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Therapeutic Touch, a meditative healing practice created by Dolores Krieger and Dora Kunz, is adapted from the "laying on of hands" for the purpose of helping or healing others. The history of the technique and its influence on the health care system are chronicled in an effort to establish the role Therapeutic Touch has played in transforming people's lives.
The purpose of this pilot study is to examine the efficacy of Therapeutic Touch (TT) as a form of treatment intervention with persons who abuse alcohol and/or other drugs. A between-subjects design compared treatment outcomes of three groups of alcohol and other drug abusers over five months. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI), Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), Beck Depression Inventory (BI), and Personal Experiences: Therapeutic Touch and Frequency of Alcohol/Drug Use questionnaires were administered to the group receiving TT (Group A) and both control groups (Mimic TT Group B and No Intervention Group C) at various points in the study. Preliminary findings indicate that the use of TT could be effective in prolonging periods of abstinence for alcohol and other drug abusers.
Tellington touch (ttouch) is an emerging natural healing modality used by nurses and other health care providers to communicate caring and connection to clients. This simple-to-learn and easy-to-implement form of mindful, gentle physical touch is said to help in diverse areas such as chronic pain management, labor discomfort, and postinjury pain and edema. Despite 15 years of anecdotal evidence outlining reported benefits for humans, no investigation of ttouch has yet been undertaken. This qualitative study initiates a body of knowledge about ttouch by exploring and describing the experience of ttouch when administered to healthy people awaiting a routine venipuncture. The study includes qualitative data from both the participants (n = 47) and the provider (n = 1) and provides essential foundational information regarding the experience of ttouch. Implications for practice and future research are provided.
This study provided preliminary evidence for internal consistency reliability (Cronbach alpha = .94) of the newly developed Healing Touch Comfort Questionnaire. Fifty-six Healing Touch (HT) recipients (51 women and 5 men with a mean age of 51) completed the questionnaire. Participants with more than 4 HT treatments had higher comfort levels than those with fewer than 4.
There is growing interest among nurses in complementary therapies that are noninvasive, do not rely on expensive technology, and are holistic in focus. Besides the use of therapeutic touch, nurses are exploring other energy touch therapies, such as Reiki. This article examines the status of selected energy therapies and progress made toward nursing intervention utilization, including recommendations for nursing education applicable for 21st-century nursing practice.
Ambiguous visual information often produces unstable visual perception. In four psychophysical experiments, we found that unambiguous tactile information about the direction of rotation of a globe whose three-dimensional structure is ambiguous significantly influences visual perception of the globe. This disambiguation of vision by touch occurs only when the two modalities are stimulated concurrently, however. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we discovered that touching the rotating globe, even when not looking at it, reliably activates the middle temporal visual area (MT+), a brain region commonly thought to be crucially involved in registering structure from motion. Considered together, our results show that the brain draws on somatosensory information to resolve visual conflict.
1. Slowly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors, in the cat and primates, have been studied by histological and neurophysiological methods.2. Each touch corpuscle is a dome-shaped elevation of the epidermis, whose deepest layer contains up to fifty specialized tactile cells.3. Nerve plates, enclosed by the tactile cell (Merkel cells), are connected to a single myelinated axon in the dense collagenous core of the corpuscle.4. The corpuscle generated > 1000 impulses/sec when excited by vertical surface pressure. The response was highly localized and showed a low mechanical threshold, the frequency being dependent upon the velocity and amplitude of the displacement. There was a period of rapid adaptation before a sustained response which might continue for > 30 min.5. A quantitative analysis of the responses to excitation by displacements of differing amplitude, velocity and duration is included.6. The discharge of touch corpuscle units evoked by a mechanical stimulus was temperature-sensitive, and was enhanced by a fall in skin temperature.
1. In penetrations made into the upper bank of the lateral sulcus in two monkeys (Macaca mulatta), cells were isolated from the second somatosensory cortex (SII). During single-cell recordings, animals performed an active touch task in which they rubbed their fingertips over pairs of gratings differing in groove width and indicated which was the smoother surface. Hand motion and downward applied force were measured and recorded during these strokes. 2. In this survey, 151 penetrations provided observations on 352 cells that responded to passive stimulation of the digits or during performance of the active touch task. Consistent with previous reports, receptive fields (RFs) in SII were large, often multi-digit, and frequently included a portion or all of the hand and occasionally the arm. Modality was determined for 92 of 127 fully characterized cells, and included 70 cutaneous, 5 deep, 11 Pacinian corpuscle, and 6 joint cells. Characteristic of SII, modality could not be defined in 35 cells that were unresponsive to passive stimulation or whose responses varied widely over time. 3. Response properties of a subgroup of 79 cells in SII resembled those previously studied in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and ventroposterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus (VPL) using identical procedures. Correlation analysis revealed that 29 of these cells, like a portion of cells in SI, responded to changes in groove width independent of force or velocity. This selectivity could be considered a form of feature specificity. 4. In contrast to SI and VPL, transient responses to the fingertips contacting small elevated metal bars, which demarcated the beginning, middle, and end of strokes across the gratings, were seen in a majority of SII cells (109/127). During contact with bars, 89 cells displayed excitatory responses and 20 cells showed suppressed activity. Twelve cells, which responded to bars in isolation from gratings, provided a possible example of increased stimulus selectivity. 5. Passive stimulation failed to activate 16 cells that responded, in some cases differentially to gratings or force, during the task. Responses of nine other cells demonstrated task-dependent modulation in the form of response reduction or enhancement during selected portions of the stroke. In these same cells, response changes did not occur under comparable stimulus conditions in other portions of the stroke that differed only in behavioral context. These types of selective response modulations, not noted in our previous studies of VPL or SI, suggest that mechanisms regulating sensory inputs may affect SII.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
This study replicated and extended previous published research which suggests that therapeutic touch involves an energy exchange. The theorem that eye and facial contact between therapeutic touch practitioners and subjects should not be necessary to produce the effect of anxiety reduction was deduced from the Rogerian conceptual system and tested. This theorem was not supported. Numerous explanations for the failure of the hypotheses to be supported are posited, among them the impact of the research design, effects related to the investigator as practitioner, and medication. The influence of medication in particular is so pervasive in the sample that it would seem to be the most reasonable explanation.
Nurses and nonnurses involved in Healing Touch training were studied to determine if there was a difference in their perception of spirituality. There was no difference between the nurses and nonnurses on either the Spiritual Perspective Scale (F = .001, p = .970) or the Questionnaire on Spiritual and Religious Attitudes (F = .024, p = .878). There was a significant difference between the six levels of training in Healing Touch classes completed by the participants on the Spiritual Perspective Scale (F = 7.079, p = .000). The upper-level classes had higher scores than the lower levels. There was a difference on the Questionnaire on Spiritual and Religious Attitudes between levels of instruction completed (F = 3.326, p = .003). This suggests that there is a heightened sense of spiritual awareness in those in the higher levels of the program. It may be that involvement in an energy-based therapy is one way to develop spiritual awareness.
BACKGROUND: Therapeutic Touch (TT) is a widely used complementary therapy. This study investigated the effects of TT on hemoglobin and hematocrit level in students who were basically healthy. METHOD: The volunteers with a hemoglobin level less than 12 grams per deciliter (g/dl) were randomly assigned to three groups of TT, mimic therapeutic touch (MT), and control. Blood samples were collected before the first treatment and again a week after the last one and measurements were taken. RESULTS: TT increased the level of hemoglobin (.99 .13 g/dl) and hematocrit (2.82 .43%) significantly. MT also increased the level of hemoglobin (.55 .11 g/dl) and hematocrit (2.75 .44%) significantly. No significant changes were found in the control group. TT increased hemoglobin more effectively than MT (p< .05). CONCLUSIONS: Significant changes of both variables in TT and MTgroups suggest that more careful precision might be needed while selecting individuals as sham therapists in further experiments.
Through reflection on other types of energy work, the basis is laid for Touch for Health (TFH) as an energetic, touch, body therapy. TFH offers an opportunity for increased awareness of the subtle messages that our bodies are communicating to us. This communication is enhanced through the biofeedback quality of muscle testing. By introducing us to the feeling of well-being that occurs through energy balance, TFH makes individuals more aware of the meaning of optimal-level wellness. It assists people to move to a higher level of self-care. This health maintenance technique can be used anytime, anywhere for ourselves and others. By putting us back in control of our own health and well-being, TFH can increase self-esteem. Applications for nursing practice are explored.
From the context of postoperative wound infection care, this article describes the clinical use of Healing Touch, an integrated system of energetic healing techniques now being taught nationwide in cooperation with the American Holistic Nurses' Association. The author documents the progress of a patient with a significant wound infection as a consequence of cesarean birth. Along with standard medical care, the patient received Healing Touch treatments. This is an anecdotal report and is not intended to replace a structured study on wound healing.
The current shift toward granting funds for collaborative research proposals means that graduate nursing students must be prepared to participate in the collaborative research process. The authors describe how master's and doctoral students worked together with faculty to establish group norms, investigate, design, and disseminate a research proposal on Therapeutic Touch. Project goals, description of group members, and the benefits and limitations of collaborative research also are included. Evaluating the collaboration as a challenging yet enjoyable learning experience, students and faculty shared a successful scholarly endeavor that ultimately led to funding and implementation of a research proposal on Therapeutic Touch.
This article is based on a course work assignment for the Welsh National Board Certificate Level Module in Operating Department Practice (Recovery Branch). The article uses a critical incident reflective approach to explore the issues of using touch in caring for a patient, experiencing laryngospasm following a general anaesthetic. A literature review will explain the mechanisms of laryngospasm and will discuss the use of different forms of touch. Conclusions and recommendations will be drawn from the issues discussed.
Sixty-five undergraduates were assigned to guide a blindfolded confederate through a floor maze. The frequency of touching the confederate's skin and the length of time required to complete the trip through the maze were recorded. Each subject was also given a self-administered Rorschach test; an independent count was made of the number of oral responses given. Orality was positively related to touching behavior (r=.39, p=.001) and with speed of guiding the confederate through the maze (r=.31, p=.01).
We studied the capability of one male and one female harbour seal Phoca vitulina to discriminate diameter differences of circular discs by means of active touch with their mystacial vibrissae. To prevent the animals from perceiving visual information, they were blindfolded during trials. In a two-alternative forced-choice procedure, the seals were required to choose the larger of two Perspex discs. Weber fractions c (the ratio of the lowest diameter difference detected by the seals on 75% of occasions to the starting disc diameter D, delta D/D = c) were determined for three standard discs (diameters 1.12cm, 5.04cm and 8.74cm) by the psychophysical method of limits. While the seals achieved Weber fractions of 0.29 (male) and 0.26 (female) at the smallest standard disc, their performance improved with increasing disc size, resulting in an approximately constant Weber fraction of 0.13 (male) and 0.08 (female) for the two larger standard discs. The difference in performance between the two seals did not reflect a real difference in sensitivity, but may best be explained by a difference in choice behaviour. As a measure of tactile acuity, the Weber fractions obtained for the larger standard discs indicate that harbour seals can use their mystacial vibrissae as efficiently for active touch as monkeys use their hands.
Human touching within helping relationship became especially prominent during the so-called encounter movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. This indeed may be the movement's major legacy to clinical social work practice. As furor about the movement has declined it is now possible to take a look at its contributions. This paper examines social conditions that encouraged the use of touch as therapy and evaluates the possibilities of person-to-person tactile contact becoming an acceptable intervention in psychiatric and medical settings.