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Definition:
Therapeutic touch was first developed in its current form by Dolores Krieger, a nurse, in 1975.
Krieger argued that humans are really complex engergy fields which interact with other
energy fields throughout the universe. Good physical health, then, is dependent upon
our being in harmony with other energy fields - but especial the fields given off by
other people. With training, a person (like a nurse) can become a conduit for
their own energy and the surrounding environmental energy and then, by touching
a patient, help diagnose and even heal them.
This belief has enjoyed a great deal of popularity, although sound scientific tests have proven that it has not the slightest validity whatsoever. Not only have no clinical trials demonstrated any efficacy, but other tests have shown an inability of therapeutic touch practitioners to do any better than chance when it comes to something like telling whether or not a person's body is close to their hand. If they could sense and manipulate energy fields, there is no way they could not tell when they came close to one of those fields.
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