Biographical similarities between spiritual healers and their clients in Germany – a qualitative study
by Barbara MH Stöckigta, Florian Bescha, Florian Jeserichab, Christine Holmbergac, Claudia M Wittad and Michael Teut
aInstitute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Economics, Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; bCatholic Academy “Die Wolfsburg”, Muelheim, Ruhr, Germany; cBerlin School of Public Health, Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; dInstitute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Contemporary spiritual healers in Germany are a heterogeneous and growing group. While some healing techniques have a long history in Germany, they have become more and more diverse over the last decades (Habermann 1995; Binder and Wolf-Braun 1995).
Today they can be built on religious traditions such as Christianity, from various spiritual practices from different cultures and healing concepts (e.g. chakras, reiki), but also from explanatory concepts in physics (e.g. quantum healing) (Voss 2011). In Germany, current healers have either a background as medical professionals or ‘Heilpraktiker’ or have no medical/CAM background at all.
A German ‘Heilpraktiker’ is a non-medical practitionerswith an education in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Medical and healing activities, which include diagnosis and treatment of specific illnesses, are only allowed to be practised by physicians or ‘Heilpraktiker’. In 2004, the German Federal Constitutional Court made it lawful to practice spiritual healing as non-medical consulting for the purpose of activating patients’ self-healing powers. Spiritual healing does not replace diagnosis or treatment by a physician or by a ‘Heilpraktiker’.
