Radionics
Radionics is a field developed in the early twentieth century by physician Albert Abrams, centering on the belief that electronic detection of vital energy patterns can diagnose and treat diseases. The term "radionics" combines "radiation" and "electronics," reflecting its basis in the idea that living tissues emit unique energies or vibrations. Practitioners claim that by placing samples such as blood or hair in special devices, they can measure health indicators and transmit healing vibrations to affected areas, potentially addressing conditions ranging from allergies to cancer.
Despite its proponents' claims, radionics lacks robust scientific support; studies have consistently refuted its efficacy, and regulatory bodies like the US Food and Drug Administration do not recognize radionics for medical purposes. Critics often classify it as pseudoscience, with systematic reviews indicating no legitimate health benefits. While radionics is generally considered safe, reliance on it can pose risks, such as delaying necessary medical treatment for serious health issues. Consequently, if pursued, it is recommended to be used only in conjunction with established medical practices.
Radionics
Definition: The detection of vital energy patterns from physical matter that is unique to a person to diagnose disease and to promote healing.
Principal proposed uses: Disease diagnosis and therapy
Other proposed uses: Allergies, bleeding, bruises, fractures, sexual dysfunction, sinus infection
Overview
Developed by San Francisco physician Albert Abrams in the early twentieth century, radionics focuses on the electronic detection of vital energy (radiation) patterns as a means of diagnosing and treating disease. The method claims that healing can be produced from a distance. The term “radionics” comes from combining the words “radiation” and “electronics.”
Mechanism of Action
Abrams claimed that he could detect particular energies or vibrations emitted from healthy and diseased tissue in all living things. A specimen of blood, hair, or other physical substances, and even a person’s signature, is placed in an electronic black box. Rates associated with energy flows in the body are measured as indicators of health or disease.
Uses and Applications
Radionic instruments diagnose the health state of the body; they also reportedly heal the disease by transmitting healthy vibrations to the sick tissue or organs. Sending “good” energy to the diseased area of the body counteracts “bad” energy, thus providing energy that heals bruises, fractures, and allergies and also cures diseases such as pneumonia and cancer.
Scientific Evidence
Radionic practitioners claim that when the right frequencies of radiation are applied to the body, treatment goes beyond the cellular tissues to the electronic structures of the atoms; this affects the electrons in a characteristic, healing manner. Although radionic devices produce measurable readings, there is no scientific basis for claiming that the readings (rates) have anything to do with healthy or diseased vibrations of electrons or body energy. In 1950, a radionic device developed by Ruth Drown, a noted advocate of radionics, was tested at the University of Chicago and did not work as promised. Rigorous double-blind studies conducted to test radionics have failed to prove its validity.
Of the many radionic instruments that have been developed during the past several decades, none have been found to be effective in diagnosing or treating disease. The US Food and Drug Administration does not recognize radionic devices for any legitimate medical use. Most physicians classify radionics as pseudoscience and quackery. It is a controversial form of complementary and alternative medicine because neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated to have any biophysical merit.
Radionics and its devices underwent several systematic reviews in the early twenty-first century that continued to prove their medical illegitimacy and showed they were without scientific merit. Studies in the 2010s looked at the efficacy of radionics instruments in patients with osteoarthritis, urinary incontinence, fractures, ulcers, and severe pain and determined radionics and its devices ineffective against all stated conditions.
Safety Issues
Although radionics is generally safe, the advertised strengths of radionics, namely noninvasive diagnosis and avoidance of surgery and drugs, are safety concerns. There is the risk that serious illness will remain undetected and untreated. It could delay the time it takes for a patient to see a qualified healthcare provider about a potentially life-threatening condition. If used, radionics should be used only as a complement to proven medical care.
Bibliography
Mason, Keith. The Radionics Handbook: How to Improve Your Health with a Powerful Form of Energy Therapy. London: Piatkus Books, 2001.
Radionic Association. radionic.co.uk.
“Radionics.” In The Skeptic’s Dictionary. www.skepdic.com/radionics.html.
Russell, Edward W. Report on Radionics: The Science Which Can Cure Where Orthodox Medicine Fails. New York: Random House, 2004.
Smart, Keith M et al. “Physiotherapy for Pain and Disability in Adults with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) Types I and II.” The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 5, no. 5, 17 May 2022, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD010853.pub3.
Willmsen, Christine, and Michael J. Berens. “How One Man's Invention is Part of a Growing Worldwide Scam that Snares the Desperately Ill.” The Seattle Times, 18 Nov. 2007, www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/how-one-mans-invention-is-part-of-a-growing-worldwide-scam-that-snares-the-desperately-ill. Accessed 16 Aug. 2023.