Physician Larry Dossey reports in “The Telecebo Response:
Toward a Postmaterial Concept of Healing” on the following experiment:
“In 2009, Tsubono, Thomlinson, and
Shealy conducted a randomized controlled trial that assessed the ability of a
healer to relieve chronic pain. The researchers concluded, ‘The results showed
that the treatment group was significantly improved compared to the control group
even though both groups were kept blind to their group assignment. Moreover,
many subjects in the treatment group were relieved of chronic pain after only
two months of healing. This suggests that healing can take place even from a
distance, and distant healing can be a very effective treatment for chronic
pain’ (Tsubono et al., 2009).
Dossey describes this “healing with intent” as the
“telecebo response,” which has “both kinship with, and difference from, the
placebo response—kinship, in that both telecebo and placebo effects arise from
intentions, thoughts, and emotions; difference, in that placebo responses arise
from a patient, while telecebo effects originate from a clinician” or someone
else trying to heal by focusing an intention.
“In addition to studies in humans,
telecebo effects are further supported by a body of research known as
DMILS—distant mental interactions with living systems. These experiments
involve a wide variety of entities such as organs, tissues, microbes, plants,
and animals. In these studies, individuals have used their intentions to
influence the growth rates of bacteria and fungi in test tubes and Petri
dishes, the rate of wound healing in mice, the healing of transplanted cancers
in mice, the function of cells in tissue cultures, the germination rates of
seeds, the growth rates of seedlings, and many other phenomena.
“In 10 controlled experiments, Bengston
tested the effect of ‘healing with intent’ on laboratory mice. In eight of
these experiments, mice were injected with mammary adenocarcinoma (breast
cancer) cells. In two experiments, mice with methylcholanthrene-induced
sarcomas were used. The fatality rate for both cancers in mice, if untreated,
is 100%.
“The healers were faculty and student volunteers. Although
they had no previous experience or belief in healing with intent and were often
skeptical of such, they were drilled extensively in the healing technique.
Treatment length was from 30 to 60 minutes, delivered daily to weekly until the
mice were cured or died. They were successful in producing full cures in
approximately 90% of the mice.
“When mammary adenocarcinoma cells were re-injected into
cured mice, the cancer would not take, suggesting that an immune response had
been stimulated during treatment. The proximity of the volunteer healers to the
cages of the mice varied from on site to approximately 600 miles.
“Thus, Bengston notes, ‘These effects were at times brought
about from a distance that defies conventional understanding,’ suggesting that
a nonlocal process was at work. “This series of studies, conducted at several
academic centers, suggests that healing through intent can be predictable,
reliable, and replicable (Bengston, 2010, 2012; Bengston & Krinsley, 2000;
Bengtson & Moga, 2007).
Telecebo effects “are examples of nonlocal phenomena
because they demonstrate the three essential features that characterize all
nonlocal happenings: they are unmediated (by any known form of energy),
unmitigated (their strength does not diminish with increasing distance), and
immediate (instantaneous) (Herbert, 1987; Markoff, 2015).
Larry Dossey, “The Telecebo Response: Toward a
Postmaterial Concept of Healing,” in Beauregard, Mario; Dyer, Natalie; Woollacott,
Marjorie, editors, Expanding Science: Visions of a
Postmaterialist Paradigm, (p. 248). AAPS. Kindle Edition. The Academy for the Advancement of
Postmaterialist Sciences (AAPS), Tucson, AZ, 2020), 221-228.
Bengston,
W. (2010). The Energy Cure: Unraveling the Mystery of Hands-on Healing.
Louisville, CO: Sounds True Publishing.
Bengston, W. F. (2012). "Spirituality,
connection, and healing with intent: reflections on cancer experiments on
laboratory mice." In Miller, L. J. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and
Spirituality. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, pp. 548-577.
Bengston, W.
F., & Krinsley, D. (2000). "The effect of the laying-on of hands on transplanted
breast cancer in mice." Journal of Scientific Exploration. 14(3), 353-364.
Bengston, W. F., & Moga, M. (2007). "Resonance, placebo effects, and type II
errors: some implications from healing research for experimental methods."
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 13(3), 317-327.
Herbert,
N. (1987). Quantum Reality. Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday, p. 214.
Markoff, J. (2015). "Sorry, Einstein. Quantum
study suggests ‘spooky action’ is real." Retrieved from:
NYtimes.com.http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/science/quantum-theory-experiment-said-to-prove-spooky-interactions.html?emc=eta1.
Accessed 22 October, 2015.
Tsubono, K., Thomlinson, P., & Shealy, N.
(2009). "The effects of distant healing performed by a spiritual healer on
chronic pain: A randomized controlled trial." Alternative Therapies in Health
and Medicine, 15 (3), 30-34.
