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Volume 10: Number 4: Article 1
Distance Healing of Patients With Major Depression
Bruce Greyson, Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health
Center, Farmington, CT, 06030
The therapeutic effect of distance healing as an adjunct to standard
antidepressant medication was examined in a study using a randomized,
double-blind, longitudinal design. Adult patients (N = 40) admitted
to an inpatient psychiatric unit for major depression, aged 19-81 years,
were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. All
subjects received standard treatment for depression; in addition, experimental
group subjects received distance healing daily for 6 weeks by volunteers
trained in LeShan's meditation techniques. Outcome was measured weekly
for 6 weeks and then biweekly for 6 more weeks, using the Hamilton Rating
Scale for Depression, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Global Assessment
of Function, and visual analog scale for depression. Results indicated
a nonsignificant trend for experimental subjects to show greater improvement
than control subjects in depression, general psychopathology, and overall
subjective distress. Among experimental subjects, favorable outcome
s were significantly correlated with number of healing sessions received
and with healers' ratings of the "strength" of the healing sessions.
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