Therapeutic touch

Therapeutic touch (commonly shortened to "TT"), known by some as "non-contact therapeutic touch" (NCTT), is a pseudoscientificenergy therapy which practitioners claim promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. "Therapeutic Touch" is a registered trademark in Canada for the "[s]tructured and standardized healing practice performed by practitioners trained to be sensitive to the receiver's energy field that surrounds the body;...no touching is required."

Practitioners of therapeutic touch state that by placing their hands on, or near, a patient, they are able to detect and manipulate the patient's energy field. One highly cited study, designed by the then-nine-year-old Emily Rosa and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998, found that practitioners of therapeutic touch could not detect the presence or absence of a hand placed a few inches above theirs when their vision was obstructed.Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst concluded in their 2008 book Trick or Treatment that "the energy field was probably nothing more than a figment in the imaginations of the healers". The American Cancer Society has noted, "Available scientific evidence does not support any claims that TT can cure cancer or other diseases." A 2014 Cochrane review found no good evidence that it helped with wound healing.

Somatosensory system

The somatosensory system, also known as somatic senses, touch or tactile perception, is a complex sensory system. It is considered one of the five traditional senses. It is made up of a number of different receptors, including thermoreceptors, photoreceptors, mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors. It also comprises essential processing centres, or sensory modalities, such as proprioception, mechanoreception (touch), thermoception (temperature), and nociception (pain). The sensory receptors cover the skin and epithelial tissues, skeletal muscles, bones and joints, internal organs, and the cardiovascular system.

Somatic senses are sometimes referred to as somesthetic senses, with the understanding that somesthesis includes touch, proprioception and (depending on usage) also haptic perception.

Processing primarily occurs in the primary somatosensory area in the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex: information is sent from the receptors via sensory nerves, through tracts in the spinal cord and finally into the brain.

Energy medicine

Energy medicine, energy therapy, energy healing, or spiritual healing are branches of alternative medicine. The most controversial claim in this general area of pseudoscience is the belief healers can channel healing energy into a patient and effect positive results. This idea itself contains several methods: hands-on, hands-off, and distant (or absent) where the patient and healer are in different locations.

Many schools of energy healing exist using many names, for example, biofield energy healing,spiritual healing,contact healing, distant healing, therapeutic touch,Reiki or Qigong.

Spiritual healing occurs largely in non-denominational and ecumenical contexts. Practitioners do not see traditional religious faith as a prerequisite for effecting cures. Faith healing, by contrast, takes place within a traditional religious context.

While early reviews of the scientific literature on energy healing were equivocal and recommended further research, more recent reviews have concluded that there is no evidence supporting clinical efficiency. The theoretical basis of healing has been criticised as implausible, research and reviews supportive of energy medicine have been faulted for containing methodological flaws and selection bias, and positive therapeutic results have been dismissed as resulting from known psychological mechanisms.

Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce (/ˈkeɪsiː/; March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) was an American mystic who answered questions on subjects as varied as healing, reincarnation, wars, Atlantis, and future events while in a trance. A biographer gave him the nickname, "The Sleeping Prophet." A nonprofit organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment, was founded to facilitate the study of Cayce's work. A hospital and a university were also established.

Cayce is a well-documented psychic of the 20th century. Hundreds of books have been written about him. Cayce's practice of reading through the entire Bible each year was thought to give him the insight to reconcile his Christian beliefs with the metaphysical information provided while in trance, and some consider him the true founder and a principal source of the most characteristic beliefs of the New Age Movement.

Cayce became a celebrity toward the end of his life, and he believed the publicity given to his prophecies overshadowed the more important parts of his work, such as healing the sick and studying religion. Skeptics challenge Cayce's alleged psychic abilities, and traditional Christians also question his unorthodox answers on religious matters such as reincarnation, and the Akashic records.