Quantum healing is a pseudoscientific mixture of ideas which purportedly draws from

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistr ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

, philosophy, and

neurophysiology Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated b ...

. Advocates of quantum healing assert that quantum phenomena govern health and wellbeing. There are different versions, which allude to various quantum ideas including wave particle duality and

virtual particles A virtual particle is a theoretical transient particle that exhibits some of the characteristics of an ordinary particle, while having its existence limited by the uncertainty principle. The concept of virtual particles arises in the perturbat ...

, and more generally to "

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

" and to

vibration Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum—or random, su ...

s. Quantum healing is a form of alternative medicine. Deepak Chopra coined the term "quantum healing" when he published the first edition of his book with that title in 1989. His discussions of quantum healing have been characterised as

technobabble Technobabble (a portmanteau of ''technology'' and ''babble''), also called technospeak, is a type of nonsense that consists of buzzwords, esoteric language, or technical jargon. It is common in science fiction. See also * Academese * Bullshi ...

- "incoherent babbling strewn with scientific terms" which drives those who actually understand physics "crazy" and as "redefining Wrong". Quantum healing has a number of vocal followers, but the scientific community widely regards it as nonsensical. The main criticism revolves around its systematic misinterpretation of modern

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, especially of the fact that

macroscopic The macroscopic scale is the length scale on which objects or phenomena are large enough to be visible with the naked eye, without magnifying optical instruments. It is the opposite of microscopic. Overview When applied to physical phenomena a ...

objects (such as the human body or individual cells) are much too large to exhibit inherently quantum properties like

interference Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to: Communications * Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message * Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extr ...

and

wave function collapse In quantum mechanics, wave function collapse occurs when a wave function—initially in a quantum superposition, superposition of several eigenstates—reduces to a single eigenstate due to interaction with the external world. This interaction is ...

. Physicist Brian Cox argues that misuse of the word "quantum", such as its use in the phrase ''quantum healing'', has a negative effect on

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

as it undermines genuine science and discourages people from engaging with conventional medicine. He states that "for some scientists, the unfortunate distortion and misappropriation of scientific ideas that often accompanies their integration into popular culture is an unacceptable price to pay."

References

External links

* {{Pseudoscience , state=expanded

Healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...

Pseudoscience Alternative medicine Concepts in alternative medicine