It’s title is:
Investigation of standard care versus sham Reiki placebo versus actual Reiki therapy to enhance comfort and well-being in a chemotherapy infusion center.

So based on a study regrading reiki’s effectiveness on comfort levels you conclude that reiki must be written off entirely? Last I checked, reiki’s advocates claim it does much more in addition to improving comfort levels. Where’s the science to disprove those claims? And can we write off reiki based on a study regarding only one of the things that it supposedly helps?

Further, you conclude by the end of your rant that…
“Reiki, acupuncture, homeopathy, and similar methods may be “part of this feel-good intervention,” but they are an irrelevant and superfluous part”

You write off not only reiki, but also acupuncture and homeopathy due to a study regarding reiki’s benefit on people’s comfort levels. That’s not science, nor is it critical thinking.

I am late to the party but just found this blog post as a result of searching for some information. First off, I am a Reiki practitioner and I work with Hospice. Before the hackles get completely raised I want to qualify myself that I am sort of stumped at what I have witnessed as crap Reiki being offered – by Nurses or otherwise. My knee-jerk reaction is that it stems from an American corruption of the training. Anyone who thinks that they are doing Reiki by laying hands on people is totally not qualified. It’s like how yoga has become something that requires special clothes and tools, there has been a misfire in the transition. Reiki encompasses a series of medical disciplines that have a lot of clinical proof and support (stress management, psychotherapy,focal reassignment, pain assessment to name a few). Unfortunately, a lot of people who have “learned” Reiki have separated it from the rest of treatment. It is not magical, it is a form of trained attention that isn’t available or offered in most care settings. It is also NOT an ancient art, it was developed around the time of the industrial revolution in Japan in a multi-cultural setting as a direct response to the increasing de-humanization of care. Nurses used to be allowed to care for patients and now they are on a schedule. It is no small wonder Reiki has become popular in that field because it justifies time and touch with patients. Reiki is a catch-all kind of term to represent the person on a treatment team who is charged with psycho-social care and can also give the patient relief through grounding them to their environment and decreasing physical stress. But used as a placebo or by itself? Not effective and crap, that would be like telling someone they need an IV and giving them a picture of one. While there is documented effects of “faith” healing, I for one, would rather have as many possibilities actively working for me as I can. I do not at all endorse the Reiki as magical healing school of thought at all, neither do I think it is a replacement for treatment, I do think it is a compliment to medical treatment because it reintroduces a compassionate element that has been regulated and priced out of the care schedule. I am glad this discussion and criticism exists of Reiki because, of what I have seen, there is a whole lot of shim sham out there. My rule is…if someone needs to dress for it, eat for it, or do a lot of specific rituals for it – its not real. The first thing I learned in my training is that when you really know what you are doing you a) don’t need all the symbolism and b) bone up on the other aspects of treatment to make sure you can compliment. Ugh….headache now

It’s not that I’m disagreeing with the overall message of the article: indeed doing more research into whether/why/how Reiki works is about as pointless as doing research on astrology. But rather than condemning it, wouldn’t it be more constructive to take it as inspiration to promote placebo effects that rely less on self-deception? The rituals involved in Reiki may well be helpful for lots of people. I did a Reiki meditation that I found on YouTube the other day and I found it really helpful and relaxing. That didn’t involve self-deception – I don’t believe all the bullshit either – but I’m grateful to the person who posted the video anyway.

Conclusion: fine to be sceptical and critical, it’s an essential means to discover the truth and the most effective remedies, but don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.

The very first time I heard of TT, I also thought it was a silly way to justify spending time with patients. (When I worked at a VA hospital years ago, nurses were told that even baths were optional care!) But then I learned that often TT has less social interaction than actual touch.

Since TT and Reiki are essentially the same thing, the conclusions of the JAMA TT study (Rosa, 1998) hold true for Reiki, i.e. that further use of the practice is not justified.

Whenever TT researchers got results that showed the same effect for TT as placebo, they suggested that the people administering the placebo treatment were unknowingly sending healing intentions to subjects. I have little doubt that the same will be claimed for this Reiki study, if not by the researchers, then by Reiki proponents.

As for “KA Therapy” (sounds more Egyptian to me), the sCAM nurses have beat us to it. Jean Watson (past dean of the U of Colorado School of Nursing and past president of the National League for Nursing) has invented the “Theory of Human Caring,” which goes to show it takes less than nothing to be considered a “major nursing theorist.” (http://www.watsoncaringscience.org/).

When something like reiki invades a health care institution, how can we go about combating it, either as consumers or as employees? In particular, what general ideas/tips are there for navigating the politics involved, because, like as not, the presence of this nonsense is far more political than scientific?

But it does not justify it.

Rather, why don’t we alter the system to provide for more hand holding, since we know how effective it is. Using woo as a backdoor for attention is not even cost effective, because the woo comes at a premium.