Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 1

BIAL Project 42/10

Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns by a Healing Procedure Final Report

Stefan Schmidt, Thilo Hinterberger, Anna von Haugwitz Claudia Orellana Han-Gue Jo, Christina Koller, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Kathrin Simshäuser

January, 2012

Project Summary A new healing procedure termed ThetaHealing is making extraordinary claims regarding healing effects and healing mechanism. The method is propagating quickly but so far no scientific evaluation has been conducted. One of the basic claims of ThetaHealing is that the experienced theta healer enters via a special in a so called ‘theta state’. According to ThetaHealing alleged healing effects are taking place in this special state which is also induced in the patient by the healer. The name ThetaHealing originates from the fact that this ‘theta state’ is correlated with strong theta rhythmic activity patterns (4-7Hz) in the respective EEG of healer and patient. In this ongoing we assess this claim in a dual EEG study where we have recorded simultaneously EEG from 10 experienced Theta Healers and 10 naïve patients. Our hypotheses were that (i) the healers taught in this method will elicit theta rhythmic activity at will in their EEG. (ii) there will be an increase of theta rhythm brain activity in the patient once the ThetaHealer tried to connect to his/her state to the patient and (iii) there will be significant more correlational patterns between the healer’s and the patient’s EEG once both are in the so called theta state compared to a control condition. We found no changes in theta activity for different healing phases and comparisons in the clients. We furthermore found either no changes or even significant decreases of theta-activity in the healers. Over the course of the whole session theta-activity decreased significantly in healers. With respect to correlation patterns between the power spectra of healers and clients of the same session we found either none or only moderate correlations. There was no excess of significant correlations compared to baseline measures. Overall it is concluded that none of the claims of theta-healing could be supported by the data of our study. Our study had good internal validity and moderate to good external validity. Thus we consider our results as valid. Our study has not assessed any aspects of the claim to heal clients by this methods and no conclusion can be made with regard to this claim. Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 2

Introduction: Background and Project Conception

Theta Rhythm The so called theta rhythm is an oscillating EEG pattern in the frequency range of 4- 7Hz. This theta band is often additionally split in theta-1 (3-5 Hz) and theta-2 (5-7 Hz). The theta rhythm is well researched in animals and here the hippocampus is one of the most important generators (Burgess, 2005). Theta activity has been associated with a wide range of covert and overt behaviour (see Buzsáki, 2005 for a review). In human theta activity the hippocampus has no such prominent role. This may be also due to the fact that the hippocampal signals can hardly be recorded by scalp EEG. In the human EEG theta is shown during resting state (Nunez & Srinivasan Nunez & Srinivasan, 2006), drowsiness and early slow-wave sleep (Kandel, Kandel, Schwartz & Jesell, 2000). In the waking state theta has been associated with both long-term and working memory tasks (Buzsáki, 2005; Sauseng, 2010). Interestingly theta power has been also found during meditation (Aftanas & Golosheykin, 2005; Cahn & Polich, 2006). Here the situation is a bit confusing since theta has been associated with the concentrative and attention aspect of meditation (Pan, Zhang & Xia, 1994) as well as with the relaxation aspects some entail (Dunn, Hartigan & Mikulas, 1999). A more detailed discussion of the findings regarding theta in meditation can be found in Cahn & Polich (2006, p. 187). Some meditation studies have found especially increased frontal midline theta. This relationship between frontal midline theta and meditation is most likely due to the sustained attention aspect of meditation since this kind of theta has also be found in studies assessing sustained attention tasks without meditation. This frontal midline theta is most likely generated by the anterior cingulated cortex (ACC), the medial prefrontal cortex or the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).

ThetaHealing ThetaHealing is a healing procedure which was developed by a woman from the United States of America, named Vianna Stibal. According to descriptions on various web-sites (see e.g. http://www.thetahealing.com/about-thetahealing/thetahealing- origin.html) Stibal discovered by chance that she was able to perform instant healing. She was at that time suffering from cancer herself which was destroying her right femur and reports that her leg was instantaneously healed. She developed a method out of her experience and started teaching these techniques to others. In order to find out by what mechanism this technique is working she performed an EEG and observed that this activity might be related to theta brain wave activity. Therefore she called her technique ThetaHealing. Meanwhile ThetaHealing grew large in the Western Hemisphere. ThetaHealing courses as well as ‘healing treatments’ by ‘ThetaHealers’ can be visited in all major cities and countries. Courses follow the basic design by Vianna Stibal and built on each other. Basic courses are termed “Basic DNA Course” and “Advanced DNA Course”. ThetaHealing claims to heal (instantaneous) a lot of diseases for which conventional has either no cure or needs much more time. E.g. there are several reports of disappearance of bone fractures (allegedly documented by X-ray pictures), but also Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 3

claims of successful work with Hepatitis C, Epstein-Barr, AIDS, herpes, tumors, various types of cancers, as well as genetic defects. The claims and concepts how this method works and how it is also taught is quite bizarre and should here only be mentioned shortly. It is said that the (Theta)healer by means of a special meditation enters into a special state which is physiologically indicated by the presence of strong theta EEG activity. In this state the healer connects with a larger source of (“Creator Of All That Is”) which then in turn allows to ‘reprogram’ the whole body. If the healer is connected to a patient the patient will also enter into this state which is then in turn associated with theta rhythmic brain activity in the patient. Therefore also the patient can benefit from the connection with the larger source of energy. Healing and reprogramming takes place by an energy coming out of this ‘source’. The roles of thetahealer and patient are just to command and to witness the change which may take place on several levels, such as the physical, the mental, the emotional or the spiritual one. There are many more details to this technique and its effects and we just want to mention one more assertion which is that this technique is allegedly capable to make changes to the body’s DNA (e.g. activation of gene, gene replacement therapy).

Assessment of ThetaHealing The theoretical explanation and claims of mechanism of ThetaHealing seem to be very out of place from a scientifically informed perspective. However from a psychological and also sociological perspective the healing performed under such a theoretical framework is a very interesting phenomenon. Obviously many positive effects are elicited by this technique if one considers its popularity, success and also speed of distribution. One may approach the healing acts happening here by a framework of modern . In this sense a powerful theory with accompanying rituals are able to elicit a lot of meaning and hopes in the patient resulting in very strong effects which otherwise cannot be observed in conventional medicine. The interesting question here is whether these strong effects can be solely explained by psychological factors (i.e. expectancy effects, placebo effects, self-regulation and self healing effects, see also (Frank, 1989) or whether there is also an anomalous or parapsychological component to these healing effects. To assess the questions of anomalous healing effects by ThetaHealing and also their potential mechanism is difficult and long-lasting task since especially the latter question deserves a complete monitoring of the whole sociological system related to the claims, rituals and outcomes of ThetaHealing. However there is one simple statement within this whole framework which opens an easy access and an interesting starting point to investigate this area. This is the statement that the healer enters by the techniques taught in ThetaHealing into a special state which is characterized by strong theta activity in the EEG and additionally that the healer is also capable to elicit a similar theta activity in the patient. This assumption can easily be tested by a dual EEG study. Adequate baseline measurement before and after the special state can guarantee that the changes found in the theta- frequency band are associated with the specific state and are not due to other factors like e.g. fatigue or tiredness. So far to our knowledge no scientific assessment of ThetaHealing has been conducted before and this would be the first study providing scientific evidence on this controversial healing procedure. Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 4

Dual-EEG studies Studies dealing with simultaneous measurement of two participants’ EEG signals are more complicated and require special facilities, equipment and expertise in terms of setting up the systems and analysing the measurement (Wackermann, 2008; Wackermann, Naranjo Muradás & Pütz, 2004; Wackermann, Seiter, Keibel & Walach, 2003). One of us, Thilo Hinterberger, has carried out several dual EEG studies in the past. One study entitled “Measurement of Event-Related EEG Correlations between two Human Subjects over a large Distance” was funded in the 2006 funding period from BIAL (Hinterberger, 2008). In this study, we have measured event-related EEG patterns of two participants who were seated in labs 700km apart from each other. Here, two EEG systems were synchronized through the DCF radio clock signal which could be received in both locations, the lab in Northampton, UK and the lab in Freiburg, Germany. One of the closely related participants was stimulated with emotional pictures while the other was resting in mental connection in the remote lab. The goal of the study was to identify possible telepathic connections between related pairs of subjects which should show up in correlated event-related EEG patterns. As the effects were expected to be very small, a highly sensitive and robust non- parametric statistical approach for analysing those correlations was developed.

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Objectives and Hypotheses

Objectives of the project

• To assess whether experienced ThetaHealers are capable of generating brain waves at theta frequency in their own brain.

• To assess whether there is an increase in theta rhythm in the EEG of anotner person naïve to ThetaHealing when the ThetaHealer tries to ‘connect’ to this other person.

• To assess the correlation between the EEG activities of the two persons during the so called theta state.

Specific Hypotheses Accordingly we hypothesized that (i) the healer taught in this method will elicit theta rhythmic activity at will in his/her EEG. (ii) there will be an increase of theta rhythm brain activity in the patient once the ThetaHealer tries to connect to his/her state to the patient and (iii) there will be significant more correlational patterns between the healer’s and the patient’s EEG once both are in the so called theta state compared to a control condition. Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 6

Method

Experimental Design We have conducted 10 joint EEG-trials with simultaneous measurement of EEG in two persons, i.e. the experienced healer and the naïve participant. One experimental trial was broken down into eight distinct phases.

Phase 1+2: Baseline Measurement Here we measured two minutes of EEG with eyes open and two minutes with eyes closed in both, healer and healee, with no instruction at all.

Phase 3 Self-centering of healer Here the healer was asked to induce the so called theta state for him/her self only

Phase 4 Theta State in Healer and Healee The healer now ‘connects’ with the healee and tries to induce the so called theta state also in the healee.

Phase 5 Theta State in Healer and Healee In this phase the healer conducts a special exercise (baby in the womb) from the theta healing manual

Phase 6 Theta State in Healer and Healee In this phase the healer conducts a special exercise (healing of the heart) from the the theta healing manual

Phase 7 Theta State in Healer and Healee In this phase the healer conducts a special exercise (healing of the soul) from the theta healing manual

Phase 8 Theta State in Healer and Healee In this phase the healer conducts a special exercise (genetic healing) from the theta healing manual

Phase 9+10 Baseline Measurement Here we measured again two minutes of EEG with eyes open and two minutes with eyes closed in both, healer and healee, with no instruction at all.

In a within-subject design EEG data of phase 3 and of phase 4-8 from the healer (for hypothesis 1) and phase 4-8 from the healee (for hypothesis 2) was compared to the mean of EEG data of the baseline (from phase 2 and 9) of the same person.

Participants Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 7

We recruited ten experienced healers who were trained in ThetaHealing, 9 from Germany and one from the United States. Some of them brought their own patients with them for the study. For another group we recruited participants so naïve with respect to ThetaHealing who then took up the role as a patient in this study. Reruitment of healers took place through the informal network of German ThetaHealiers.

Set-up and Materials The experiment took place in the Neuroscience Laboratory at the Institute for Environmental Health Sciences at the University Medical Center Freiburg. The laboratory is equipped with a sound attenuating chamber which also shields most electromagnetic fields and thus provides an excellent environment to conduct EEG studies. Apparatus The laboratory is equipped with a a 72 channel QuickAmp amplifier (bandpass 0.01- 100 Hz, sampling rate 512 S/s, MES, Munich, Germany) and two 64 channel electrode caps with active electrodes and active shielding (Acticap, MES Munich). We recorded spontanoues EEG according to the 10-20 system from 32 scalp positions with a common reference from each person. Both groups of 32 electrodes each were led to a separate electrode box. Each electrode box had their own ground and reference electrode and their own independent active shielding mechanism. The both boxes were connected to the same amplifier (QuickAmp). The recording outlay of the software was designed as if a 64 channel EEG from head was recorded. By this procedure the EEG of both participants was recorded exactly identical and simultaneous in a very precise fashion. Only later on for the analysis the two groups of 32 channels were again separated for the two persons. This procedure of recording two EEGs with one amplifier was especially developed for this study in our laboratory. We were supported by the manufacturers of the products as well as by the respective software company (BrainProducts). In several pilot trials we tested this procedure thoroughly in order to guarantee that the recordings were completely independent of each other and that no cross-talk between the two EEG units was taking place. Next to EEG we also recorded EOG, ECG. Electrode impedances for EEG was kept less than 5 k Ω.

Procedures Participants arrived in pairs at the lab and were be greeted by the experimenter and her assistant. In an informal talk the objectives and procedures of study were explained and both participants signed informed consent forms. Participants filled in a questionnaires on sociodemographic data, prior experiences with ThetaHealing and meditation as well as mood scale (BBS Basler Befindlichkeitsskala). Next the healee was connected by the assistant to the respective EEG system. During this time the experimenter had a second chat with the healer and explained him or her the specific tasks of phases 3-8. Then also the healer was connected to the EEG. ActiCaps were mounted to the head, filled with gel and the impedance of the 32 relevant electrodes Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 8

was checked. Additionally, EOG electrodes for artefact analyses as well, ECG electrodes were attached. Once all equipment works fine, data recording for phase 1 to 8 started. Phases 1+2: First baseline measurement Both participants will sit quietly in the closed chamber of the lab. The communication with experimenter took place via an intercom. Two minutes of spontaneous EEG data was be recorded from both participants with eyes open and another two minutes with eyes closed. Phase 3: Theta Induction in the healer In this second phase the healer was asked to induce theta type EEG activity in his or her own brain. This was communicated also via the intercom. Phase 4-8 : Theta Elicitation in Naïve Participant In these phases the healer was asked to connect to the other person and to conduct four successive tasks from the theta healing procedures. The start and end of the various phases was communicated with the experimenter via the intercom but they were not named in order to keep the healee blinded. Phase 9+10: Second baseline measurement Phase 9 finally was a second baseline measurement with eyes closed. The healer here was asked not to make any intentional activity regarding Theta Healing but just to engage in mind wandering.

At the end of the EEG recording the experimenter and her assistant disconnected the two participants from the electrode caps. Participants again filled in the questionnaire on their mood state (BBS) and were then send to the shower for washing their hair. Finally all participants and experimenter met again for a final chat. The whole experimental session lasted approx. 3-4 hours. It took always place in the morning.

Analyses EEG data were subject to a quantitative analysis which was performed using Matlab version 7.2 and self-written scripts. Initially, EEG was scanned for high-amplitude artifacts and eye-movement artifacts were corrected in the EEG using a linear correction algorithm, similar to the one suggested by Gratton and Coles. For spectral decomposition an FFT was calculated with a moving window of 2 seconds resulting in a 0.5 Hz resolution. Spectral amplitudes were merged into 8 frequency bands as follows: • delta (0-3,5 Hz), • theta-1 (4,0-5,5 Hz) • theta-2 (6-7,5 Hz), • alpha-1 (8,0-10,0 Hz), • alpha-2 (10,5-12,0 Hz), • beta-1 (12,5-15,0 Hz), • beta-2 (15,5-25 Hz) and • gamma (25,5-45,0 Hz). For further statistical analysis it was necessary to calculate the log-transformed band power (logBP). Then, the data streams were epoched into 10 epochs according to the Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 9

above defined phases. An 11 th phase was defined as phases 5-8 together as these were the typical healing phases. Averaging of the phases over time was done by calculation of the median logBP to be robust for outliers. For the same reason, the standard deviation was calculated through the interquartile range. This resulted in data sets of 32 channels x 8 frequency bands x 11 phases for each of the 10 healers and 10 clients. The statistical comparison of the phases will be done using t-test statistics and calculation of effect sizes. Additionally, EEG correlations will be calculated between healer and healee.

Ethical Standard The study was submitted to the University Medical Center’s ethic committee (institutional review board) and received the respective approvement by the committee. All participants gave written informed consent before the start of the data collection. They were allowed to withdraw their consent at any point without stating any reasons.

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Results

Participants Table 1 show the characteristics of our total sample of 20 participants consisting of 10 healers and 10 healees. Participants had an average age of 38.7 years ranging from 27 to 54 years.

Mean Age yrs 38.65 Gender in % female 65.0 male 35.0 Marital status in % married 20.0 single 80.0 education in % 9 yrs 5.0 10 yrs 25.0 13 yrs 70.0

Table 1 Sociodemographic Data of the sample, N=20.

Overall electrophysiological activity: descriptive data Figure 1 is a condensed spectrographic illustration to show the results of the spectral distributions for each client, each healer and each experimental phase. Each pair of client and associated healer was displayed in one graph resulting in 10 graphs. The vertical axis in each graph depicts the frequency up to 30 Hz and on the horizontal axis the 10 experimental phases are arranged with the clients’ data on the left and the healers’ data on the right. Alpha rhythms are nicely visible for almost every healer and client in the phases with eyes closed. This first inspection shows no visible increase in the spectral activity in the theta band range, nor in other frequency bands consistently for several participants. However, it clearly shows the variation of the alpha frequency between subjects. Further, in some participants an increase of the alpha frequency during the healing session can be seen in some healers (part. 3, 6, 7, 8, 9) and clients (part. 1, 5, 8). Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 11

Figure 1: Spectrograms from 0-30 Hz for all experimental phases separately for each session with a healer and a client. The 10 phases of one session are displayed in vertical columns. Blo (baseline eyes open) and Blc (baseline eyes closed) are the phases 1 and 2, as well as 9 and 10 respectively. Phases 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are the different epochs of the experiment as described in the Methods section. Data of healer and client are displayed next to each other.

Significance testing for all spectral bands For statistical calculation of the EEG band power changes between experimental phases five different types of comparisons were defined as follows (see also table 2): The first comparison (3-2) compares phase 2 (Baseline eyes close) with phase 3 (healer entering into theta healing). Here, according to our hypothesis an increase in theta-activity is expected for the data of the healer (figure 3) but not for the client (figure 2). The second comparison (4-2) compares the phase 2 (baseline) to phase 4 Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 12

(healer and client in theta-state). Here we would expect according to the hypotheses an increase in theta-activity in both, client and healer. The next comparison (11-2) compares all healing epochs (i.e. the phases 5-8) with baseline. The last two comparison compare the two baselines at the beginning and the end of the session (BL eyes closed: 9-2, BL eyes open: 10-1). Here a potential overall trend in the power spectrum over the entire session could be seen.

Comparison Hypothesis Client Hypothesis Healer 3 vs. 2 no change theta increase 4 vs. 2 theta increase theta increase 11 vs.2 theta increase theta increase 9 vs. 2 trend ? trend ? 10 vs.1 trend ? trend ? Table 2: predefined comparisons and expected outcome according to the hypotheses.

For statistical comparison of the phases in all sessions, two sample t-tests have been calculated (N=10). Overall there is no significant increase in any of the comparisons, and this is true for both clients and healers. However, there is a tendency towards a decrease of theta-activity in most of the comparisons in the clients and most theta2 comparisons in the healers show a significant decrease. Table 3 and Table 4 below provide the according p-values. The most significant effects could be observed in the alpha1 band and in the beta band.

Frequency/ Delta Theta1 Theta2 Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta1 Beta2 Gamma comparison 3 vs. 2 0,238 0,889 0,091 0,001 0,042 0,075 0,004 0,279 4 vs. 2 0,268 0,391 0,085 0,012 0,101 0,180 0,002 0,048 11 vs.2 0,111 0,077 0,093 0,006 0,637 0,575 0,044 0,510 9 vs. 2 0,644 0,457 0,698 0,146 0,161 0,847 0,119 0,760 10 vs.1 0,058 0,642 0,815 0,444 0,579 0,324 0,539 0,655

Table 3: Client data: p-values for the differences in various bands of the electrical power spectrum in all 10 clients. Comparisons are the same as indicated in figure 2 and 3. The additional comparison 10-1 compares the two baseline phases with eyes closed. p-values smaller than alpha = .05 are printed in bold.

Frequency/ Delta Theta1 Theta2 Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta1 Beta2 Gamma comparison 3 vs. 2 0,127 0,043 0,007 0,016 0,411 0,016 0,055 0,171 4 vs. 2 0,033 0,017 0,017 0,021 0,704 0,021 0,025 0,013 11 vs.2 0,004 0,004 0,008 0,006 0,926 0,004 0,004 0,847 9 vs.2 0,071 0,035 0,009 0,066 0,234 0,063 0,072 0,247 10 vs. 1 0,150 0,741 0,984 0,855 0,655 0,065 0,067 0,629

Table 4: Healer data: p-values for the differences in various bands of the electrical power spectrum in all 10 healers. Comparisons are the same as indicated in figure 2 and 3. Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 13

The additional comparison 10-1 compares the two baseline phases with eyes closed. p-values smaller than alpha = .05 are printed in bold.

Figure 2 and 3 on the two following pages show topographically t-values for differences in band-power between different phases of the experiment for all 10 sessions. Generally, most comparisons show negative effects in theta2, alpha1, and beta2 bands, i.e. a decrease in power during healing. The two graphs and the according p-values clearly indicate that the hypotheses 1 and 2, that there will be an increase in theta-activity in the healer and later on accordingly in the client could not be confirmed by our empirical data. There was no significant increase in any of the comparisons for the clients. The healers showed a significant decrease when entering into the so called theta-state in the theta 2 band. They furthermore showed a significant decrease in theta 1 and theta 2 when connecting with the client. In the comparison of all healing epochs with baseline there was also a significant decrease in theta activity in both bands. Regarding the overall trend in the 30 min. session which can be seen by comparing the initial and the final baseline it can be seen there is a significant decrease in theta activity in both theta-bands. All these findings are in conflict with the proposed hypothesis. In our study we could not find any increase in theta as this was hypothesised. Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 14

Figure 2: t-values averaged over all clients. Red color indicates a (significant) increase in the respective domaine, blue a decrease. The four rows show four different comparisons (see text for more details), the columns indicate the various frequency bands. The arrow indicates the two theta bands.

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Figure 3: t-values averaged over all healers. Red color indicates a (significant) increase in the respective domaine, blue a decrease. The four rows show four different comparisons (see text for more details), the columns indicate the various frequency bands. The arrow indicates the two theta bands.

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Correlation patterns between healer and client Figure 4 shows graphically the correlation between the activity in different power bands for clients and healer.

Figure 4 Graphical display of the correlation coefficient r for the correlation of the spectral band power between healer and client. Correlations were calculated for each of the 32 electrode positions (vertical axis) and for each frequency band (horizontal axis). The upper row shows those correlations for the baseline sessions and the lower row for the healing sessions.

It can be seen by the colors that there are hardly any correlations larger than .2 or -.2. Only in the gamma band of baseline session 2 and 6 there are significant correlations visible. However, these could be generated due to possible external high frequency artifacts. The theta activity is depicted in the second and third column of each graph which does never exhibit visible correlations. Therefore, it has to be concluded that also hypothesis 3 was not confirmed by the data of our study. Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 17

Discussion

We conducted a dual EEG study in order to study one of the basic claims of a new healing technique called theta-healing. This claim is that the procedures taught in the theta healing course will elicit theta activity in the EEG power spectrum of person trained in that method. Furthermore it is claimed that if the healer connects with a client in order to proceed with the respective healing technique this will also induce theta-activity in the EEG of the client. We evaluated this claim by three objectives hypothesizing (i) a theta increase in the healer (ii) a theta increase in the client, and (iii) a raise in correlations of EEG patterns between healer and client during healing phases. We conducted an innovative EEG study with high internal as well as high external validity. Our data did not support the hypotheses in any case. In our study no increase in theta activity during the theta procedure could be found. Theta activity remained more or less unchanged in clients and even decreased in the healers. The claims made by this method which is also responsible for the specific name of “Theta”Healing could not be supported. Limitations. There are several limitations to this study which may be responsible for a our findings. The first limitation is that we had in order to record simultaneous EEG created a somewhat artificial setting. In order to obtain high quality EEG data several constraints had to be introduced. E.g. client and healer were not allowed to talk with others during several of the experimental phases. Furthermore the procedure of preparing for the session and the preparation of the EEG introduced also crucial differences compared to a normal session. The process of applying the EEG to both participants took quite some time, healer and client had to spend approximately one hour in very small chamber for preparatory work together with three scientists and student assistants. Prior to the start of the healing session several tests had to be conducted. Thus, healer and client were quite some time in a rather unfamiliar setting and maybe also felt some pressure in order to ‘prove’ to the scientists their abilities. All these untypical circumstances may have resulted in some tension or inability to relax in the healer and maybe also in the client. Another limitation may be the statistical power of the study. 10 participants is a rather small sample. Thus, the study may have been too small in order to detect some effect of increased and correlated theta activity. But on the other hand it can be argued that in some similar studies a sample of 10 pairs has demonstrated to be sufficient to detect relevant effects. Furthermore we did not even find any tendency in the hypothesized direction. The claim of the induction of theta was definitely not true for our 10 healers and 10 clients. If a larger sample would show a positive outcome with respect to the hypotheses this could only be possible if the additional participants provide data completely different from what we have found. Based on the consistency and small variation of our data over the 10 sessions this has to be considered as very unlikely. Schmidt et. al. Conscious Induction of Theta EEG Patterns Final Report 18

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