healing."
In other words once properly trained by "the master" you too can fleece peoples hard earned money without ever going near them.
Simply become a vendor authorized to accept credit card charges with access to your victim’s credit card number & you also can cash in over the phone!
This is the why we here at WiKiLeax as well as those at QuacKWatch.org & Skepdoc.com strive to educate the public.
We know you work hard for your money. We don't want to see you give it away unknowingly without a more detailed explanation of the scam than you will ever get from the scammer himself.
Quackwatch, RationalWiKi, WiKiLeax,Skepdoc.com & DebunktionJunction shall take the responsibility of educating the few, unsuspecting & trusting members of the public to these scams on our web sites as well as on other public forums.
Our Conclusion
In the mid-1990s, at ages 9 and 10, Emily Rosa demonstrated that 21 therapeutic touch (TT) practitioners could not detect her alleged "energy field." During the tests, the practitioners rested their arms on a flat surface, about a foot apart. Emily then hovered her hand, palm down, a few inches above one of the subject's palms. A cardboard screen prevented the subjects from seeing which of their hands was selected. The practitioners correctly located Emily's hand only 122 (44%) out of 280 trials, which is no better than would be expected by guessing. After the Journal of the American Medical Association published the results, TT leaders called the study a "parlor game," but they refused to suggest an alternative experimental design or to undergo similar tests themselves. It might be interesting to investigate whether Mr. Hyman or any other alleged practitioner of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) can actually sense or transmit "energy," whether “quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release bodywork or attunements" actually enhance anything, and whether feelings of warmth are accompanied by any measurable change of skin temperature. But I doubt that the “quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release attunements" practitioner Mr. Hyman would be any more eager than the TT community to have its fundamental concepts tested.
The Bottom Line
“Quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release attunements" have no substantiated health value and lacks a scientifically plausible rationale. Science-based healthcare settings should not tolerate its use, and scarce government research dollars should not be used to study it.
HYMAN9
The partners in crime practitioners of the so called "deep emotional release bodywork & integrated quantum theta healing" have co-opted some of the language of physics, including the language of quantum mechanics, in their quest to make metaphysical quackery sound like respectable science. How is it possible to get relief from swelling, pain, nausea, headaches, anxiety, and an assortment of other ailments without the use of medicine or surgery? It is not. However, various hucksters attempt to utilize the terms of quantum mechanics & physics in order to attempt to separate you from your hard earned money. We at WiKiLeax are involved in an expose of the so called "quantum theta energy healers" who are perpetrating such a fraud.
So called "energy healers" have been adept at the art of separating you from your hard earned money for centuries. These new age hucksters who call themselves "Quantum Theta Energy Healers" (QTEH) have refined this preposterous method so they can now access our wallets In so called "telephone session." The amazing thing about this is that the healer need not even touch the patient. In fact, the healer need not even be in the presence of the patient. "Integrated Quantum Theta Energy Healing" is so powerful, according to "the practitioner," a Mr. James Hyman that Mr. Hyman need not even be in the presence of the "subject" or "patient" he is treating. Unbeknownst to him, Mr. Hyman was asked to first conduct one of his "quantum theta energy healing" phone sessions with our writer, a perfectly healthy pescetarian 53 year old male. in order to facilitate the "deep emotional healing" of what was purported to be a deeply troubled man. Mr. Hyman conducted 2 "telephone sessions" with the subject between his home in CA and the mans in FL at a cost of over $1,500.00. After the two telephone sessions, Mr. Hyman came to the conclusion that the subject was indeed markedly and painfully rooted with "deep emotionally contained quantum theta negative energy" which was affecting both his physical and mental well being. After collecting his fee for his diagnosis and telephone sessions, & armed with the mans credit card information for the purposes of charging should the subject not be willing to pay, Mr. Hyman compassionately offered to travel to FL for a series of in person "quantum theta energy healing" sessions with the man over a four day period for a minimum guaranteed fee of an additional $3,500.00. We shall describe what occurred in FL at these "in person quantum theta energy healing" sessions next.
In Person "Quantum Theta Energy Healing" (QTEH) Sessions; In actuality the subject, our writer, armed with financing from WiKiLeax was in reality a healthy, 53 year old pescetarian male. He recently had a full yearly physical conducted by a board certified MD in Internal Medicine. He was MD verified to be drug free, 5'9" tall and weighing 135 pounds. With a thrice weekly MD verified pulse rate of between
66-72, as well as a blood pressure of between 110/66 and 120/70. His blood sugar was measured two hours after eating on three different occasions as averaging 5.5mmol/L. In other words an extremely healthy 53 year old male with the heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels of someone at a minimum 10-15 years his junior. This most likely due to his healthy lifestyle choices of a pescetarian diet as well as regular exercise. The exercise consists of speed walking or running approximately 5K (about 3.1 miles) daily.
Upon arrival Mr. Hyman proceeded with 2 "in person quantum theta energy healing" sessions. During these in person "quantum theta energy healing" sessions Mr. Hyman simply waved his hands over the patient and “felt” the "quantum theta energy" moving. Great stuff but what’s really going on? Nothing according to our writer other than another crystal crowd huckster reaching into our collective wallets! During his in person "sessions" with our writer, an impostor on his massage table, Mr. Hyman seemed to be so troubled by the gentleman's negative "quantum theta energy fields" that the practitioner (Mr. Hyman) can be heard “chanting” some heretofore unknown “mantras.” This our subject could only conclude was Mr. Hyman's attempts to ward off our writers "deep emotional negative quantum theta energy" mojo that Mr. Hyman had now removed from the “patients” body. The need for chanting is apparently a method of stopping said mojo from entering Mr. Hymans “quantum theta” energy fields. Thankfully, our writer was healthy & Mr. Hyman appeared to leave our subject unscathed, except for our writers wallet, which was considerably lighter. Although Mr. Hyman claims to be the "founder" of this "practice" this is in fact a variation of both WooJangJu Power Meditation or WooJangJu Power Chant Healing Meditation. Its purported design is to protect meditators, while they are healing, from vengeful spirits. Another age old hucksters quackery Mr. Hyman "borrows" from is known as Wu Ming Qigong
(Wu Ming Qigong system, Taoist Wu Ming Qigong): This is a millennia old "self-healing practice" taught by the American Taoist Healing Center, Inc., in New York City. It allegedly helps users connect body, mind, and spirit. Its theory posits a transfer, from teacher to student, of "energy" that heals and guides the student. Proponents use the Chinese expression "wu ming," which literally means "no name," to refer to the "original natural force" from which everything's "essence" flows. Apparently Mr. Hyman has renamed this "force" "quantum theta energy" for his own nefarious gain. Next we shall reveal where Mr. Hyman the so called "founder" of this process has "borrowed" these terms.
"Other Quack Scams" Hyman Has “Borrowed” From
4) Lesser Kan & Li (Sexual Alchemy): Form of meditation whose theory posits chi, "core energy channels," "higher energy bodies," and "internal" male and female "sexual energies" (which supposedly are mixable in "self-intercourse")
5) Life force balancing: Combination of the laying on of hands, psychic healing, psychological "adjustments," and spiritual counseling, developed by Barbara West. It involves a "healing science" called "intercellular regeneration."
6) Life Care Kinesiology (Life Care): Offshoot of applied kinesiology put together by Dr. Richard Beale. It borrows from acupuncture and Touch for Health and includes "chakra meditation."
7) Life Impressions Bodywork: "Healing process" developed by Donald Van Howten (Ravi Dos). It includes "cranial membrane treatment" (probably Cranio-Sacral work) and "pulse work" and borrows from Ayurveda and Hakomi. Its premises include the following. (a) Humans are spirits. (b) Bodily tissues accumulate "history." (c) This "imprint" of experiences becomes "outdated." Updating "idea imprinted" tissues (the method's purported intention) releases "bound beliefs" and "energy."
8) Light Touch Energy Healing: Method that purportedly focuses on: balancing bodily "energy," releasing "cellular memory," and identifying "energy patterns" that limit happiness.
9) LooyenWork®: Approach to "body therapy" that involves "body reading" and "movement re-education" and allegedly can increase the "flow" of clients' "energy." "Body reading" purportedly is a sophisticated form of observation that enables practitioners to reach the root of the client's problem.
Research
The most comprehensive review of “quantum theta energy healing” is right here! I have concluded that the evidence is insufficient to suggest “quantum theta” energy healing & “deep emotional release body work are an ineffective treatment for any condition.
I further state that “quantum theta energy healing" & "deep emotional release body work" lacks scientific credibility! The scientific and medical communities have not accepted them as an effective therapy.
Plausible scientific explanation as to how it could possibly be efficacious is not to be found.
The explanation of the efficacy of “quantum theta” energy healing or “deep emotional release” depends entirely on a particular view of the world as permeated by this "universal life energy" (“quantum theta” energy) that is subject to manipulation by human thought and will.
Mr. Hyman the self professed “founder”, “inventor”, “discoverer” & “practitioner claims that his training allows him to channel the "quantum theta energy" that is present in all living beings.
The most obvious first question is what training?
From what University did you receive such training?
In what field is your advanced training?
What degree have you been presented, bestowed or awarded?
The answer to all of the above is nothing. Nada. Bupkus. A big fat Zilch!
This "quantum theta energy," is unknown to natural science.
As the presence of such energy has not been observed by means of natural science, the justification for these therapies necessarily must come from something other than science.
Next we shall discuss Mr. Hyman's highest priced pseudo-scientific scam; his "Quantum Theta Deep Emotional Body Work" (QTDEBW) Practitioner Training!
Practitioner Training
No special background or credentials are needed to receive “quantum theta energy healing” (QTEH) or “deep emotional release” (DER) training.
To become a practitioner, one must receive an "initiation" or "attunement" from Mr. Hyman himself.
Mr. Hyman quotes the costs of this beginning at $500.00 for a single 8 hour session.
Of course, as is the hucksters’ normal philosophy you cannot "learn" Mr. Hyman's technique in one session.
Since he purports to be the founder of course only he can teach it.
This will require numerous sessions & will cost frankly whatever Mr. Hyman can fleece from his unsuspecting "student."
Mr. Hyman will certainly accept your $500.00 for a one day 8 hour training session.
He will then attempt to convince you that to be a "practitioner" you will purportedly require further training.
Ultimately when he determines he has dispossessed you from all the funds possible in this "training session" you are now allowed to practice at the lower levels.
Typically this takes 1 or 2 days and begins with the previously mentioned attunement.
Many practitioners are massage therapists.
However, no licensing or professional standards exist for the practice of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” itself.
Like wise for “Deep Emotional Release Bodywork.”
Whether QTEH or DERB can be considered the unlicensed practice of medicine varies from state to state.
Of course to practice at the higher levels, Mr. Hyman will require further payment in order to complete your "training."
At the higher levels, one can allegedly channel “quantum theta energy” and effect healings at a distance, without physical contact.
This would fall in line with Mr. Hyman's aforementioned "quantum theta telephone energy healing."
In other words once properly trained by "the master" you too can fleece peoples hard earned money without ever going near them.
Simply become a vendor authorized to accept credit card charges with access to your victim’s credit card number & you also can cash in over the phone!
This is the why we here at WiKiLeax as well as those at QuacKWatch.org & Skepdoc.com strive to educate the public.
We know you work hard for your money. We don't want to see you give it away unknowingly without a more detailed explanation of the scam than you will ever get from the scammer himself.
Quackwatch, RationalWiKi, WiKiLeax,Skepdoc.com & DebunktionJunction shall take the responsibility of educating the few, unsuspecting & trusting members of the public to these scams on our web sites as well as on other public forums.
Our Conclusion
In the mid-1990s, at ages 9 and 10, Emily Rosa demonstrated that 21 therapeutic touch (TT) practitioners could not detect her alleged "energy field." During the tests, the practitioners rested their arms on a flat surface, about a foot apart. Emily then hovered her hand, palm down, a few inches above one of the subject's palms. A cardboard screen prevented the subjects from seeing which of their hands was selected. The practitioners correctly located Emily's hand only 122 (44%) out of 280 trials, which is no better than would be expected by guessing. After the Journal of the American Medical Association published the results, TT leaders called the study a "parlor game," but they refused to suggest an alternative experimental design or to undergo similar tests themselves. It might be interesting to investigate whether Mr. Hyman or any other alleged practitioner of “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH) can actually sense or transmit "energy," whether “quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release bodywork or attunements" actually enhance anything, and whether feelings of warmth are accompanied by any measurable change of skin temperature. But I doubt that the “quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release attunements" practitioner Mr. Hyman would be any more eager than the TT community to have its fundamental concepts tested.
The Bottom Line
“Quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release attunements" have no substantiated health value and lacks a scientifically plausible rationale. Science-based healthcare settings should not tolerate its use, and scarce government research dollars should not be used to study it.
James Hyman: More" Quantum Theta Quackery!"
The quantum theta energy healers are at it again!
I previously related my experiences with James Hyman the self professed
founder of what he calls "quantum theta" energy healing.
Mr. Hyman is now back with a new web site where he claims his
Pseudo scientific alt med quackery is able to cure a number of psychiatric disorders.
For example the allegation made here;
http://emotionalrelease.com/tag/natural-therapy-for-depression/
are that Hyman is able to facilitate the clearing of lifetimes of karma, repressed emotional energy, grief, fears, anxiety, and depression that occurs at the quantum-theta level (wherever the hell that is).
The assertion at this portion; http://emotionalrelease.com/
is that by working with the chakras and the energy fields in and around the body, Hyman gently and effectively guides you through the release of fears, anxiety, anger, and negative emotions and patterns.
In the 10th paragraph on the 5th line he even goes so far as to profess that he can relieve depression, insomnia and the need for medication!
All this in one and one half hour sessions administered to others at distant
locations over the phone at a cost of $150.00 or in person quantum theta energy healing sessions for $250.00!
The Hymans declare that James Hyman has become so adept at this practice they he can actually accomplish it over the telephone! Clearly this unconventional session happens rarely.
Why would anyone in his or her right mind pay a quack $150.00 for a
Transformational quantum theta energy healing telephone session?
In this folder; http://emotionalrelease.com/deep-emotional-release-bodywork/
they have
the audacity to claim James Hyman is a scientist who’s intense study of
metaphysics and shamanism qualify him as an expert in several different areas of wellness.
The fact is he has no degree in medicine, psychology, psychiatry, chemistry, biochemistry, physiology or advanced education whatsoever.
However they go on to utilize a disclaimer stating that his scientific
practice is a specialty in the field of transformational bodywork, self-healing energy work, and Chinese Qi Gong.
Hyman even relates his work to what was seen in the movie, The Secret;
http://emotionalrelease.com/tag/the-secret/
Anyone who reads the newspaper or watches TV news knows what has happened to the main proponent of The Secret. The trial of James Arthur Ray, the author of The Secret has concluded and Mr. Ray has been convicted of manslaughter!
Unfortunate timing for those quack meisters currently pushing their own brand of
“quantum theta” energy healing!
Of course what alt med quacks would be without their number one piece of
propaganda; "Testimonials."
The Hyman's testimonials pronounce;
1. After one session with James Hyman patients no longer need any of their
medications
2. James Hyman is the real deal, a true healer whose work is profound!
3. After one session James Hyman's work was so powerful one patient was
cured of anxiety and codependency
http://emotionalrelease.com/testimonials-2/
--THE ALT MEDS 5 RULES OF PROPAGANDA --
1. The rule of orchestration: endlessly repeating the same messages in
different variations and combinations.
2. The rule of simplification: reducing all data to testimonials
3) The rule of disfiguration: Their description for a phenomenon where many
irrational beliefs are justified by an obfuscatory reference to quantum physics, thereby discrediting the opposition by crude smears and parodies.
4) The rule of transfusion: manipulating the consensus values for the target
audience for one's own ends.
5) The rule of unanimity: presenting one's viewpoint as if it were the
unanimous opinion of all right-thinking people: CAM is the natural or organic method! Thereby attempting to drain the doubting individual into agreement by the appeal of social pressure, and by 'psychological contagion'.
Hyman pronounces in the 3rd paragraph here;
http://emotionalrelease.com/new-insight-and-personal-empowerment/
that this is not traditional ongoing therapy, you will require only one
session to access your subconscious mind at the "quantum grid"
(wherever that is!)
Then in the 5th paragraph he contends his work opens up the internal energy
field and get this, opens the Dura around the brain!
http://emotionalrelease.com/new-insight-and-personal-empowerment/
Finally here; http://emotionalrelease.com/quantum-theta-healing/
they state that Hyman’s unique integrated system is a combination of different, powerful and
effective forms of energy healing, shaman healing, quantum healing, theta healing, and Chinese Qigong Healing.
REALITY
Quantum Theta Energy Healing is taken from the description for a phenomenon
where many irrational beliefs are justified by an obfuscatory reference to quantum physics. In this case the focus is on some sort of quantum theta energy field that magically turns thoughts into something tangible that can directly affect the universe.
This is Hyman's attempt to piggy-back on the success and legitimacy of science by claiming his quack ideas are rooted in accepted concepts in physics combined with utter misunderstanding of these concepts and a sense of wonder at the amazing magic these misunderstandings would imply if true.
When an idea seems too crazy to believe, the proponent (Hyman) often makes an appeal to quantum physics as the explanation.
Hyman's Pseudoscience
Since most people have never studied quantum physics they do not understand
why these sham ideas are a perversion of it - in fact, this relies on people thinking
that quantum mechanics is too hard or only for scientists in order for the scams to work and stop people questioning them.
Practitioners of fraudulent and silly ideas can tap into this feeling of
mystery to push their sham concepts, i.e. quantum theta energy
healing;
I previously related my experiences with James Hyman the self professed
founder of what he calls "quantum theta" energy healing.
Mr. Hyman is now back with a new web site where he claims his
Pseudo scientific alt med quackery is able to cure a number of psychiatric disorders.
For example the allegation made here;
http://emotionalrelease.com/tag/natural-therapy-for-depression/
are that Hyman is able to facilitate the clearing of lifetimes of karma, repressed emotional energy, grief, fears, anxiety, and depression that occurs at the quantum-theta level (wherever the hell that is).
The assertion at this portion; http://emotionalrelease.com/
is that by working with the chakras and the energy fields in and around the body, Hyman gently and effectively guides you through the release of fears, anxiety, anger, and negative emotions and patterns.
In the 10th paragraph on the 5th line he even goes so far as to profess that he can relieve depression, insomnia and the need for medication!
All this in one and one half hour sessions administered to others at distant
locations over the phone at a cost of $150.00 or in person quantum theta energy healing sessions for $250.00!
The Hymans declare that James Hyman has become so adept at this practice they he can actually accomplish it over the telephone! Clearly this unconventional session happens rarely.
Why would anyone in his or her right mind pay a quack $150.00 for a
Transformational quantum theta energy healing telephone session?
In this folder; http://emotionalrelease.com/deep-emotional-release-bodywork/
they have
the audacity to claim James Hyman is a scientist who’s intense study of
metaphysics and shamanism qualify him as an expert in several different areas of wellness.
The fact is he has no degree in medicine, psychology, psychiatry, chemistry, biochemistry, physiology or advanced education whatsoever.
However they go on to utilize a disclaimer stating that his scientific
practice is a specialty in the field of transformational bodywork, self-healing energy work, and Chinese Qi Gong.
Hyman even relates his work to what was seen in the movie, The Secret;
http://emotionalrelease.com/tag/the-secret/
Anyone who reads the newspaper or watches TV news knows what has happened to the main proponent of The Secret. The trial of James Arthur Ray, the author of The Secret has concluded and Mr. Ray has been convicted of manslaughter!
Unfortunate timing for those quack meisters currently pushing their own brand of
“quantum theta” energy healing!
Of course what alt med quacks would be without their number one piece of
propaganda; "Testimonials."
The Hyman's testimonials pronounce;
1. After one session with James Hyman patients no longer need any of their
medications
2. James Hyman is the real deal, a true healer whose work is profound!
3. After one session James Hyman's work was so powerful one patient was
cured of anxiety and codependency
http://emotionalrelease.com/testimonials-2/
--THE ALT MEDS 5 RULES OF PROPAGANDA --
1. The rule of orchestration: endlessly repeating the same messages in
different variations and combinations.
2. The rule of simplification: reducing all data to testimonials
3) The rule of disfiguration: Their description for a phenomenon where many
irrational beliefs are justified by an obfuscatory reference to quantum physics, thereby discrediting the opposition by crude smears and parodies.
4) The rule of transfusion: manipulating the consensus values for the target
audience for one's own ends.
5) The rule of unanimity: presenting one's viewpoint as if it were the
unanimous opinion of all right-thinking people: CAM is the natural or organic method! Thereby attempting to drain the doubting individual into agreement by the appeal of social pressure, and by 'psychological contagion'.
Hyman pronounces in the 3rd paragraph here;
http://emotionalrelease.com/new-insight-and-personal-empowerment/
that this is not traditional ongoing therapy, you will require only one
session to access your subconscious mind at the "quantum grid"
(wherever that is!)
Then in the 5th paragraph he contends his work opens up the internal energy
field and get this, opens the Dura around the brain!
http://emotionalrelease.com/new-insight-and-personal-empowerment/
Finally here; http://emotionalrelease.com/quantum-theta-healing/
they state that Hyman’s unique integrated system is a combination of different, powerful and
effective forms of energy healing, shaman healing, quantum healing, theta healing, and Chinese Qigong Healing.
REALITY
Quantum Theta Energy Healing is taken from the description for a phenomenon
where many irrational beliefs are justified by an obfuscatory reference to quantum physics. In this case the focus is on some sort of quantum theta energy field that magically turns thoughts into something tangible that can directly affect the universe.
This is Hyman's attempt to piggy-back on the success and legitimacy of science by claiming his quack ideas are rooted in accepted concepts in physics combined with utter misunderstanding of these concepts and a sense of wonder at the amazing magic these misunderstandings would imply if true.
When an idea seems too crazy to believe, the proponent (Hyman) often makes an appeal to quantum physics as the explanation.
Hyman's Pseudoscience
Since most people have never studied quantum physics they do not understand
why these sham ideas are a perversion of it - in fact, this relies on people thinking
that quantum mechanics is too hard or only for scientists in order for the scams to work and stop people questioning them.
Practitioners of fraudulent and silly ideas can tap into this feeling of
mystery to push their sham concepts, i.e. quantum theta energy
healing;
James Hyman: "Quantum Theta Healing!"
Quantum Theta Deep Emotional Release Energy Healing Is Bunk!
Quantum Theta or Deep Emotional Release is one of several nonsensical methods commonly referred to as "energy healing." These methods are based on the idea that the body is surrounded or permeated by an energy field that is not measurable by ordinary scientific instrumentation. The alleged force, said to support life, is known as ki in Japan, as chi or qi in China, and as prana in India.
James & Barbara Hyman the “practitioners” claim to facilitate healing by strengthening or "balancing" or emotionally releasing so called “quantum theta” energy fields.
In actuality this pseudo-science is pure bunk. It is simply another cheap hucksters way of attempting to separate you from your hard earned money.
“Quantum Theta” Energy healing can also be administered to others at distant locations.
The Hymans have become so adept at this practice they claim they can actually accomplish it over the telephone! Clearly this unconventional session happens rarely. Why? Why would anyone in his or her right mind pay a quack $150.00 for a transformational “quantum theta” energy healing telephone session?
Actual Origin
Although the Hyman’s claim to be the founders, this practice is merely a new take on a series of much older scams. These are known by a variety of names.
1) Imperial Qi Gong. This is a method taught by Dr. Warner Chen, a proponent of Human Resources Chi Gong, Marrow Cleansing Chi Gong, and Quantum Leap Chi Gong therapy. Apparently, Imperial Qi Gong as well as “Quantum Theta or Deep Emotional Release Bodywork” is Mr. Hymans variation of Qigong therapy.
2) Vibrational Medicine a/k/a energetic medicine, energetics medicine, energy medicine, subtle-energy medicine, vibrational healing & vibrational therapies. The main "tenet" is that humans are "dynamic energy systems" Its premises include the following. (a) Health and illness originate in "subtle energy systems." (b) These systems coordinate the "life-force" and the "physical body." (c) Emotions, spirituality, and environmental factors affect the "subtle energy systems." Vibrational medicine embraces "chakra rebalancing, absent healing, (the aforementioned $150.00 telephone sessions) etheric touch, the laying on of hands, Past-life Regression, and Therapeutic Touch.
The expressions "energy healing," "energy work," and "energetic healing work" appear synonymous with "vibrational medicine."
During some “intense quantum theta energy healing sessions” the practitioner (Mr. Hyman) can be heard “chanting” some heretofore unknown “mantras.” Apparently to ward off the “quantum theta“ negative energy mojo that he has removed from the “patients” body. The need for chanting is apparently a method of stopping said mojo from entering Mr. Hymans “quantum theta” energy fields.
This brings us to our age old scam number
3) WooJangJu Power Meditation or WooJangJu Power Chant. This is a variation of TaeUIJu Healing Meditation. Its purported design is to protect meditators, while they are healing, from vengeful spirits.
4) Wu Ming Qigong (Wu Ming Qigong system, Taoist Wu Ming Qigong): Millennia-old "self-healing practice" taught by the American Taoist Healing Center, Inc., in New York City. It allegedly helps users connect body, mind, and spirit. Its theory posits a transfer, from teacher to student, of "energy" that heals and guides the student. Proponents use the Chinese expression "wu ming," which literally means "no name," to refer to the "original natural force" from which everything's "essence" flows.
Other Quack Shams Hyman Has “Borrowed” From;
Lesser Kan & Li (Sexual Alchemy): Form of meditation whose theory posits chi, "core energy channels," "higher energy bodies," and "internal" male and female "sexual energies" (which supposedly are mixable in "self-intercourse").
life force balancing: Combination of the laying on of hands, psychic healing, psychological "adjustments," and spiritual counseling, developed by Barbara West. It involves a "healing science" called "intercellular regeneration."
Life Care Kinesiology (Life Care): Offshoot of applied kinesiology put together by Dr. Richard Beale. It borrows from acupuncture and Touch for Health and includes "chakra meditation."
Life Impressions Bodywork: "Healing process" developed by Donald Van Howten (Ravi Dos). It includes "cranial membrane treatment" (probably Cranio-Sacral work) and "pulse work" and borrows from Ayurveda and Hakomi. Its premises include the following. (a) Humans are spirits. (b) Bodily tissues accumulate "history." (c) This "imprint" of experiences becomes
"outdated." Updating "idea imprinted" tissues (the method's purported intention) releases "bound beliefs" and "energy."
Light Touch Energy Healing: Method that purportedly focuses on: balancing bodily "energy," releasing "cellular memory," and identifying "energy patterns" that limit happiness.
LooyenWork®: Approach to "body therapy" that involves "body reading" and "movement re-education" and allegedly can increase the "flow" of clients' "energy." "Body reading" purportedly is a sophisticated form of observation that enables practitioners to reach the root of the client's problem.
Methodology Of Absent Healing or Hyman Hype Telephone Healing
Mr. Hyman calls you from an unknown location, (perhaps while he is doing his business in his bath room) and begins channeling the so called “quantum theta” energy fields over the telephone. Somehow his theory is that by asking you some simple questions & by offering you your own personal mantras” or techniques he can promulgate the "release" of "negative energy."
That’s right, if you can’t make it to them they will be so bold as to claim to deeply & emotionally release you from negative “quantum theta energy” via the telephone. In reality the only thing you will be released from is your hard earned money. This is simply Mr. Hyman’s take on what has previously been known as psychic intuitive healing or long distance healing.
Background And History
The word "quantum" is derived from physics a quantum (plural: quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an interaction. Behind this, one finds the fundamental notion that a physical property may be "quantized," referred to as "the hypothesis of quantization. This means that the magnitude can take on only certain discrete values. There is a related term of quantum number. An example of an entity that is quantized is the energy transfer of elementary particles of matter (called fermions) and of photons and other bosons.
A photon is a single quantum of light, and is referred to as a "light quantum". The energy of an electron bound to an atom (at rest) is said to be quantized, which results in the stability of atoms, and of matter in general.
As incorporated into the theory of quantum mechanics, this is regarded by physicists as part of the fundamental framework for understanding and describing nature at the infinitesimal level.
Normally quanta are considered to be discrete packets with energy stored in them. Max Planck considered these quanta to be particles that can change their form (meaning that they can be absorbed and released). This phenomenon can be observed in the case of black body radiation, when it is being heated and cooled.
The word “theta” is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter Teth. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 9.
In math and science a “theta” is known as the following; a plane angle in geometry. A special function of several complex variables. One of the Chebyshev functions in prime number theory. The potential temperature in meteorology. The score of a test taker in item response theory. A bacterial DNA replication specific to circular chromosones. The threshold of a neuron. A Bayer designation letter applied to a star in a constellation; usually the eight star labeled but not necessarily the eighth brightest as viewed from teh earth. The parameter frequently used in writing likelihood function (Bayes Theorem). Along with μ (mu) population parameters in the Normal/Gaussian/Bell curve distribution, usually designated N. The Watterson estimator for the population mutation rate in population genetics. Unfortunately for Mr. Hyman, there is no known use of the two terms together in any body energy fields.
In the science fiction TV series Doctor Who, the character of the Doctor was once known as Theta Sigma whilst he lived on Gallifrey. Perhaps since Mr. Hyman’s use of the word is a fictionalized version, this may be the most likely relation to his “quantum theta” energy fields!
Practitioner Training
No special background or credentials are needed to receive “quantum theta” energy healing or “deep emotional release” training. To become a practitioner, one must receive an "initiation" or "attunement" from Mr. Hyman himself. This ceremony makes one "attuned" to the "quantum theta energy" and enables one to serve as a conduit for it. There are said to be numerous levels of attunement.
This philosophy would fall directly in line with Mr. Hyman’s actual goal of separating the “patient” or in this case the “student” from their hard earned money. At the higher levels, one can allegedly channel “quantum theta energy” and effect healings at a distance, without physical contact. This would fall in line with purportedly allow one to practice Training for the lower levels typically takes 1 or 2 days and begins with an attunement.
Many practitioners are massage therapists.
However, no licensing or professional standards exist for the practice of reiki or quantum theta energy healing (QTEH or Kew-Tee!.
Therefore whether reiki or “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH or Kew-Tee) can be considered the unlicensed practice of medicine varies from state to state.
Research
WiKiLeax, Quackwatch. Rational Wiki, The James Randi Foundation and others have done the most comprehensive review of “quantum theta energy healing” reiki and energy healing in general. The articles at all have concluded that the evidence is insufficient to suggest, “quantum theta energy healing" or "deep emotional release body work," or any form of energy healing are an effective treatment for any condition."
The articles further state; “Quantum Theta Energy Healing”, any form of "energy healing" & Deep Emotional Release Body Work lacks scientific credibility.
The scientific and medical communities have not accepted it as an effective therapy.
Plausible scientific explanation as to how it could possibly be efficacious is not to be found.
The explanation of the efficacy of “quantum theta” energy healing, energy healing or “deep emotional release” depends entirely on a particular view of the world as permeated by this "universal life energy" (“quantum theta” energy or other pseudo-scientific energy fields) that are subject to manipulation by human thought and will.
Mr. Hyman the "inventor," "discoverer" & "practitioner" (that a lot to discover in one lifetime!) claims that his training allows him to channel the "quantum theta energy" that is present in all living beings.
This "quantum theta energy," or any "human energy fields" however, are unknown to natural science.
As the presence of such energy has not been observed by means of natural science, the justification for these therapies necessarily must come from something other than science!
In the mid-1990s, at ages 9 and 10, Emily Rosa demonstrated that 21 therapeutic touch (TT) practitioners could not detect her alleged "energy field." During the tests, the practitioners rested their arms on a flat surface, about a foot apart. Emily then hovered her hand, palm down, a few inches above one of the subject's palms. A cardboard screen prevented the subjects from seeing which of their hands was selected. The practitioners correctly located Emily's hand only 122 (44%) out of 280 trials, which is no better than would be expected by guessing. After theJournal of the American Medical Association published the results, TT leaders called the study a "parlor game," but they refused to suggest an alternative experimental design or to undergo similar tests themselves. It might be interesting to investigate whether practitioners can actually sense or transmit "energy," whether “quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release attunements" actually enhance anything, and whether feelings of warmth are accompanied by any measurable change of skin temperature. But I doubt that the “quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release attunements" practitioner Mr. Hyman would be any more eager than the TT community to have its fundamental concepts tested.
The Bottom Line
“Quantum theta energy healing,” "energy healing" or “deep emotional release attunements" have no substantiated health value and lacks a scientifically plausible rationale. Science-based healthcare settings should not tolerate its use, and scarce government research dollars should not be used to study it further.
Quantum Theta or Deep Emotional Release is one of several nonsensical methods commonly referred to as "energy healing." These methods are based on the idea that the body is surrounded or permeated by an energy field that is not measurable by ordinary scientific instrumentation. The alleged force, said to support life, is known as ki in Japan, as chi or qi in China, and as prana in India.
James & Barbara Hyman the “practitioners” claim to facilitate healing by strengthening or "balancing" or emotionally releasing so called “quantum theta” energy fields.
In actuality this pseudo-science is pure bunk. It is simply another cheap hucksters way of attempting to separate you from your hard earned money.
“Quantum Theta” Energy healing can also be administered to others at distant locations.
The Hymans have become so adept at this practice they claim they can actually accomplish it over the telephone! Clearly this unconventional session happens rarely. Why? Why would anyone in his or her right mind pay a quack $150.00 for a transformational “quantum theta” energy healing telephone session?
Actual Origin
Although the Hyman’s claim to be the founders, this practice is merely a new take on a series of much older scams. These are known by a variety of names.
1) Imperial Qi Gong. This is a method taught by Dr. Warner Chen, a proponent of Human Resources Chi Gong, Marrow Cleansing Chi Gong, and Quantum Leap Chi Gong therapy. Apparently, Imperial Qi Gong as well as “Quantum Theta or Deep Emotional Release Bodywork” is Mr. Hymans variation of Qigong therapy.
2) Vibrational Medicine a/k/a energetic medicine, energetics medicine, energy medicine, subtle-energy medicine, vibrational healing & vibrational therapies. The main "tenet" is that humans are "dynamic energy systems" Its premises include the following. (a) Health and illness originate in "subtle energy systems." (b) These systems coordinate the "life-force" and the "physical body." (c) Emotions, spirituality, and environmental factors affect the "subtle energy systems." Vibrational medicine embraces "chakra rebalancing, absent healing, (the aforementioned $150.00 telephone sessions) etheric touch, the laying on of hands, Past-life Regression, and Therapeutic Touch.
The expressions "energy healing," "energy work," and "energetic healing work" appear synonymous with "vibrational medicine."
During some “intense quantum theta energy healing sessions” the practitioner (Mr. Hyman) can be heard “chanting” some heretofore unknown “mantras.” Apparently to ward off the “quantum theta“ negative energy mojo that he has removed from the “patients” body. The need for chanting is apparently a method of stopping said mojo from entering Mr. Hymans “quantum theta” energy fields.
This brings us to our age old scam number
3) WooJangJu Power Meditation or WooJangJu Power Chant. This is a variation of TaeUIJu Healing Meditation. Its purported design is to protect meditators, while they are healing, from vengeful spirits.
4) Wu Ming Qigong (Wu Ming Qigong system, Taoist Wu Ming Qigong): Millennia-old "self-healing practice" taught by the American Taoist Healing Center, Inc., in New York City. It allegedly helps users connect body, mind, and spirit. Its theory posits a transfer, from teacher to student, of "energy" that heals and guides the student. Proponents use the Chinese expression "wu ming," which literally means "no name," to refer to the "original natural force" from which everything's "essence" flows.
Other Quack Shams Hyman Has “Borrowed” From;
Lesser Kan & Li (Sexual Alchemy): Form of meditation whose theory posits chi, "core energy channels," "higher energy bodies," and "internal" male and female "sexual energies" (which supposedly are mixable in "self-intercourse").
life force balancing: Combination of the laying on of hands, psychic healing, psychological "adjustments," and spiritual counseling, developed by Barbara West. It involves a "healing science" called "intercellular regeneration."
Life Care Kinesiology (Life Care): Offshoot of applied kinesiology put together by Dr. Richard Beale. It borrows from acupuncture and Touch for Health and includes "chakra meditation."
Life Impressions Bodywork: "Healing process" developed by Donald Van Howten (Ravi Dos). It includes "cranial membrane treatment" (probably Cranio-Sacral work) and "pulse work" and borrows from Ayurveda and Hakomi. Its premises include the following. (a) Humans are spirits. (b) Bodily tissues accumulate "history." (c) This "imprint" of experiences becomes
"outdated." Updating "idea imprinted" tissues (the method's purported intention) releases "bound beliefs" and "energy."
Light Touch Energy Healing: Method that purportedly focuses on: balancing bodily "energy," releasing "cellular memory," and identifying "energy patterns" that limit happiness.
LooyenWork®: Approach to "body therapy" that involves "body reading" and "movement re-education" and allegedly can increase the "flow" of clients' "energy." "Body reading" purportedly is a sophisticated form of observation that enables practitioners to reach the root of the client's problem.
Methodology Of Absent Healing or Hyman Hype Telephone Healing
Mr. Hyman calls you from an unknown location, (perhaps while he is doing his business in his bath room) and begins channeling the so called “quantum theta” energy fields over the telephone. Somehow his theory is that by asking you some simple questions & by offering you your own personal mantras” or techniques he can promulgate the "release" of "negative energy."
That’s right, if you can’t make it to them they will be so bold as to claim to deeply & emotionally release you from negative “quantum theta energy” via the telephone. In reality the only thing you will be released from is your hard earned money. This is simply Mr. Hyman’s take on what has previously been known as psychic intuitive healing or long distance healing.
Background And History
The word "quantum" is derived from physics a quantum (plural: quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an interaction. Behind this, one finds the fundamental notion that a physical property may be "quantized," referred to as "the hypothesis of quantization. This means that the magnitude can take on only certain discrete values. There is a related term of quantum number. An example of an entity that is quantized is the energy transfer of elementary particles of matter (called fermions) and of photons and other bosons.
A photon is a single quantum of light, and is referred to as a "light quantum". The energy of an electron bound to an atom (at rest) is said to be quantized, which results in the stability of atoms, and of matter in general.
As incorporated into the theory of quantum mechanics, this is regarded by physicists as part of the fundamental framework for understanding and describing nature at the infinitesimal level.
Normally quanta are considered to be discrete packets with energy stored in them. Max Planck considered these quanta to be particles that can change their form (meaning that they can be absorbed and released). This phenomenon can be observed in the case of black body radiation, when it is being heated and cooled.
The word “theta” is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter Teth. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 9.
In math and science a “theta” is known as the following; a plane angle in geometry. A special function of several complex variables. One of the Chebyshev functions in prime number theory. The potential temperature in meteorology. The score of a test taker in item response theory. A bacterial DNA replication specific to circular chromosones. The threshold of a neuron. A Bayer designation letter applied to a star in a constellation; usually the eight star labeled but not necessarily the eighth brightest as viewed from teh earth. The parameter frequently used in writing likelihood function (Bayes Theorem). Along with μ (mu) population parameters in the Normal/Gaussian/Bell curve distribution, usually designated N. The Watterson estimator for the population mutation rate in population genetics. Unfortunately for Mr. Hyman, there is no known use of the two terms together in any body energy fields.
In the science fiction TV series Doctor Who, the character of the Doctor was once known as Theta Sigma whilst he lived on Gallifrey. Perhaps since Mr. Hyman’s use of the word is a fictionalized version, this may be the most likely relation to his “quantum theta” energy fields!
Practitioner Training
No special background or credentials are needed to receive “quantum theta” energy healing or “deep emotional release” training. To become a practitioner, one must receive an "initiation" or "attunement" from Mr. Hyman himself. This ceremony makes one "attuned" to the "quantum theta energy" and enables one to serve as a conduit for it. There are said to be numerous levels of attunement.
This philosophy would fall directly in line with Mr. Hyman’s actual goal of separating the “patient” or in this case the “student” from their hard earned money. At the higher levels, one can allegedly channel “quantum theta energy” and effect healings at a distance, without physical contact. This would fall in line with purportedly allow one to practice Training for the lower levels typically takes 1 or 2 days and begins with an attunement.
Many practitioners are massage therapists.
However, no licensing or professional standards exist for the practice of reiki or quantum theta energy healing (QTEH or Kew-Tee!.
Therefore whether reiki or “Quantum Theta Energy Healing” (QTEH or Kew-Tee) can be considered the unlicensed practice of medicine varies from state to state.
Research
WiKiLeax, Quackwatch. Rational Wiki, The James Randi Foundation and others have done the most comprehensive review of “quantum theta energy healing” reiki and energy healing in general. The articles at all have concluded that the evidence is insufficient to suggest, “quantum theta energy healing" or "deep emotional release body work," or any form of energy healing are an effective treatment for any condition."
The articles further state; “Quantum Theta Energy Healing”, any form of "energy healing" & Deep Emotional Release Body Work lacks scientific credibility.
The scientific and medical communities have not accepted it as an effective therapy.
Plausible scientific explanation as to how it could possibly be efficacious is not to be found.
The explanation of the efficacy of “quantum theta” energy healing, energy healing or “deep emotional release” depends entirely on a particular view of the world as permeated by this "universal life energy" (“quantum theta” energy or other pseudo-scientific energy fields) that are subject to manipulation by human thought and will.
Mr. Hyman the "inventor," "discoverer" & "practitioner" (that a lot to discover in one lifetime!) claims that his training allows him to channel the "quantum theta energy" that is present in all living beings.
This "quantum theta energy," or any "human energy fields" however, are unknown to natural science.
As the presence of such energy has not been observed by means of natural science, the justification for these therapies necessarily must come from something other than science!
In the mid-1990s, at ages 9 and 10, Emily Rosa demonstrated that 21 therapeutic touch (TT) practitioners could not detect her alleged "energy field." During the tests, the practitioners rested their arms on a flat surface, about a foot apart. Emily then hovered her hand, palm down, a few inches above one of the subject's palms. A cardboard screen prevented the subjects from seeing which of their hands was selected. The practitioners correctly located Emily's hand only 122 (44%) out of 280 trials, which is no better than would be expected by guessing. After theJournal of the American Medical Association published the results, TT leaders called the study a "parlor game," but they refused to suggest an alternative experimental design or to undergo similar tests themselves. It might be interesting to investigate whether practitioners can actually sense or transmit "energy," whether “quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release attunements" actually enhance anything, and whether feelings of warmth are accompanied by any measurable change of skin temperature. But I doubt that the “quantum theta energy healing” or “deep emotional release attunements" practitioner Mr. Hyman would be any more eager than the TT community to have its fundamental concepts tested.
The Bottom Line
“Quantum theta energy healing,” "energy healing" or “deep emotional release attunements" have no substantiated health value and lacks a scientifically plausible rationale. Science-based healthcare settings should not tolerate its use, and scarce government research dollars should not be used to study it further.
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