What Is Therapeutic Touch and How Does It Differ from Reiki?
November 15, 2024 | Danica Jackson
Therapeutic touch (TT) involves the placement of hands on or near the body with the intentional purpose of modulating a person’s energy for healing purposes. TT starts with the assumption that disease, pain, and psychological problems are all ultimately caused by a disruption in the body’s energy field. It is reasoned that if a TT healer can modulate a disrupted energy field and bring it back into harmony, the problem will be fixed or at least improved. The practice of Therapeutic Touch also assumes that the body’s energy is in constant contact with the physical and energetic world around it and that it can be manipulated by trained human hands for healing purposes.
What Is Therapeutic Touch (TT) Used To Treat?
In modern medicine, Therapeutic Touch is often used as a complementary medicine to help patients subdue pain after surgery or after painful treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. Research has shown that Therapeutic Touch can be helpful in reducing nausea, fatigue, and vomiting often associated with these radical medical treatments. TT is sometimes given to people in hospice to help them deal with end of life issues and be more at peace. Some people seek out TT to cure emotional scars that may be causing health issues or holding them back in life.
Therapeutic Touch can also be used to improve a variety of physical and psychological ailments. These include anxiety, depression, stress, panic attacks, rapid heartbeat, chronic bronchitis, sinus issues, high blood pressure, tension headaches, migraine headaches, arthritis, fibromyalgia, allergies, heartburn, acid reflux disease, sleep apnea, and neuropathy. TT also gives people more confidence to achieve their goals and more ability to remain calm and even handed if they are prone to flying off the handle.
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How Is Therapeutic Touch (TT) Different Than Reiki?
Reiki is another type of energy medicine that, like Therapeutic Touch, uses the human hands to manipulate a person’s energy fields for healing purposes. However, unlike Therapeutic Touch (TT) the practice Reiki is not considered “real” unless it is performed by a Reiki practitioner who has undergone “attunement” and special instruction by a Reiki Master. The process of attunement is ceremonial and involves the Reiki master opening the crown chakra and inserting Reiki symbols that are written in a combination of ancient Sanskrit with Japanese Kanji. Each symbol is tuned to a certain energy resonance and is said to give the new Reiki master (with practice) enhanced powers. Nothing like this exists in Therapeutic Touch (TT).
We only ask this question here because it seems the internet is filled with misinformation with regards to the effectiveness of Therapeutic Touch. In fact, there seems to be a much stronger effort to discredit Therapeutic Touch than other forms of energy medicine such as Healing Touch (HT) and Reiki. This disparity in acceptance may arise for many reasons but here are some of the most important:
Therapeutic Touch Got Started In the 1970s
Modern day Therapeutic Touch evolved from several ancient “laying on of hands” energy practices. The modern version of this came together in the early 1970s. This was in the heyday of the “flower power” movement and the United States was very divided culturally. There were the “hippies” and the “non-hippies” — the “new age” and the “traditional” — the new way of thinking and the old way of thinking. People were firmly planted in one group or the other with little acceptance or sharing of ideas between the two. Ideas like Therapeutic Touch, that flourished in the hippie culture, were generally not accepted by others, no matter how good the idea was or how well TT worked. Other popular energy medicine techniques did not develop in such a divisive period.
Holistic Non-Western Healing Methods Were Still Scoffed At In the 1970s
The western medical establishment was just not ready in the 1970s for any healing method that had roots in the ancient eastern healing methods. They were firmly entrenched in the idea of pharmaceuticals and surgery being the best methods to solve most ailments, be they physical or mental. The idea of the human body having an invisible life force (qi, q’i, ki, or prana) that could become damaged or blocked was just not accepted by medical schools that were training doctors at the time. While there was a limited acceptance of Therapeutic Touch in nursing schools, there was a “top down” approach to western medicine at the time that today has turned more collaborative in nature.
Then the doctors set the entire tone for medicine and most of them were men and most of the nurses were women. So, even though women tended to be more open to energy medicine, this did not carry over into the medical establishment at large. Luckily, holistic methods, thanks in large part to the female nurses of the 1970s and the spread of information on the internet starting in the 1990s, are now more readily accepted by the medical establishment and the general public.
When you look at present day training that practitioners receive for Therapeutic Touch (TT) versus Healing Touch (HT) today, it may be difficult to understand why HT would be so much better received than TT. However, HT didn’t start until 1989, when the world had already moved to being much more open to holistic approaches and home internet services were about to come on the scene as well. Further, the early methods of HT training started out in a much more organized and professional setting than did TT, which was started in part by Dora Kunz, known as a “clairvoyant healer” and a leader in the Theosophical Society.
Further, she had not been associated with the medical community like Janet Mentgen, the well-respected nurse who started the formal study and practice of HT. However, it should be noted that Janet Mentgen was heavily influenced by TT, Reiki, and other related energy medicine fields before she developed HT, so TT is essentially rolled into HT. It should also be noted that Therapeutic Touch gained more acceptance when Dolores Krieger, a Ph.D. and respected nurse, became involved in it and developed the more scientifically based “modern” methods of HT. Of course, too, clairvoyant healers today would not be so readily dismissed as our society at large has become more open to the more ancient methods of healing.
Is There Any Research That Shows Therapeutic Touch (TT) Works?
Yes! There have now been many scientifically designed double blind research studies that prove the healing power of Therapeutic Touch! These studies clearly demonstrate improvement with specific ailments after undergoing TT. Many more general TT studies show the underlying improvements in human physiology that promote good health and accelerated healing. For example, there are increases of certain chemicals produced by the body that demonstrate a strengthened immune system. Patients given TT show faster and more complete wound healing. Circulation is also improved with TT as is the hemoglobin levels of red blood cells. Patients given Therapeutic Touch therapy also show significant improvement in sleep patterns.
Final Thoughts
There is little doubt that Therapeutic Touch works by people who dig into the weeds and really study the evidence. However, Therapeutic Touch continues to be plagued by naysayers who seem to be on a crusade to discredit the technique. We are fortunate that other energy medicines, like Healing Touch, have taken the best elements from Therapeutic Touch, and the ancient practices TT evolved from and made these effecting healing techniques more readily acceptable to more people. We will likely see a day in the not so distance future where TT, or other energy similar to it, are routine when you go to the doctor.
Danica Jackson got her first telescope when she was only nine years old. She's been fascinated with all things celestial ever since. Her studies on history and anthropology give her unique perspectives on astrology and personal growth.
