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Description
Therapeutic touch treats the whole person: relaxes the mind, heals the body, and soothes the spirit. The principle behind it is that it does not stop at the skin. The human body has an energy field or aura that extends several inches to several feet from the body. When illness occurs, it creates a disturbance or blockage in the vital energy field. The TT practitioner uses her/his hands to sense the blockage or disturbance. In a series of gentle strokes, the healer removes the disturbance and rebalances the energy to restore health.
The TT session generally lasts about 20–30 minutes. Although the technique is called "therapeutic touch," there is generally no touching of the client's physical body, only his or her energetic body or field. TT is usually performed on fully clothed patients who are either lying down on a flat surface or sitting up in a chair.
Each session consists of five steps. Before the session begins, the practitioner enters a state of quiet meditation where he/she becomes centered and grounded in order to establish intent for the healing session and to gain access to the compassion necessary to heal.
The second step involves an assessment of the person's vital energy field. During this step, the practitioner places the palms of his/her hands 2–3 in (5–8 cm) from the patient's body and sweeps them over the energy field in slow, gentle strokes beginning at the head and moving toward the feet. The practitioner might feel heat, coolness, heaviness, pressure, or a prickly or tingling sensation. These cues, as they are called, signal blockages or disturbances in the field.
To remove these blockages and restore balance to the body, the practitioner then performs a series of downward sweeping movements to clear away any energy congestion and smooth the energy field. This is known as the unruffling process and is generally performed from the head toward the feet. To prevent any energy
During the next phase, the practitioner acts as a conduit to transfer energy to the patient. The energy used is not solely the energy of the practitioner. The practitioner relies on a universal source of energy so as not to deplete his/her own supply. In short, the healer acts as an energy support system until the patient's immune system is able to take over.
The practitioner then smoothes the field to balance the energy and create a symmetrical flow. When the session is over, it is recommended that the patient relax for 10–15 minutes in order for the energies to stabilize.
Side effects
The side effects reported occur when an excess of energy enters the body for an extended period of time creating restlessness, irritability, and hostility, or increasing anxiety and pain. Burns are sensitive to therapeutic touch, and it is recommended that TT be performed on burned tissue for short periods, generally two to three minutes at a time.
Research & general acceptance
Therapeutic touch is not generally accepted by Western medical professionals, although it has been studied by researchers at the Office of Alternative Medicine of the National Institutes of Health. Anecdotal research has been performed on TT since its development in 1972, but little quantitative research has been carried out. In April 1998 therapeutic touch became national news, however, when an elementary-school student carried out research for a science project that questioned the claims made for TT. Twenty-one TT practitioners with experience ranging from one to 27 years were blindfolded and asked to identify whether the investigator's hand was closer to their right hand or their left. Placement of the investigator's hand was determined by flipping a coin. The TT practitioners were able to identify the correct hand in only 123 (44%) of 280 trials, a figure that could result from random chance alone.
On the other side of the debate, one frequently cited study was designed to determine the effect TT would have on wounds that resulted from a biopsy of the upper arm. Forty-four patients placed their injured arms through a hole in a door. Twenty-two of them received TT on their arms. The other half received no treatment. The wounds treated with TT healed more quickly than the wounds that received no treatment.
In 1998, a study was performed on 27 patients with osteoarthritis in at least one knee. For six weeks, the patients were treated with therapeutic touch, mock therapeutic touch, or standard care. According to The Journal of Family Practice, the results showed that the patients who had received TT had "significantly decreased pain and improved function as compared with both the placebo and control groups."
DOLORES KRIEGER 1935–
Dolores Krieger, a prominent professor of nursing at the New York University Division of Nursing, conceived of therapeutic touch as a healing technique in the early 1970s and introduced the therapy in 1972. Therapeutic touch rarely consists of physical contact with the patient. The practitioner focuses positive energy through their hands, which are held or waved two to three inches away from the patient, and directs it towards the patient's energy field. Krieger developed the technique along with a colleague, Dora Van Gelder Kunz, who is believed to be clairvoyant. They initially taught the system to graduate students at the nursing school, and it evolved from that basis. Since the introduction of therapeutic touch, Krieger traveled the world in teaching the technique before she retired as professor emerita at the university. An estimated 70,000 nurses were trained by Krieger and Kunz.
In 1981 Dr. Krieger published Foundations for Holistic Health Nursing Practices. She later published a manual, The Therapeutic Touch: How to Use Your Hands to Help or to Heal, in 1992.
Krieger became embroiled in controversy over the potential benefits of therapeutic touch technique between 1996-98, when nine-year-old schoolgirl Emily Rosa challenged the validity of the therapy with a simple experiment. She gathered 21 practitioners and through a covered box held her hand over one of the practitioner's own to test whether they could sense her energy field. Only 44% of the time were the practitioners able to determine which of their hands that Rosa's was hovering over. Although Rosa contacted Krieger in 1997, Krieger refused to meet with her, refused to participate in Rosa's experiment, and disputed the relevancy of an elementary school student's observations. Krieger holds both an R.N. and a Ph.D. degree and dismissed the validity of the experiment due to the student's and practitioners' lack of experience.
Krieger continues to promote her technique. Her latest book, Therapeutic Touch As Transpersonal Healing, was published in 2002.
Gloria Cooksey
Therapeutic touch can be combined with a number of different therapies, including acupressure, massage, mental imagery, physical therapy, and yoga. When combined
TT is practiced in over 70 countries worldwide: by Egyptians and Israelis during fighting in the Gaza Strip; in South Africa to reduce racial strife; and in Poland, Thailand, and the former Soviet Union.
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Author Info: Jennifer Wurges, Rebecca J. Frey PhD, The Gale Group Inc., Gale, Detroit, Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, 2005 |
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