SIMULTANEOUS PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS OF A HAWAIIAN HEALER AND CLIENT DURING HEALING

Abstract

This controlled case study was performed to investigate whether within and between subject physiological changes might occur during a healing experience that would differentiate healing from baseline and control conditions. Simultaneous measurements of EEG absolute power and coherence, heart rate, skin conductance, and hand temperature were performed on two subjects during five periods: two baselines, healing, a meditation or relaxation control condition, and photic stimulation. Each subject demonstrated significant physiological changes during healing that allowed differentiation of healing from their control and baseline conditions. Both EEG and somatic physiological measures indicated that the healer became more aroused during healing and the client more relaxed. The healer had a drop in frontal to occipital interhemispheric coherence during healing as well as increased heart rate and skin conductance. The client had a drop in frontal beta power and a drop in skin conductance during healing. The client also exhibited a strong trend toward increased parietal interhemispheric alpha band coherence during healing. No meaningful increase in covariance of EEG or other physiological measures occurred between the subjects during healing. A statistical method for the analysis of many EEG variables across several experimental conditions for individuals and between two subjects was modeled.