From snake oil to stem cells, charlatans and hucksters have and always will work diligently to separate people from their money no matter the damage caused. My last blog highlighted what I think to be the most outrageous pseudoscientific alternative treatment in use today, homeopathy. I would call the work of homeopaths laughable if not for the success of their widespread lies and the incredible damage being done as a result. While most of this damage is done to one’s wallet, there is a dangerous side effect to homeopathy. Homeopathic remedies don’t have any inherent danger, as there aren’t any active ingredients in homeopathic dilutions . The real danger in homeopathy comes from the fact that people undergoing homeopathic treatment might not seek legitimate medical attention, and suffer as a result.
This week I want to highlight another dangerous alternative treatment, faith healing. Now, before I move forward, a disclaimer: I’m not attacking faith, I’m attacking faith healing. A <insert religion> cancer patient should, by all means, visit their personal <insert religious authority> to seek advice and support for getting through a difficult time. But if that authority suggests that you visit a faith healer in lieu of seeking help from a doctor, you need to find a new church, mosque, temple, grove of trees, or whatever your chosen place of worship might be.
Realistically, I think the majority of faith healing is so limited in it’s reach that it shouldn’t pose much of a threat to gullible patients. However, there is a new group of faith healers making waves by taking a pseudoscientific approach to their healing, and making some incredibly outrageous claims. A group known as ThetaHealing is claiming that, for a hefty fee, they can teach you how to alter your brain wave cycle to a “theta” state, that allows you to commune with The Creator Of All That Is. With the help of this non-denominational deity, you will be able to instantly cure yourself of any ailment. ThetaHealing and it’s founder Vianna Stibal claim that their techniques can cure all types of cancer, HIV, and even regenerate lost organs and limbs.
Thousands of practitioners, known as ThetaHealers, can be found working in the US and Europe. They charge hundreds of dollars per session, and often push patients to receive multiple sessions. While their website claims that a great amount of healing can be done in a short amount of time, they also state that the number of sessions a patient will need is based on the individual patient, and how receptive their subconscious is to being reprogrammed. Reprogrammed being their own, rather appropriate, choice of words.
Dr. Edzard Ernst, professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exter and co-author of the book Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine, said that this company’s claims are “not supported by any kind of evidence” despite their ascertains. Dr. Ernst even went so far as to call ThetaHealing’s activities as “criminal.” I wholeheartedly agree.
A quick trip to ThetaHealing’s website was disturbing, to say the least. Masking themselves with an aura of scientific legitimacy, ThetaHealing describes its healing process in a scientific medium. Their primary claim is the usage of theta brainwaves to activate a “master cell” in the pineal gland in the brain. While this claim may sound rather sciencey, it is more akin to poorly researched 1980s sci-fi movie dialogue, than anything you would hear from a legitimate physician.
Here is a quick debunking of ThetaHealing’s core beliefs.
Theta wave patterns do exist in our brains and other mammals, it isn’t something made up by ThetaHealing. Unfortunately for them, theta brain wave patterns are associated with the hippocampus and its arousal through the activation of motor neurons during locomotion (like walking or running), and has nothing to do with the pineal gland.
Their second claim is that inside the pineal gland is a “master cell” that controls the functions of every other cell in our body. No mechanism of action is proposed, because this claim is completely made up. Cell communication is an incredibly complex procedure, thought by many scientists to be the limiting factor in the evolution of multicellular beings. While a single cell might be able to communicate with the cells directly adjacent to it, there is no way for a cell in our brain to single handedly direct our big toe to move. This is the reason why we have developed endocrine and nervous systems, providing mechanisms for cells throughout the body to communicate.
ThetaHealing goes on to explain that the human body contains 46 chromosomes, and that a “Youth and Vitality chromosomes” – responsible for the intuitive healing methods proposed by ThetaHealing – are located inside this “master cell.” Any person with a small background in biology can instantly realize just how incredibly incorrect this statement is. Our body doesn’t contain 46 chromosomes, rather every somatic cell in our body contains 46 chromosomes. Even if the “Youth and Vitality” chromosome were to exist, it would be found in every cell of the body, not tucked away exclusively inside our pineal glands.
The third aspect to their healing is what happens after the fake activation of the fake chromosomes inside a fake brain cell. This activation supposedly awakens what is referred to as “shadow DNA strands.” I’m not even going bother explaining what is wrong with this, only state that in the same paragraph they refer to amino acids as “sugars,” which they aren’t.
The incredible claims, jumps of logic, and fundamental misunderstanding of basic biology was instantly recognizable, and rather amusing to me. I’m sure the same is true for anyone with a basic background in science or the ability to use Wikipedia. Despite my amusement at the ridiculous nature of this company, ThetaHealing’s science-fiction approach to healing (I’ve decided that the term “pseudoscience” is too benign to describe this farce) has seen enough success at scamming unwitting people to warrant a BBC investigative report.
Call them frauds, snake oil salesmen, charlatans, or hucksters, it doen’t matter. The bottom line is that allowing these people to operate in our society unchecked is ludicrous. Companies such as ThetaHealing primarily aim to separate people from their money through deceit and lies, but there is a far darker truth to the nature of this sort of alternative “medicine.” It kills. Much like homeopathy, the danger from faith healing doesn’t come from any action taken by the practitioner, but rather the inaction taken by patients. ThetaHealing takes this inaction to an entirely new level. They claim to cure cancer or HIV with their methods. Our modern medical knowledge has allowed us to develop incredibly successful means of treating cancer or HIV through chemotherapy or antiretrovirals respectively. The stipulation to the success of these treatments, however, is their early administration in the progression of a disease. When a patient favors faith healing (or it’s cousin homeopathy) over visits to a traditional physician, they are delaying getting proper, proven treatment. With diseases such as cancer or HIV, this delay could be the difference between life and death.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I was about to do a story on Theta Healing when I stumbled upon the expose by the BBC and immediately canceled the story. As a result I was harassed by a Theta Healer claiming to be a direct descendant of “Lemurian Faith Healers.” Lemuria is like the Loch Ness Monster. There have been experts, books, photos and theories – but still no Lemuria and still no Nessie. She still does not get it. I was going to write this kind of rebuttal this morning. Thank you for doing it for me.
Thank you for sharing this article, as always they make me think, and inevitably want to find some vaguely minced, mashing of alternative and mainstream thought.
This is the first I’ve read of thetahealing/healers–their beliefs or practices, and how they’re marketed–but, the gist that I gathered from a few minutes on a just a few websites, both “pro” and “con”, convinced me that, if nothing else, thetahealing demonstrates a theoretical understanding of the role of empathy in health and healing.
In an psychology class I took, the professor told the class something to the effect that, where many of our cold-symptom suppressants and “cures” are not entirely effectual and may even prolong the maladie involved, empathy and sympathy–having people express understanding, swab your dripping, fluid-filled cavities with lotion-saturated tissues, and shovel warm, chicken-flavored substances into your open mouth–people showing caring and compassion for the sick, tends to help reduce sickness-based stress and anxiety which, in turn, purportedly relieves physiological symptoms (–and my point–) more effectively and consistently than many modern, over-the-counter medicines that would seem legitimate to the average consumer, perhaps.
As you professed, faith, by all means is not under attack in your thesis, and, by all means should be practiced freely, just not in the way of logically groundless, and morally coercive, pseudoscientific “healing”. If anything, I believe, (and perhaps by virtue of my doing so) paradoxically and intuitively that the general ideas of mainstream western medicine, should, while remaining nonsecular, should be demonstrated with cultural competence and sensitivity
by recognizing, and “legitimizing” the natural healing benefits of empathy and support derived en masse through faith and spirituality and religion. I believe that this needs to be acknowledged and not evasively labeled “alternative” medicine.
How this can be accomplished wholesomely and professionally–no educated solutions immediately come to mind, however, I would like to see, in the future, psychological assessments/therapy become a necessary component in regular medical exams, and more lit. discussing faith, religion, spirituality in the context of health and medicine being generated by mainstream health corporations.
Stress hormones have a significant effect on our immune systems. Others showing empathy for your condition can in effect, lower stress levels and have some profound healing properties. See my archived blog “Cheap and Easy” on the effect of stress hormones on the common cold. My issue with organizations such as ThetaHealing, is that, not only do they overstep their bounds by claiming to cure the impossible, but they charge an exorbitant amount to do so. If they simply were a company that charged a modest price to go feed chicken soup to sick people, there wouldn’t be an issue. Instead, they are charging many thousands of dollars to pretend to cure people of cancer or HIV through fake means. It is the deception that irks me.
As for the comment
I agree with your 100%. In fact my next blog will be about the overly medicated nature of our society. Pharmaceuticals can have some wonderful effects, and can relieve the pain or suffering of many people, however writing a prescription for Prozac or Ritalin without accompanying psychological treatment seems to be like giving a man a fish so he might eat for a day. Dr. Dean Edell spoke about this issue when Sacramento Men’s Health interviewed him in the post America’s Doctor.
Thanks for your continuing insight.
I’ve now read this story a dozen times, or so! When I need to remember that I’m not the only one in the crusade to debunk ThetaHealing’s Queen and her minions, I come back to this- and to the others of “us” out there… not in it for the cash as the “healers” are, but to hope & pray & cross all crossable appendages that someday this group (and others like it) will be a crude part of history.
I believe your most powerful thought is “… the danger from faith healing doesn’t come from any action taken by the practitioner, but rather the inaction taken by patients. ThetaHealing takes this inaction to an entirely new level.” I literally said “Thank you!” aloud when I read it the first time!! As far as I’m concerned this is precisely where the devastation lies. It’s that thought process that drives you & me and so many others to speak up.
Thank you again and again for being a loud voice of reason.
Lindsey
You are very welcome Lindsey. I strive to be a voice of sanity and science in a world that seems to be waging war on traditional medicine.