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Background: Distant healing, a form of spiritual healing, is widely used for many conditions but little is known about its effectiveness. Methods: In order to evaluate distant healing in patients with a stable chronic condition, we randomised 409 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) from 14 private practices for environmental medicine in Germany and Austria in a two by two factorial design to immediate versus deferred (waiting for 6 months) distant healing. Half the patients were blinded and half knew their treatment allocation. Patients were treated for 6 months and allocated to groups of 3 healers from a pool of 462 healers in 21 European countries with different healing traditions. Change in Mental Health Component Summary (MHCS) score (SF-36) was the primary outcome and Physical Health Component Summary score (PHCS) the secondary outcome. Results: This trial population had very low quality of life and symptom scores at entry. There were no differences over 6 months in post-treatment MHCS scores between the treated and untreated groups. There was a non-significant outcome (p = 0.11) for healing with PHCS (1.11; 95% CI –0.255 to 2.473 at 6 months) and a significant effect (p = 0.027) for blinding; patients who were unblinded became worse during the trial (–1.544; 95% CI –2.913 to –0.176). We found no relevant interaction for blinding among treated patients in MHCS and PHCS. Expectation of treatment and duration of CFS added significantly to the model. Conclusions: In patients with CFS, distant healing appears to have no statistically significant effect on mental and physical health but the expectation of improvement did improve outcome.

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In a national survey in Iceland, 31 percent of respondents reported “having perceived the presence of a deceased person.” A multinational Gallup survey conducted in sixteen western countries showed widespread claims of personal contacts with the dead, as well as, considerable national differences. Such experiences were reported most frequently by Icelanders and Italians whereas Norwegians and Danes, considered culturally closest to Icelanders, reported the lowest incidence (9%). In the Iceland survey, interviews were conducted with 127 persons on the nature of these experiences, their relationship with the deceased, the conditions under which these experiences occurred, and various characteristics of the interviewees, as well as, the deceased persons. Attempts were made to test some theories of what may elicit such experiences.

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