Adviezen en behandeling van de paragnost Croiset

Around 1960, the Dutch clairvoyant Gerard Croiset (1909-1980) was consulted by ‘people with symptoms – considered to be unexplained – such as paralysis or neurological disorders’. I searched the archive of the Johan Borgman Fund Foundation for the effect of Croiset’s advice and treatment in patients with these symptoms who might have had the diagnosis of conversion disorder. Contrary to my expectations, Croiset treated no patients with conversion disorder. His advice and treatment were successful in patients with poliomyelitis, epilepsy, lumbar disc prolapse and infantile encephalopathy. Four of his patients had been insufficiently stimulated by the first person who treated them to improve their remaining muscular strength through exercise; symptoms of anxiety had not been investigated sufficiently in two patients; and in one patient the treating professional had adhered too rigidly to the set treatment. Alternative healers are apparently not only successful with patients with unexplained symptoms, and their success is not always the result of a placebo effect.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.