# Crystal healing - a crock? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709 "2004-10-17T20:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scarf-Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Scarf-Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarf-Ace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/1 "2004-10-17T20:40:10Z")
I was wondering about the opinion of Dopers on the positive uses of crystals - has anyone tried crystal healing and found it to be positive? I went for about a year to a healer, and I think she utterly conned me. Basically she used hypnosis to make me beleive there were angels present, a healing white light etc. I didn’t really want to return, but the hypnosis did its work. I later found out she was actually a Wiccan, and into the Theosophical society so that didn’t tie in. Lots of images of Buddhas etc, but I think that was only to reassure the victim. As for the actual stones - I do think they can have beneficial effects, but don’t ask me to explain it. ☹ So has anyone any good experiences in that sense? I am wondering if like conventional therapists they aggravate whatever actual problems are already there to secure a supply of income for themselves… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/2 "2004-10-17T21:01:11Z")
> [@Scarf-Ace](#): > > I am wondering if like conventional therapists they aggravate whatever actual problems are already there to secure a supply of income for themselves… Wait a moment - do you believe that therapists on average tend to cause their patients’ symptoms to allow themselves to have a steady income? (And on a related note, do you think regular doctors do similar things as well?) ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/3 "2004-10-17T21:11:59Z")
> [@Scarf-Ace](#): > > As for the actual stones - I do think they can have beneficial effects, but don’t ask me to explain it. I won’t ask you to explain it, but I _will_ ask you why you believe it. No one has ever been able to demonstrate that crystals have any effect on the human body whatsoever. It’s just a scam. Yes, the “healer” you went to conned you. If you experienced any healing at all, it’s only because the human body is actually pretty good at healing itself. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/4 "2004-10-17T21:17:34Z")
> [@Scarf-Ace](#): > > Crystal healing - a crock? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/5 "2004-10-17T21:43:24Z")
Might I suggest an indroductory course in mineralogy? ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/6 "2004-10-17T21:44:30Z")
Oooh, so maybe that big crystal I wore on my left hand for 16 years is what protected me from arthritis. Because I didn’t have it in my twenties and thirties…it was only after I got the ring cut off after the divorce that I got arthritis. Sure it was 5 years later… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/7 "2004-10-17T22:51:22Z")
I’m very sorry you were taken. It must hurt to have your trust betrayed that way. ☹ But crystals don’t work. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/8 "2004-10-18T03:45:44Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > But crystals don’t work. And neither does hypnosis. The only reason you went back there for a year is because you wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/9 "2004-10-18T04:02:55Z")
I wore a crystal on my wrist for a long time. Of course, there was a watch built around it… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/10 "2004-10-18T05:02:12Z")
Crystals are rocks. Pretty, shiny, beautifully colored rocks, but rocks nonetheless. I’d use them as jewelry and decoration, but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/11 "2004-10-18T05:51:04Z")
If you’re looking for magic cures, be prepared to spend a whole lotta money. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/12 "2004-10-18T06:43:46Z")
**Scarf-Ace** You’ve been a doper for two years and yoiu don’t know any better? What’s the deal partner? You DO realize the purpose of this board, right? 😉 Anyway stay away from those [ionic bracelet](http://www.fitnessinfomercialreview.com/qray.htm) wearing fools!! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crystal-healing-a-crock/269709/13 "2004-10-18T14:18:26Z")
Yes, a crock. A crystal radio, a crystal watch and a crystal laser work because of computable, measurable physical/chemical characteristics that you can reliably replicate in the lab, _regardless of whether you “believe” in it or have a thousand skeptics thinking negative thoughts in the room._ When someone does crystal healings that work that way, call the Nobel Committee. And the level of crockness behind the theory that “conventional” therapists deliberately prolong or even aggravate their patients’ problems to generate more income is dependent on the definition of “conventional”.