Güthlin, Corina, Anton, Andreas, Kruse, Jan et al. · Qualitative health research · 2012 · DOI
This study interviewed 17 ME/CFS and multiple chemical sensitivity patients who received distant healing (spiritual intentions or prayers) as part of a research trial. Researchers found that patients struggled with a conflict: they wanted to try distant healing for help, but felt uncertain or judged because mainstream medicine doesn't recognize it as effective. Patients often tried to justify their choice to themselves and others.
Understanding how ME/CFS patients experience and rationalize complementary healing practices illuminates the psychological burden of chronic illness in the absence of proven biomedical treatments. This insight can help clinicians communicate more compassionately about treatment choices and help patients articulate their needs without judgment.
This study does not prove that distant healing is effective for ME/CFS or that prayer has measurable biological effects. It is a qualitative exploration of patient experience and psychology, not an efficacy trial, and therefore cannot establish whether distant healing produces any clinical benefit beyond placebo or psychological support.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Güthlin, Corina, Anton, Andreas, Kruse, Jan, & Walach, Harald (2012). Subjective concepts of chronically ill patients using distant healing.. Qualitative health research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732311421914
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-gthlin-2012-subjective-concepts,
author = {Güthlin, Corina and Anton, Andreas and Kruse, Jan and Walach, Harald},
title = {Subjective concepts of chronically ill patients using distant healing.},
journal = {Qualitative health research},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1177/1049732311421914},
note = {PubMed: 21917562},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/gthlin-2012-subjective-concepts},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/gthlin-2012-subjective-concepts
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.