The Efficacy of Spiritual Healing

    June 2001 in “ Annals of Internal Medicine ”
    K. C. Atwood
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    TLDR The document concludes that there is no credible evidence that distant healing works, and it should not be further studied in medical literature.
    The document contains a critique by Kimball C. Atwood, MD, of a review on the efficacy of "distant healing," where Atwood argues that the review's findings are compromised by methodological flaws and that any evidence of an effect is likely due to placebo or other normal means. Atwood asserts that there is no credible evidence supporting the therapeutic effect of intercessory prayer or "distant healing" and advises against further examination of such practices in medical literature. Additionally, the document presents medical cases, including a 63-year-old woman with inclusion-body myositis who improved after intravenous immunoglobulin therapy, and a 58-year-old woman with non-Hodgkin lymphoma who had a remission after treatment with rituximab. It also mentions reports to VAERS regarding the hepatitis B vaccine, indicating a need for more research into potential immunologic reactions.
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