The Role of Mental Imagery within the Practice of Spiritual Healing
Dissertation by Sarah Buffington Peck, Ed.D.,
Published Jan 22, 2020
Full study available at Columbia University Libraries
Background
Among the hundreds of complementary and alternative medicines and therapies, in a more recent study of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) by US adults from the 1999 National Health Interview Study, it was found that spiritual healing and prayer are the most widely used CAMs today (Ni, Simile, & Hardy, 2002). Given the prevalence of spiritual healing in practice, it is important not only to understand how spiritual healing is defined, but also how scholars describe its process and purpose.
A spiritual healing treatment may appear confounding, mysterious, and ineffable because its mechanisms, such as the belief and ability of the healer, are unable to be directly observed (Bengston, 2012; Bengston & Krinsley, 2000). Although the spiritual healer is not considered to be an actual device or instrument of technology, metaphorically speaking, she or he appears to be the most refined “instrument” of measurement that exists. The findings of this study provide insight into how spiritual healers and their clients understand spiritual healing.
Abstract
Arguably, the practice of spiritual healing is simple in that it requires only the human body without utilizing a known physical means of intervention. Yet, it is confounding because its mechanisms, such as the belief and ability of the healer, are unable to be measured with a device. Given that, in recent years, spiritual healing has been found to be among the most prevalent practices in the field of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and that studies measuring its efficacy show variable results, it is important to understand its underlying mechanisms. Researchers have been studying the practice of spiritual healing, finding that, although the spiritual healer is not considered an actual device, metaphorically speaking, evidence suggests that she or he appears to be the most refined “instrument” of measurement. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the perceptions of spiritual healers, this qualitative case study asks: what is the role of the mental imagery of ten spiritual healers and their three clients over the course of three spiritual healings? To determine this, the study presents the following subquestions: 1) How do spiritual healers construct, experience, and express mental imagery during a spiritual healing treatment? 2) What kind, if any, comparability is there across different constructions, experiences, and expressions of mental imagery during a spiritual healing as described by the spiritual healers and their clients? Among other findings, this study found that the spiritual healers constructed, experienced, and expressed mental imagery in three main ways, including 1) initial perceptions, 2) meaning and interpretations, and 3) perceptions of spiritual healing. These themes existed for all of the spiritual healers across all cases. Within each of these themes, the researcher then generated a list of subthemes that were most prevalent. This study found that the subthemes and statements were overlapping and distinct to each case. Additionally, this was further confirmed by overlaps among the spiritual healers’ perceptions as they related to each of their clients’ accounts, reiterating that the spiritual healers constructed, experienced, and expressed mental imagery that was specific to each of their clients.
Full study available at Columbia University Libraries
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