Their devil child is “Quantum-touch“, a whole new kind of woo. Of course, there never is any truly “new” woo—it is all recycled and renamed in order to separate even more sick people from their money…
I ran into “Quantum intuition” a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t impressed. Therapeutic touch is also a bunch of crap. Then, using a harmless google search (thankfully the first hit was something intelligent) I found “quantum touch”.
It might be argued that there is no reason to go into various types of woo, when one post can debunk the whole thing. Sadly, most woo clothes itself seductively, and must be dragged into the light of day so that its true ugliness can be revealed.
I would first like to scold QT for improper use of a hyphen (Quantum-Touch), but that would be letting them off easy. There is so much woo packed into this website, it’s really overwhelming. Let’s start with how it “works”:
In principal the Quantum-Touch practitioner learns to focus and amplify life-force energy (“Chi” or “Prana”) by combining various breathing and body awareness exercises. When the practitioner holds a high vibrational field of life-force energy around an affected area, she or he facilitates healing through the process of resonance and entrainment.
Everything vibrates. When two things vibrate at different frequencies, there is a tendency for the vibrations to come together. Most often, the slower vibration will rise to match the faster frequency. There are many kinds of examples of entrainment: over time, similarly tuned electric oscillators will match frequencies; disembodied animal hearts when placed near each other and kept alive in a lab will all beat in unison; and when women share a dormitory, over months they will often start menstruating at the same time.
A familiar theme, here: use some terminology from science (“resonance”, “entrainment”) and apply them in a completely inappropriate context. Also, the end employs one of my favorite logical fallacies, “begging the question“. He makes the questionable assumption about the disembodied hearts and the interesting fact about menstruation, and then overgeneralizes these “facts” to draw unrelated conclusions. It’s really quite beautiful.
Oh, here’s one of my favorite bits:
I see that in the future, when research has been done, life force energy will be appreciated as being real … and powerfully impacting physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and psychology.
He actually admits that his ideas are untested. But he believes they will be found valid in some vague future time.He then goes on to describe a so-called test of his techniques, which is basically a glorified testimonial.
Finally, he uses parlor tricks:
Look, the back is, er, fixed!
And even better:
| Which Rose Received Quantum-Touch? |
 |
| Terri received a dozen roses on Monday as a gift. On Wednesday, a day that we have a full day of treatment sessions, Terri brought my wife, Fern, one of the roses as a gift. Fern ran energy into a vase full of water, then placed the rose into the water and gave it one more boost. The following Sunday, when we held our regular services at four in the afternoon, Terri brought the remaining roses to place on our altar. Fern added her rose to the other roses. Fern’s rose already stood out. By the end of the service, which was held outside under the sun, only Fern’s rose remained upright. The other eleven were noticeably drooping. Rev. Dennis Alexander, St. Petersburg, FL |
For me, it’s hard to believe that anyone can take this stuff seriously, but apparently they do. Money, as usual, is the real issue. They sell everything! Even tote-bags!
Let’s use our own logical fallacy:
- Gary Null is a quack.
- He shills on PBS.
- PBS sells tote-bags.
- These QT guys sell tote-bags,
- Ergo, they must be quacks!
- Quod erat demonstratum!
[...] □ jeremiads about the death-causing quality of our heavily-criticised eating habits/ □ the vibrational magic of Quantum-Touch/ □ watched Mythbusters while txting friends and updating Facebook / □ heard that Lee Strobel [...]
Have been doing Quantum Touch for nearly 2 1/2 years and I know it is the real deal. Is it recycled in some manner. Probably so. There is nothing new under the sun, that is true. I have seem remarkable things done with this technique that I did not expect. I have been doing Reiki (another hands-on healing technique) and seen it do remarkable things as well. Quantum Touch does accelerate the healing process. It is too bad you feel the need to debunk something you’ve had little or not experience with.
I also have no experience with eating bees, but since it has no plausible mechanism to cure anything, it’s probably not worth trying out or even studying.
Skeptics will always be such unless they desire to try something new.
Like eating bees?
I guess you have a bee eating fetish. Sounds like you want to equate Quantum Touch with eating bees. It is sad that you degrade Quantum Touch when you’ve had little or not experience with it. I guess you can stay with your overpriced pharamaceuticals with their long list of side effects. You think Quantum Touch is in if for the money? Gee, what do you think the pharmaceutical companies are all about? Yep….money!!! At least Quantum Touch doesn’t try to rip you off! So, they sell a tote bag, big deal. If that is how you judge them, then you have a narrow focus in life.
I have little or no experience with eating bees, despite the fetish, but I still know that it’s never been proven and not worth studying, as there is no scientifically plausible mechanism to support it, like QT.
Do some controlled studies, then get back to me.
I’ve had the personal experience over nearly 10 years of working with Reiki and Quantum Touch (2 years). That is all the “controlled” studies I need. I was somewhat skeptical at the beginning of using these modalities. But it was when I saw the results that it made me a believer and others as well. Reiki, which is a milder form of Quantum Touch is practiced in over 100 hospitals across the U.S. There is at least one hospital I know of that has fully integrated Reiki into their structure, because the have seen the value of what it does.
Anyway, traditional medicine is catching on whether or not it has been studied under the microscope of science.
Traditional medicine doesn’t have all the answers…or does it?
Hmm…once again, 10 years of experience is, unfortunately, not meaningful as test of efficacy. It’s nice to help people though.
I don’t doubt the motives of most practitioners, but the fact that they are good people doesn’t make them right, anymore than my snarkiness makes me wrong.
Well, we’re not trying to be “right”, just trying to help. There have been a lot of people that have received benefit from Reiki and Quantum Touch, to whatever degree. What we do will probably never satisfy the scientific community, but then, that is not necessary. Those that need what we provide will seek us out when traditional medicine has failed them. And whether the alternative method helps is a question, as every person is different. Nothing cures 100%.
Thank you so much for exposing http://www.quantum-touch.com has a fraud. I have family members that love this program, and it pains me to see them taken in by charlatans and how easily they confuse the placebo effect.
Thanks again!!
Keep up trying to bring some honesty to the Wikipedia page for Quantum Touch!
How ’bout this one? http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/AboutUs/News/2007/October/PR241.aspx
This may not be a RCT or other studie which would pass all ‘cochrane’ criteria, but it surely reveals the magnifecent therapeutic effects of energie techniques while excluding placebo effect in the treatment of a variety of health problems.
I believe so called ‘evidence based practise’ in a time like this with fast internet connections and all its advantages, is mostly outdated when being applied in regular medicine.
An evidence-informed way of making decisions and doing interventions works far more effective than working ‘evidence-based’.
QT is absolutely great, even as quite a bunch of other alternative ways of medicine. Just wait 5 or 10 more years to find out things that some people are already sure of… meanwhile, keep up the ‘healthy’ drugs and copingsstyle to learn and live with your healthproblems!
Good luck!
Tim, it’s all in your head. The study you linked to doesn’t really satisfy any cochrane criteria.
It’s all in your head. And that’s fine – I don’t mind you using your imagination for your own comfort. The placebo effect is quite real.
I do mind you supporting an organization that cheerypicks the hard work of physicists and creates charlatan defitions of scientific terms in order to sell expensive products. This type of behavior contributes to a society where science is disrespected, and irrationality like creationism get promoted in schools.
Stop cherrypicking science.