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Volume 8: Number 3: Article 3
Complementary Healing Therapy For Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
Daniel P. Wirth and Barbara J. Mitchell, Healing Sciences Research International, 29 Orinda Way, Box 1888, Orinda, CA 94563
The effect of Noncontact Therapeutic Touch (NCTT) therapy and Intercessory
Prayer (IP) on patient determined insulin dosage was examined in an
exploratory pilot study which utilized a randomized, double-blind, within
subject, crossover design. Sixteen type I diabetes mellitus patients
were examined and treated daily by NCTT and IP healers for a duration
of two weeks. Each patient underwent two separate sessions — one in
the treatment condition and one in the control condition — with the
patients crossing over to the opposite condition for the second session.
The results indicated that while 11 of the 16 patients (69%) in the
treatment group showed a reduction in insulin dose levels as compared
to the control group, the difference in insulin dosage did not reach
significance. It is suggested that various methodological considerations
may have been important contributing factors in the nonsignificant results
obtained including: (1) the utilization of insulin dose instead of objectively
measured laboratory blood glucose values as the dependent variable,
(2) the four foot distance and mirrored glass barrier between healer
and patient, (3) the short duration for treatment and control sessions,
(4) the experimental instructions advising patients to adjust their
caloric intake and expenditure prior to adjusting their insulin dose,
and (5) the use of healthy long-term IDDM patients with a stable insulin
dose who did not exhibit any diabetic sequelae.
