Charlie Goldsmith: Healer or Hoax

Energy Healing is an ability that many are skeptical of. Charlie Goldsmith is on a mission to demonstrate his work and participate in scientific studies to gain credibility for himself and people like him.

Charlie Goldsmith has indeed made waves in the world of alternative medicine and thanks to multiple interviews in the mainstream media— catalyzed heated debates about just how genuine his claims are.  We've of course seen this type of healing before, typically in the halls of a church with grand spectacles in which blind men see, deaf women, hear, and children leap out of wheelchairs miracles.  However, this is not that type of healing.  Goldsmith's method is quieter and much more soothing.

Charlie Goldsmith is based in Melbourne and earns his money through his job as the Managing Director at Cassette, a creative communications agency he founded at 19, as well as the other business he founded, Pumpy Jackson, a clean, sugar-free brand of chocolate.  Goldsmith's older sister is actress and singer Tottie Goldsmith, and his aunt is none other than Olivia Newton-John.

"Sunday Night" Australian news and current affairs program produced and broadcast by the Seven Network conducted a 3-month investigation by Angela Cox into his apparent skills.  Viewers undoubtedly will be able to make up their minds, and it will be interesting if the show uncovers stronger evidence.  During Andrew Denton's talk show, Interview, Denton did not give Goldsmith a chance for a full demonstration and viewers were critical of the cynical line taken.

To Goldsmith's believers, he’s only known as ‘The Healer.’ Charlie Goldsmith claims he possesses the energy that can cure the sick using just his mind. The self-proclaimed energy healer says he can end chronic pain, cure crippling arthritis, even save lives.  Plenty of his patients who will attest to his inexplicable powers. However, is he truly a healer or is it all a hoax?  Sunday Night’s Angela Cox has put Goldsmith’s claims to the test.

Charlie Goldsmith sits with his eyes closed, lids fluttering. He cups his hands like he is holding a ball. Then, he says, he channels his energy into someone else’s body, and in minutes heals them.  Charlie calls it his gift and says he discovered it when he was 18.  Since then, he says he has healed thousands of people.  He says it works about 75 percent of the time, and that in four out of five of those cases the results last.

In the eyes of his critics, Charlie Goldsmith is peddling unrealistic hope to the vulnerable and sometimes desperate.  His believers see an unfairly maligned healer fighting a world of doubters too narrow-minded to understand his gift.  In 2013, there was a preliminary study conducted by New York University’s Lutheran Hospital.  The report found 76 percent of patients experienced marked improvements.  Dr. Justin Coleman, an Australian GP and self-proclaimed skeptic whom we interviewed as part of our investigation, says the findings aren’t even worth publishing because he disagreed with the methodology used.

Charlie Goldsmith dreams of a day when energy healing is used alongside mainstream medicine in hospital wards and emergency departments around the world.

As part of o three-month Sunday Night investigation, the network tried to find doctors willing to let Charlie work on their patients.  The network program determined this would be the most legitimate way to test his so-called gift; the patients’ health issues and different treatments would also be well-documented, and their treating doctor could judge with expert eyes whether Charlie had helped.  When the network approached hospitals, doctors, pain clinics, even chronic pain support groups. Most refused immediately. Others expressed curiosity but said they couldn’t be involved because they will be discredited if they were seen to be supporting an energy healer.

Eventually, the network found two doctors who are willing to take part.  It is easy to understand why people, particularly doctors, are wary of Charlie Goldsmith.  He claims to do something which defies logic and can only be explained by none other than the science of quantum physics.  Some people can’t get past that.  Goldsmith is also asking to be scrutinized. He says he has spent two decades trying to get universities to look at what he does. Goldsmith wants a double-blind study — considered the gold standard in medical research. He wants science to silence his doubters.  Charlie Goldsmith doesn’t claim to be able to cure cancer or even the common cold and says he would never suggest a gravely ill patient turn their back on lifesaving medicine.  He says he wants to complement mainstream medicine, not replace it.

Before and after he treats people, he issues disclaimers, telling them his work may not have any effect.  Moreover, even if a patient says they feel better, he tells them it might not last.  When the Seven Network put Charlie Goldsmith to the test, the network insisted on hand-picking the patients.  Most of them had never even heard of him.  The network's test cases were told they wanted 100 percent honesty. They were told not to perform for the cameras and had to be straight if they felt nothing.

Charlie treated a total of 17 patients in front of the cameras.

Angela Cox is a reporter with Sunday Night. Watch her investigation into energy healer Charlie Goldsmith at the top of this page, and it is no wonder TLC gave him his very own show, "The Healer."