Radionics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Radionics is the use of blood, hair, a signature, or other substances unique to the person as a focus in order to supposedly heal a patient from afar.[1] The concept behind radionics originated in the early 1900s with Albert Abrams (1864-1924), who became a millionaire by leasing radionic machines which he designed himself. However, Abrams was never able to demonstrate that his devices were effective;[2] no radionic device has been found effective in the diagnosis or treatment of any disease, and the United States Food and Drug Administration does not recognize any legitimate medical uses for such devices.[2]

Radionics is not based on any scientific evidence, and contradicts the principles of physics and biology. As a result, radionics is classed as a pseudoscience,[3][4] and quackery.[1]

Contents

[edit] Background

[edit] Description of Radionics

According to radionics practioners, a healthy person will have certain "energy frequencies" moving through their body that define health, while an unhealthy person will exhibit other, different 'energy frequencies' that define disorders. Radionic devices purport to diagnose and heal by applying appropriate frequencies to balance the "discordant" frequencies of sickness. Radionics uses an idiosyncratic definition of the word "frequency" to describe an imputed energy type, which does not correspond to any property of energy in the scientific sense.[5]

In one form of radionics popularised by Abrams, some blood on a bit of filter paper is attached to a device called a dynamizer, which is attached by wires to a string of other devices and then to the forehead of a healthy volunteer, facing west in a dim light. By tapping on on his abdomen and searching for areas of "dullness", disease in the donor of the blood is diagnosed by proxy. Handwriting analysis is also used to diagnose disease under this scheme.[1]

Having done this, the practitioner may use a special device known as an oscilloclast or any of a range of other devices to broadcast vibrations at the patient in order to attempt to heal them.[1]

Albert Abrams developed thirteen devices claimed to detect such "frequencies" and/or cure people by matching their "frequencies," and claimed them sensitive enough that he could tell someone's religion by looking at a drop of blood.[1] He became a millionaire leasing his devices,[1][6] and the American Medical Association described him as the "dean of gadget quacks,"[6] and his devices were definitively proven useless by an independent investigation commissioned by Scientific American in 1924.[7]

Modern practitioners now conceptualize these devices merely as a focusing aid to the practitioner's proclaimed dowsing abilities, and claim that there is no longer any need for the device to have any demonstrable function. Indeed, Abrams' "black boxes" had no purpose of their own, being merely obfuscated collections of wires and electronic parts.[7]

[edit] Scientific assessment of Radionics

Radionics devices contradict known principles of biology and physics, and no scientifically plausible mechanism of function is posited. In this sense, they can be described as magical in operation.[3] No plausible biophysical basis for the "putative energy fields" has been proposed, and neither the fields themselves nor their purported therapeutic effects have been convincingly demonstrated.[8]

No radionic device has been found efficacious in the diagnosis or treatment of any disease, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not recognize any legitimate medical uses any such device.[2] According to David Helwig in The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, "most physicians dismiss radionics as quackery."[4]

Internally, a radionic device is very simple, and may not even form a functional electrical circuit.[7] The wiring in the analysis device is simply used as a mystical conduit.[9] A radionic device does not use or need electric power, though a power cord may be provided, ostensibly to determine a "base rate" on which the device operates to attempt to heal a subject.[10] Typically, little attempt is made to define or describe what, if anything, is flowing along the wires and being measured. Veritable energy, that which can be sensed and studied, is viewed as subordinate to intent and "creative action."[9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Fishbein, Morris, The New Medical Follies (1927) Boni and Liverlight, New York Pages 39-41
  2. ^ a b c Electromagnetic Therapy. American Cancer Society. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
  3. ^ a b Mishlove, Jeffery. Psi Development Systems based on 1980 Doctoral Dissertation In Parapsychology at University of California, Berkeley. Publisher: Ballantine Books (1988). Chapter 3. ASIN: B000OVNXMC [1]
  4. ^ a b Helwig, David (2004-12), “Radionics”, in Longe, Jacqueline L., The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, Gale Cengage, ISBN 978-0787674243 
  5. ^ Smith, Crosbie (1998). The Science of Energy - a Cultural History of Energy Physics in Victorian Britain. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-76420-6. 
  6. ^ a b Article on Royal Rife at Quackwatch
  7. ^ a b c Pilkington, Mark. "A vibe for radionics", The Guardian, 2004-04-15. Retrieved on 2008-02-07.  "Scientific American concluded: 'At best, [ERA] is all an illusion. At worst, it is a colossal fraud.'"
  8. ^ Energy Medicine: an overview. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Retrieved on 2008-02-09. "In the aggregate, these approaches are among the most controversial of CAM practices because neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means."
  9. ^ a b Franks, Nick (2000-11). "Reflections on the Ether and some notes on the Convergence between Homeopathy and Radionics". Radionic Journal 46 (2): 4–21. 
  10. ^ Scofield, Tony. The Radionic Principle: Mind over Matter (PDF). Retrieved on 2008-02-09.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links