Quantum BioEnergetics, Mental Boundaries, and Affective Response: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study

Previous research has demonstrated the effects of ostensible subtle energy on physical systems and subjective experience. However, one subtle energy technique that has been neglected by previous studies, despite anecdotal support for its efficacy, is Quantum BioEnergetics (QBE). Furthermore, personality traits that influence subtle energy effects remain unclear, and previous experimental studies have not investigated the constructs of Love and Joy, despite qualitative and anecdotal reports indicating that these variants of positive affect are essential elements of the subtle energy experience. The aim of the present study was to investigate experimentally the effects of QBE, and the personality trait Mental Boundaries, on positive and negative affect. Participants (N = 69) were administered the Boundary Questionnaire Short Form to quantify Boundaries, and then randomly assigned to one of three conditions: QBE, Placebo ("sham"), or Control. Affect was retrospectively assessed using the Positive and Negative Affect subdimensions of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI). As predicted, a significant multivariate effect for condition was found with regards to the PCI subdimensions: Joy, Sexual Excitement, Love, Anger, Sadness, and Fear. In contrast to our expectations, a significant multivariate effect was not found for Boundaries with regards to the combined PCI-Affect variables. As hypothesized, significant interactions were found between condition and Boundaries with regards to Positive Affect, Love and Joy, with the QBE/Thin Boundaries factorial combination associated with the highest mean scores for these dependent variables. It will be prudent to ascertain whether these results are replicated in a larger sample and a placebo condition that improves on the standard randomized placebo-controlled protocols of previous subtle energy research.