Energy therapeutic approaches and healers: A phenomenological and clinical perspective

Research on complementary and alternative therapies is gradually developing in the medical and psychological field, and encompasses a wide range of approaches. Energy healing practices, which are still little-known, are based on the existence of an indeterminate field of energy around the body. They have attracted the attention of anthropologists since the sixties, but also of patients, who are increasingly seeking out consultations with these practitioners. It is very difficult to approach these notions from a scientific angle, due to a lack of method and an epistemological space that is still underdeveloped. Therefore, it is from a phenomenological angle that we will approach this question, which will consist, after having presented a theoretical framework on the history of these approaches and some keys to understanding, in analyzing the therapeutic practices of healers. To do this, from a methodological point of view, we will draw on the discourse and representations of twelve healers using exploratory interviews and thematic content analyses, which we will group under central themes according to the frequency of their appearance in the discourse. The results highlight the central concept of vital energy already present in nineteenth-century literature and the ways healers manipulate it, by emphasizing the concepts of chakras, non-localized healing, prayer, visualization, as well as the power of emotions and the therapist's personal perceptions, which are found in the specialized literature. The themes of diagnosis and care via the hands of the healer, as well as the limits and the ethical scope of these practices emerged as important themes in the discourse. This preliminary field researchh needs to give rise to a study encompassing a larger number of practitioners in order to bring out working hypotheses on the therapeutic processes and the effectiveness of these approaches.