Visitors to www.garymannion.com will have noticed that a lengthy disclaimer has been added to the site. At first glance it looks like a step in the right direction, but a closer examination reveals that it's merely a long-winded claim that medical science and paranormal skills - such as "psychic surgery" - are two different but equal approaches to illness.
By Julia
Here's Gary's article in full, interspersed with my comments (my bolding):
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What is Psychic Surgery?
Different Psychic Surgeons work in Different ways. Mainly working on all different Spiritual and Physical Levels. The way I work is: I have a Spirit called Abraham who uses my hands to perform the Psychic Surgery. When he is working, most of the time I see inside peoples bodies and see what he is doing. He works on the Physical, Mental, Past Life, Karmic, World Karmic, Inheritance and Spiritual Levels helping to clear out what he needs clearing and promoting the body to heal itself.
Gentle reader, pause at this point and have a quick Google. Go on, you know you want to! The only hits I came up with for "psychic surgery" referred to the Filipino charlatans, who at least go through the motions of removing "tumours" and provide their own fake blood. The only reason Gary uses the term "surgery" is because Abraham sees inside the body to diagnose and treat illness. And the words "Past Life, Karmic, World Karmic, Inheritance and Spiritual Levels" sound impressive in a pick 'n mix mystical sort of way, but they are metaphysical concepts and as such have nothing to do with physical or mental health.
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What is the Aim of Psychic Surgery?
The main aim of Psychic Surgery is to promote the body to heal itself on all levels. It does this by helping the body to bypass the negative program which tells your body it should be ill and instead tells the body what it needs to do in order to get better. With emotional or energy root causes, it helps to bring these to the surface so that the person can deal with it and let it go. Thus allowing the body to heal itself.
NONSENSE, NONSENSE AND MORE NONSENSE. What "negative program"? Illness is caused by physical injury, bacteria, viruses, genetic damage, stress...not by a negative program. And there's that favourite New Age staple "energy", no doubt in a form that can't be measured scientifically but
can be "balanced" by anyone with the gift of the gab.
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What are the Guarantees with Psychic Surgery?
Unfortunately everyone is different therefore it is almost impossible to give an account on how a particular person will benefit from Psychic Surgery. There are a lot of people who in there opinion have had some great results. However there are also some who in their opinion have found minimal or no improvement. One of the key factors with any healing of any type is that the person must firstly on some level want to get better in order for this to happen. Otherwise the body will not let go of the pattern it has developed which has made it ill in the first place. Psychic Surgery would look to help with this by helping to bring these issues to the surface so that the person can finally deal with them and then let them go. Another common reason why people may not find benefit from Psychic Surgery is if they do not make a conscious effort to stay well. I can try and help someone's lungs to heal up but if they go out and smoke again (when smoking is the cause of the problem) they will only undo any healing the body has done.
So patients might end up feeling better (in their opinion) or about the same (in their opinion). Those who don't feel better probably didn't really
want to get better, as a result of which "the body will not let go of the pattern it has developed which has made it ill in the first place". What sort of "pattern" is that, I wonder? Still, I'm sure all mainstream doctors will concur with Gary that patients who don't attempt to change their unhealthy lifestyles are unlikely to make a full recovery.
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How Many sessions will I need?
This is another question that can not be given a clear answer without first talking to the person. Everyone is different some people find they only need 1 appointment and that is enough to help them with their problem however some find they need a couple of sessions before the body has fully healed itself. I would advise to try 1 appointment and if you have found some benefit but your body has not healed itself 100% yet, come back for another session or speak to me and we can discuss what the best option is (as it may be that distant healing is all that is then needed).
Gary's concept of "distance healing" fascinates me. If he can cure (oops, I mean
heal) patients without seeing them, why on earth does he bother with the "psychic surgery" stunt?
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How long does a session last?
This Physical appointment differs between an average 10-30 minutes however actual time may vary depending on what you need. Healing then carries on absently for a further 10 days on average. Again this come down to what you need.
You may remember that before Gary's "demonstration of psychic surgery" at St James' Church, Piccadilly, Tom Roberts spoke to a woman in the audience whose friend was rather miffed at paying Gary £40 for about ten minutes of "healing". And it's a good thing that Gary makes it plain that his healing continues absently for another ten days - otherwise those of a sceptical bent might argue that many common illnesses and injuries run their course within ten days, whether the patient is on medication or not.
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Are there any side effects from Psychic Surgery?
In some cases people have reported going through a clearing for a short while after the treatment. This may be in the form of emotions and/or physical pain. This is known as a healing crisis and is your conditions way or clearing itself physically or energetically from the body. This does not happen in all cases but it is best advised that for a couple of days it may feel as if you have had Surgery. Therefore you may need to take it easy. Another side effect some people report is feeling like they are still being worked on up to 10 days after the Physical appointment.
It was only a matter of time before the "healing crisis" cropped up. This is an old favourite with practitioners of alternative medicine. According to Rose Shapiro's invaluable book
Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All:
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Feeling worse is a sign of getting better
Truly the "Emperor's New Clothes" element in alternative medicine, this is how alternative medics can always deal with dissatisfied customers. Usually described as a "healing crisis", this is such a widespread idea that it has become what could be termed the sine quack non of alternative medicine.
Back to Gary:
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Are you a Doctor?
No I am healer, not a Doctor. I have no Medical Knowledge or training other then some "Basic First Aid". I rely purely on Abraham and his spiritual team to advise me on what I can see and what they are doing (however this is an opinion and not a diagnoses). Therefore it is advisable to have seen a doctor before coming for Psychic Surgery and to continue any medical treatment afterwards unless advised not to by a medical professional.
Has anyone accused Gary of pretending to be a doctor? It's good to know that he's had some "Basic First Aid Training", which is more than can be said for Abraham - yes, the Old Testament patriarch! - who may have been a dab hand with the
izmel but probably isn't up to speed with 21st century medicine. One can only hope that Abraham's panel of 37 invisible assistants are better informed.
And just a minute - is Gary saying that
Abraham's diagnosis is merely an opinion? What about the 37-strong back-up team, are they also limited to giving their "opinion"? Does
anyone involved with Gary's version of psychic surgery feel confident enough to make an actual diagnosis?
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Can I have Psychic Surgery instead of Conventional Medicine?
No Psychic Surgery is an additional add on to Conventional Medicine and it is advisable that you have sought the Medical route before taking on Psychic Surgery as an additional treatment. I am not a Doctor and therefore can not best assess what you need also Conventional Medicine can also provide what your body needs.
In the words of Dr Arnold Relman, former editor of
The New England Journal of Medicine (my bolding):
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There are not two kinds of medicine, one conventional and the other unconventional, that can be practiced jointly in a new kind of "integrative medicine." Nor are there two kinds of thinking, or two ways to find out which treatments work and which do not. In the best kind of medical practice, all proposed treatments must be tested objectively. In the end, there will only be treatments that pass that test and those that do not, those that are proven worthwhile and those that are not.
Gary can play with words for as long as he likes regarding his relationship with "Conventional Medicine", but a glance at his "Testimonials" page tells another story. It appears that you CAN have psychic surgery instead of conventional medicine (my bolding):
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Keith Banfield: Aged 36, Wembley
Keith came to see me for his back. He had a vertebrae out of place which had caused a bulge on his back and was giving him terrible Sciatic pain down his legs. Although he had heard surgery was only a temporary solution, he was in so much pain he was considering going under the knife. A friend of mine called Mannie (who is the lead Physiotherapist at Northwick park hospital and who has seen me work many times) met Keith on a visit to India and upon hearing about Keith’s problem told Keith he knew of a Psychic Surgery that could fix his problem without him having to go to hospital.
(The above is taken from:
http://www.abehealing.org/7.html)
Fortunately for Mr Banfield he was suffering from nothing more complicated than a slipped disc (it's impossible for the vertebrae themselves to become displaced), which in the vast majority of cases can be treated by support and rest.
According to their testimonials Janet Mathews and Neil Ramsey also put themselves in Gary's healing hands specifically to AVOID having surgery.
Incidentally, at the time of updating this article (4th April)it's been a month since Sangita Patel, the REAL Head of Physiotherapy at Northwick Park, sent a message to Gary via his friend Mannie: stop using the hospital's name on your websites or face legal action. You would have thought that Gary's run-in with "BrainGym" would have made it clear to him that Indigo Children aren't above the law.
And what are we to make of this:
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Robert Williams: Aged 50, Newport
Robert came to see me for Dermatomyosytis disease (muscle wasting disease which destroys the immune system)...We have...got him off most of his medication by fixing his immune system and he is down to only 1 tablet at the moment which we look to get him off following his next session.
Dermatomyositis cannot be cured but its symptoms can be alleviated with medication. I hope Mr Williams asked his doctor if it was advisable to come off medication altogether. Also, Gary's claim to have "fixed" Mr Williams' immune system isn't merely ridiculous, it raises the question of why he isn't healing HIV/AIDS.
Tamimah Dhaher ends her testimonial with the words:
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I would have no hesitation in recommending to all my friends and family that they should see Gary and liberate themselves from unnecessary pain and dis-ease.
I hope she advised her friends and family to see a real doctor BEFORE putting themselves in Gary's hands.
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What if I can't afford the treatment?
If money is an issue (unemployed, on a pension, on benefits) then please speak to whoever you book with. They will make a note of this and you will not be required to pay anything for your appointment. Also distance healing is free to everyone. Simply email me the persons full name and condition.
Gosh - distance healing is
free! Which would explain why he doesn't confine himself to using this remarkable gift in
every case.
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Do you do home visits?
This depends on what the problem is and how far away from us the person is. If it can be arranged we will see what we can do. However because of how tight my schedule is I will only do a home visit for an extreme condition.
I'm confused again. Why should it matter "how far away the person is"? Couldn't Gary simply use distance healing? It would save on travelling time, but of course there would be no money in it. And I find it worrying that Gary is treating "extreme conditions".
It should be obvious to readers of this site that Gary's lamentable ignorance of science, medicine, the placebo effect and basic critical thinking makes nonsense of his claim to be working alongside conventional medicine.
Dr John Farley, Professor of Physics at the University of Nevada, has commented (my bolding):
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"Integrative" medicine is purportedly combining alternative and mainstream approaches to medicine. The claim is that integrative medicine provides the best of both approaches. This may sound reasonable, but actually it is not. Suppose that the "integrative" approach were to spread beyond medicine, and were to be more broadly adopted by other disciplines in the sciences. The biologists would "integrate" creationism with Darwinian evolution, while the chemists would integrate alchemy into modern scientific chemistry. The geologists would integrate the belief that the world is only 6000 years old (and flat) with modern dating of rocks. Physicists would integrate perpetual motion machines with the conservation of energy and the laws of thermodynamics. And the astronomers would integrate astrology and astronomy. Of course, this is ridiculous. It's not a good idea to integrate nonsense with valid scientific knowledge.
