"There is much written about how our good intentions help others. But can your good intentions really reach someone who is not physically present, and how do we know this? In this column, I will present the current evidence that discusses this phenomenon and provide some explanations as to why distant healing has a place in modern scientific thinking.
A well-designed study done in 2008 examined 36 couples. In 22 of these couples, one of the two people was a cancer patient. Three groups were created: In the first group consisting of twelve couples, the healthy person was trained to direct intention toward the patient and was asked to practice this for three months prior to the experiment. This was referred to as the “trained” group. In the other 10 couples where one partner had cancer, the pair was tested before the partner was trained. They were called the “wait” group. Fourteen healthy couples received no training at all. They were called the “control” group. But what was the training?
Skin conductance was measured in both members of the couple, both of whom were asked to feel the presence of the other. Skin conductance is a measure of the ability of sweat to conduct electricity. It indicates that the autonomic nervous system has been activated. The autonomic nervous system is a part of your nervous system that maintains balance of the body and controls heart rate, respiration and many other vital functions. This is done unconsciously. So, when skin conductance was measured, the researchers were measuring whether this important part of our bodies was activated. However, rather than being next to each other while they were sending intentions, partners were relaxed in a distant shielded room for 30 minutes. The sender of intention sent intention for 10-second periods followed by breaks. Skin conductance was then measured during the periods when partners sent their intentions and during the breaks. The researchers believed that if there were a different skin conductance when partners sent their intentions, then this would prove that intention was actually impacting the nervous system.
In research, if there is a less than a 5% probability that something is due to chance, it is regarded as being probably true and not due to chance. Even a 10% probability that something is due to chance is a trend toward the fact that chance is probably not a factor. In this experiment, when people used intention to reach their partners who were in a shielded room, every time intention was sent, it created changes in the skin conductance that were very significant compared to the breaks, when these changes would not be present. The probability that these findings were due to chance was 0.09%, well below 5%. This occurred in all three groups. However, the peak changes were greatest in the trained group, intermediate in the wait group and least in the control group.
This experiment showed that intention can affect a partner’s body across distance outside of consciousness and that if one is trained in compassionate intention, the effect is greatest. In fact, other studies have also shown that distant healing can heal small sized tumors.
However, the effects of distant healing have not been uniform. Studies have failed to show that distant healing can improve chronic fatigue syndrome or clinical outcome in HIV positive patients. In fact, two studies have also shown that distant healing can have adverse effects.
Within the scientific community, there are a group of people who believe in distant healing and a group of people who do not. Those who believe in distant healing do not believe that it is just some “spooky” phenomenon. There are four principles of physics underlying intention that have been described in the literature: (1) that intention is transmitted by an as yet unknown energy signal; (2) that intention warps space-time much like gravity, creating pathways for connection; (3) that people, like particles are described in quantum physics, have instantaneous correlations across distance; (4) that intention is much like measurement in quantum physics. It organizes random possibilities much like how wave functions can be collapsed into a single function.
So, as of now, it appears that distant healing works in some situations but not in others. But what does this mean? I believe that the healing is not always effective for several reasons: (1) the quality of the intention is not high enough; (2) different intenders have different capacities; (3) different illnesses may require higher levels of intention; (4) there may be other intentions coming from elsewhere that disrupt the intention being measured. I am less inclined to believe that “distant healing” is all nonsense, because the data we have so far illustrates that there is definitely the possibility that the effect can be felt. It is just not ubiquitous or uniform.
I would caution against believing that all people are equally able to perform distant healing, but where there is expectation and faith, the chances of success are higher. In fact, in the study that showed that distant healing had no effect on chronic fatigue, the expectation that one would get better did have an effect. I wonder if this implies that intention works best when we believe in our own capacities to get better."

4 Ways To Prevent Anxiety Attacks

"​A little bit of anxiety is actually good because it helps keep us safe and out of trouble (our brains are biologically wired to protect us). Unfortunately, there are millions of people suffering with anxiety symptoms all of the time and subsequently are wracked with nervousness, predicting the worst outcome to situations, avoiding risk or conflict, and have chronic muscle tension, among other symptoms.
It’s as though their “idle” is set too high and they are frequently plagued by fear, panic, and self-doubt.

In studying the brains of anxious subjects, researchers discovered that certain areas of the brain are overactive compared to the brains of those without anxiety. One such area is called the basal ganglia, a set of large structures near the center of the brain that are involved with the integration of thought, feeling, and movement as well as motivation and pleasure.

Through our imaging work at Amen Clinics, we have observed that when the basal ganglia are overactive, a person is more likely to suffer with the symptoms of anxiety. The good news is that you can get control of your anxiety symptoms with a simple four-step panic plan — the same one I’ve taught to hundreds of my own patients.
Dr. Amen’s 4-Step Panic Plan
Step 1: Slow down your breathing. Many people don’t pay attention to their breathing during an anxiety attack, when in fact their breathing usually becomes shallow, rapid, and erratic.

This decreases the oxygen in the brain, which will trigger fear and panic (again, part of our biological wiring). When you take slow deep breaths, you increase the blood flow to your brain, which will put you back in control.
One way to practice deep breathing is by learning how to breathe from your diaphragm — the area of the body that tends to get “clenched” when we’re anxious.
This is also known as belly breathing and here’s how to get a feel for it:

a) Lie on your back and place a small book on your belly

b) When you inhale, make the book go up

c) When you exhale, make the book go down

It may take a while to get the hang of it, but keep practicing — your brain and body will thank you!
So, for step 1, breathe slowly and deeply with your belly: take five seconds to inhale; hold it for two seconds; take five seconds to exhale; hold it for two seconds; and repeat. Do this 10 times. I refer to this technique as 5 x 2=10.

Step 2: Don’t leave, run away from, or ignore whatever is causing you the anxiety, unless of course, it is life-threatening. You must face the fear or concern directly, or it will always have control over you and cause you anxiety.

You may need to talk to a trained psychotherapist about your anxiety and fears, especially if you’ve been exposed to trauma of any kind. There are some very good therapeutic methods for helping people overcome the symptoms brought on by traumatic or life-threatening experiences, and those that cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


The method I usually recommend is EMDR, which stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. It helps to remove the emotional charges of traumatic memories.

Step 3: Pay attention to the thoughts in your mind and write them down to see if they make sense. Often in panicked situations our thoughts are distorted and need to be challenged. So, it may be a good idea to kill the "ANTs,” or automatic negative thoughts, that make us feel miserable. You can read more detailed information about overcoming automatic negative thoughts in my new book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Revised and Expanded 2015.
Step 4: If you’ve practiced steps 1-3, but are still suffering from too much anxiety, you may need supplements or medication to help you feel calmer. While people with severe anxiety often require medication, others may do well with supplements such as ones that contain magnesium, GABA, ashwagandha and some of the B vitamins, especially B6. Of course, you’ll want to discuss medication or adding supplements with your physician before taking them.

In summary, when panic or anxiety starts to set in, remember these four simple steps:

1. Slow down your breathing and breathe deeply from your belly. Remember 5 x 2 = 10.

2. Don’t run away from your fears. Face them and work through them.

3. Pay attention to your thoughts and challenge them.

4. Consider taking supplements or medication if Steps 1-3 don’t work.

By following this Panic Plan, it is possible for you to finally get control of your anxiety attacks!"