Noncontact Spiritual Healing: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Chris A. Roe1, Louise Spiers1, Sophie Morrison1, Kat Wojdyla2, & Lance Butler2

1University of Northampton, UK

2Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, UK

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Introduction

There is a growing interest in complementary and alternative approaches to fostering health and wellbeing. These often draw on holistic, psycho-socio-spiritual models of health. Evidence from clinical trials suggests that some of these healing approaches can be effective (Roe et al., 2015). A number of healing interventions have been included in NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) guidelines for treating a wide range of conditions (Ernst, 2010), and there is growing interest in biofield understandings of wellness (see Rubik et al., 2018, for a review). However, this work does not yet reflect the central role of healing in Spiritualism (e.g., https://www.snu.org.uk/7-principles ); indeed, it tends to give a distorted view of what Spiritualism entails (e.g. Lavin, 2021). Much of the work conducted to date is qualitative and observational (e.g., Skultans, 2019; Williams et al., 2010), and there have been only a small number of formal experiments (e.g., Carneiro et al., 2018). There is therefore a need for further research that (i) documents for the scientific community the role of healing within Spiritualism; (ii) maps the practice of healing phenomenologically; (iii) encourages others to engage in formal research on Spiritualist healing by conducting a proof-of-principle clinical study. In this respect the picture is similar to Paganism, the subject of a recent PhD project at the University of Northampton that provides the suggested structure for the current project (Sonnex et al., 2020, 2022). In this presentation we will describe a clinical trial conducted by the University of Northampton in collaboration with the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre that has been run over three phases. Phases 1 and 2 are complete, and phase 3 is due to be completed by the end of February.

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Chris Roe holds a Chair in Psychology at the University of Northampton, UK. He is the International Affiliate for England of the Parapsychology Foundation and is a Vice-President of the Society for Psychical Research. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Parapsychology and is on the editorial board for the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research and the Transpersonal Psychology Review.

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Published on October 6, 2026