journal of the Socieyfor P,vC/,Apprgypd For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0700340004-0 [Vol. 56, No. 82CUly 19901 A -Questionnaire Study of Fxperiental Reactions A QUI'STIONNAIRE S'I'UDY 01" EXPERIENTIAL REACTIONS TO A r limbs when he felt tremors. Herealized that a minor earthquake was in BRAZILIAN HEALER ier uppe and the young woman moved toward him for support. Macedo ress ro ) , g mbraced the stranger and claims that he felt a sudden 'surge of energy' as well by STANLEY KRIPPNER ~ is a strong conviction that he could 'heal her paralysis. When the earthquake ABSTRACT tremors subsided, the woman realized that she had used her arms for the first Ten people who visited a mental he time in many years. Because the stranger's paralysis l did not return, she d ' ' ther Macedo the credit. B d a ro er an uring a study tour of Brazil COMD1 gave . eted healed questionnaires shortly after their healin proclaimed herself session evoted himself to 'spiritual 1l acedo has d M i as we ence, g From the time of the exper as 6 and 2 month later. ' The questionn I s he purportedly generates through prayer. aires were desi ned to elicit some of the attitudesa curative power and ex usin 9 li rea h i ti i l ea c ng en , per g t to describe his work. In a typical healing session, a ~ Macedo uses the word 'telergy' ons of these individuals. f A statistical analysis of the responses determined two significant correlations. The reported det i rom erm ands a short distance nation to change one's behavior he will ask people to close their eyes and will for hold his h the sake of one's health wa ' i i S s pos their body. He will then pray in an attempt to t generate and tran fer the 'telergy vely related to perceived positive change in subjects' spiritual viewpoint. Reported changes in subjects' , i perce His prayers are directed to Jesus Christ. ved increase in ' energy and vitality' following the healing sessionsrown to the extent that he has been visited were positively related to has changes in subjects' me ti t l n on a s reputa attitudes. These cor rs Brother Macedo relations as well as several othe g had been reported in an earlier study in which people from various parts of Brazil, as well as the same individuals from several foreiRTT u y i est untries. In addition, he claims that sometimes onnaires had be it is possible for him to heal q , ., b used with a group of people visiting Filipino mental healers . eople at a distance. Macedo holds weekly healing seminars each Thursday and p Anomalous healing is a complex process and one encourages people to focus upon his meetings at wh that time, believing that the ~ ose results are difficult to efrects of his curative powers ,vill transcend measure (Frank, 1974, chap. 3; Solvin, 1984). di The literature co .tance. his study tour t the individuals on t i i i n ous group, a Unlike the members of the prev ns ill but joined it for other personal or professional nstances reasons. of apparent anomalies in mental healing with riousl adequate follow-up (e n . t Kirk atri k 1981 .g., se c o p were , y ), unusual healings explain onses from this group were elicited to the same able by ordinary mechanisms (e.g. questions as had been used Achterberg Res 1975 Hall 198 , p , in the previous study. In this case, however, the ; questionnaires were mailed to , 3), and instances in which seemingly dramatic - healings have not survived i r the subjects upon their return; the previous Subjects e had completed the orous scrutiny (e.g., Randi, 1987). In an attemptthe to identify some of the experiential com ft ' l d o f nents o er p ays a people q Lies tionnaires on their flight back to North s reactions to mental America, severa healers, Westerbeke and Krippner (1980) th d h d con at ucted a questionnaire study of 88 so t seriously ill persons who visited one ey f conclusion of their healing sessions. Most questions i were phrase F ' ' l o ue s , the va x halo effect ilipino practitioners. These subjects could be answered on a 3-, 4-, or 5-point scale- were asked to complete questionnaires several To avoid a days after their healin ' se ' i uestions it meant 'a great amount', and for ll lf the h f d i ss a we or ons as e g var as 6 and 12 months later. Of the 88 approached, ] I I completed all three q questionnaires of a rating of ki ; nified 1~t small amount'. (For this reason, a number of negative ther half it si h , ma e o ng this a self-selected sample. Purported physical,t mental, g and spiritual chan Correlations were obtained, but for clarity Table es wer I presents all correlations as l e re including those obtained from tl~e earlier sample-) g positive ated at statistically significant levels to the subjects' confidence in the ffi , e oment coefficient of correlation, the 4 cacy of mental healin,~ and in the practitioner,Using the Pearson Pro(luct" to d with die 3 perceived increases in 'cneqgy and vitalit t ' follo l i h w a y e ng t ere corre e healing sessions, to quantitative items from the frst questionnaire previous experiences with alleged psychic phenomenaw ' uantitative items in the and t Th th 3 i i o e , re- e w q llingness to outcome items from the third questionna change one's behavior in order to tcome items in the third ' 3 obtain relief from on h h i l h e 0u s e ea t th problems t (Westerbeke, Glover & Krippner, 1977) second questionnaire were correlated w dividuals did not i Fif . n teen P of 21 correlations were made* questionnaire. A total res reducing tile number of -U uestionnai c 1l f i f h rocedure , ow r o e t l complete either or both o P subjects to 10 (6 women, 4 men). A similar opportunity afforded itself in 1983 w I en t h e & h nstitute of Noetic Sciences (Sausalito, California) organized a studv tour of Brazil for 25 people interested in indigenous healing practices. The 'Practitioner with whom this group was to spend the most time was Jose Macedo de Arruda, better known as Irmao (Brother) Macedo, a self-styled 'spiritual healer' from Recife who was scheduled to spend four days with the group as it celebrated Carnival, an annual Brazilian folk fiestival, in the city of Salvador in the province of Bahia. Brother Macedo told the group that he once had been a successful executive in , the armed forces and in business, However, his life changed dramatically at the age of 49. Macedo was walking bva OpM4,6da 20oWsbt 1 'A F6~cWfte[6& 208 Results pares them to the data Table I presents the results of this study and com 'if regaining health obtained in the previous investigation. One question asked, necessitates changing your personality or style of living, to what extent would c a change?' Five types of response were possible ranging you be willing to mak g to change my life' to I'would make any changes at from 11 would not be willin and positively all if it meant getting well'. These responses were significantly both groups related t rofessed improvement in one's spiritual viewpoint for dy group. CIAT 00 92R000,70t03AM"Q0 the Filipino Stu ,P 98_00qT P 209 journal of the Sociey for Psychical Rese,,ch [Vol. 56, No. 84,1y 19901 A Questionnaire Studv qf Fxperiental Reactions Table I at 6 months) had been related to physical, mental, and spiritual shifts (at 12 ernonths) for the Filipino study group. Relationships (Pearson Product arettes smoked or the number of -Moment Coefficients of Correlation) among Responsber of ci from Three Questionnaires Designed to Elicit Ex h eriential R i CD D num eact t p ons to a Braziliaj For neither group wer g Healer (N = 10) compared with Results from a Similar Study of Reactions to Filipinalcoholic drinks consumel per day related to perceived changes. These data are 4 Healers (noted in parentheses) (N mitted from Table 1. CD CD Willingness to change one's behavi o CD In summary, 17 of the 21 attempted correlations c5 had been significant for the CD or; physical condition hereas 2 of the 21 were significant for the Brazilianc) study Filipino study group w CD . .................... 0-00(0-51) group' Q mental attitude ...... of interesting responses. Subject ................... 0.30(0.68--) duced a variet i i it d l i CD r ons pro Q I- ua y I.- v quest sp The open-ende ewpoint 'M ..................... 0.68**(0.63*) treatment was what Brother Macedo called Id Q Degree of religious commitment- woman, re CD Q I , CD physical condition y # 1, a 3 7-year-o " which resulted in trance induction'. She recalled no short-term or alls "teler CD ...................... 0.27(0.32) c CD W mental attitude ....... , W .................. 0-00(0.49). gy s long-term effects. iritual view ated in a group treatment with Brother j artici an Id 4 C*4p m . po -year-o IN nt ..................... 0.31(0.52Y p , p Subject #2, a 5 rt-term effects included aw-' h Hi Number of reported personal experiences with psychics s a) phenomena; o I-- h Macedo, but no individual treatments. i -term effects were 'contk-ftied l ' ' and his Ion l i i CD ca power CD CD condition. r CD ys tua p g ..................... 0.18(0.60-) enhanced belief in sp mental attitude ; belief in the value of the spiritual path'. t t i ..... spiritual viewpoint ...................... 0.24(0.73**)o 1 ..... tmen to ......... 0.58(0.78***) insight and comm Subject #3, a 47-year-old woman, wrote that she 'stood, shoeless, eyes closed, IL Degree of confidence in mental healing before while the healer moved his hands near my 1~ody. cp seeing healer There was a considerable focus IL ; on my head. I recall the sensation of the warrhth physical condition ... of his hands almost touching my ................... 0.24(0 70***) . mental attitude cars and scalp'. No short-term effects were noted ........ 0.26(0.70***) but there was a long-term spiritual viewpoint 1 effect: 'Positive physical ch-a-ng-es reflective ..................... 0. 11(0.63**) of mental and emotional changes, in ' Degree of confidence in mental healing after seeing. healer; that I have increased my activity in those threeU areas physical condition .... ................. 0.15(0.70***) Subject #4, a 50-year-old woman, wrote that Macedo held his hands above mental attitude ......................... 0.00(o.her swollen ankle and that she 'could feel the 77***) energy of his hands, also he s ' iritual relief o er i t i h v ewpo ort- p erm nt .............. . There was some s ....... 0.21(0.63**) quietness of the room helped me focus oo Amount of help reportedly received from healer; condition but no perceived long-term effect. 00 CD physical condition ....................... 0-00(0.86***)Subject #5, a 62-year-old woman, 'felt a great CD amount of energy from Brother CD mental attitude. . Macedo and watched what that power was capable CD CD ....................... 0-00(0.77***) of doing, physically anyway,,, CD CD spiritual viewpoin * t to a few of the other persons. His strength seemsCD ......... 0~53(0-65 to come rrom. his deeply rooted * C Perceived amount of 'energy and vitality' change;spiritual beliefs which did affect all of us C 4 in the group'. The short-term effects 4 0 physical condition ...................... 0.45(0.84***)were described as 'reaffirmation ofwhat I already0 U) kneW, i.e., the importance of U) M mental attitude... M ...................... 0.63*(0.82***) , y'. Long healing myself though sometimes using the healer's energ -term effects 0 spiritual viewpoint ..................... 0.28(0.71were described as 'My spiritual growth, and mental **) and emotional attitudes continue to change, although I don't believe 0 significant, .05 (8 df for Brazilian data, 9 df this came from the trip, but rather a f or Filipino data) significant, .02 (8 df for Brazilian data, 9 df direction I continue to follow'. for Filipino data) ' 0 LL ignificant, .01 (8 df f 0 or Brazilian data, ed energy to me 9 df for Filipino data) Subject #5, a 62-year-old woman, stated that LL Macedo hout the sessions so I do not know d throu l 'a ose -0 0 g 0 through his hands. My eyes were c more than this. He did not touch me at any time'. She described a long-term ' > > . 1,u ment a strong forward thrust ef-tect: 'Brother i'Vlaceudo gave m y spirit aldevelop 0 The number of reported personal experiences with L_ psychic phenome a 58-year-old woman, said that she had been experiencing0 one's daily L_ na ect #6 Subj CL , , CL degree of confidence in their healer bef constipation and swelling in the legs and feet ore and after the healing se during the study tour. Following ssion ' and the CL , amount of perceived help retained from the healing. Her CL session 6 mon her healing session, she reported 'less swelling< ths later in legs' and 'no constipation were , long-term benefits were described as 'no changes not related to any of the three outcomes f in spiritual viewpoint but an or the Brazilian study group, but these items had been related at significant levels for all the FiliDinol~studv group's increasing depth Of perspective'. reported outcomes. I a 59-year-old woman with glaucoma, recalled 'feeling heat from Subject #7 The perceived change in 'energy and vitality' , 6 months after the healin his hands' during Macedo's healing sessions. She reported no short-term or long- g term effects on her eye problem, but 'a sense session was significantly related to a shift (at of inner peace; the old impatience 12 months) toward a positive spiritual viewpoint for the Brazilian study group.and anxiety seem to have disappeared, for the 'Energy and vitality' change most part'. 210 211 Approved For Release 2000/08/11 CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0700340004-0 P", CO) 0 0 0 c1q CL 0 r z:r- n 0 0 C) r 0 0 0 CD w 0 P" E3 P, 6 1-1 cn 0 p - cy- rD cm cf, - 10 0 0 rD 0 F, c 0 o :3 clq c 0 CD In. co 0 Pi Z "q0 I" - cg. CC 0 .0 c, o 1>1, rD CL cn c 14- :3 0 3 -, - 0 r C5 -0 0 :-. s. ia. 0. o SO CD = 0'L CL rb =-r 0 00, aq 0 :1 ~O M -P- P jl-~C) f_n WpD >0 ' 00000 0 "rp z " --- 0,- ~! 0 . . . . -E.EE. . . ~!. , . 0 n0 . 0 0 Iq 0 0 ' 00 ' 0 M,. 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