Placebo acupuncture as a form of ritual touch healing: a neurophenomenological model
Consciousness and Cognition March 11, 2011 C. Kerr, J. Shaw, L. Conboy et al.
Evidence that placebo acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic pain presents a puzzle: how do placebo needles appearing to patients to penetrate the body, but instead sitting on the skin’s surface in the manner of a tactile stimulus, evoke a healing response? Previous accounts of ritual touch healing in which patients often described enhanced touch sensations (including warmth,...