Therapeutic touch (TT), also called Non-Contact Therapeutic Touch (NCTT) or Distance Healing,^[1] is an energy therapy claimed to promote healing and reduce pain and anxiety. TT practitioners say that by placing their hands on or near the patient they can detect and manipulate the patient's putative energy field.^[2] Although there are 251 articles on TT on PubMed^[3] quality of controlled research is variable. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that TT practitioners could not detect the presence or absence of a hand placed a few inches above theirs when their vision was obstructed.^[4][5][6] The existence of a "biofield" or "bioenergetic field," a necessary component of TT theory, directly contradicts many principles of modern physics, chemistry, and biology.^[7][8]

Origin

Dora Kunz, theosophy promoter and one-time president of the Theosophical Society of America, and Dolores Krieger, Ph.D., R.N., nursing educator at New York University, developed Therapeutic Touch in the 1970s.^[2][9][10]

Therapeutic Touch claims to have roots in ancient healing practices,^[11] such as laying on hands, although it has no connection with any religious beliefs. Dr. Krieger notes, "A basic recognition upon which Therapeutic Touch was developed initially was exactly that in the final analysis, it is the healee (client) who heals himself. The healer or therapist, in this view, acts as a human energy support system until the healee's own immunological system is robust enough to take over."^[12]

The creation of TT occurred as part of a larger movement supported by some within the nursing community away from the scientific method. This movement embraced anecdotal evidence at the expense of biological plausibility and testable evidence. Other fringe nursing theories that emerged during the 1970s include the Theory of Transpersonal Caring and Health as Expanding Consciousness.^[8] The American Holistic Nurses Association endorses TT along with astrology, prayer, psychic surgery, and chelation therapy (for uses other than treatment of acute toxic metal poisoning).^[8][13]

Research

Attempting to study TT in 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation and the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT) sent invitations to more than 60 nursing organizations and individuals, including Dolores Krieger, offering $742,000 to any practitioner who could prove their ability to detect "biofields." Only one practitioner responded, and the results were negative (she correctly identified only 11 of 20 subjects as either suffering from chronic pain or suffering no chronic medical conditions). While PhACT acknowledged that one test on one practitioner is not ground to dismiss the entire theory of TT, the fact that only one of the 40,000 possible respondents accepted the challenge calls into question TT practitioners' belief in their own work.^[14]

In 1998, Emily Rosa, at 11 years of age, became the youngest person to have a paper accepted by the Journal of the American Medical Association for her study of therapeutic touch, which debunked the claims of TT practitioners. Her study consisted of testing 21 practitioners of TT to determine their ability to detect the aura they claim surrounds everyone. The practitioners stood on one side of a cardboard screen, while Emily stood on the other. The practitioners then placed their hands through holes in the screen. Emily then flipped a coin to determine which of the practitioner's hands she would place hers near (without, of course, touching the hand). The practitioners then were to indicate if they could sense her biofield, and where her hand was. Although all of the participants had asserted that they would be able to do this, the actual results did not support their assertions. After repeated trials the practitioners had succeeded in locating her hand at a rate not significantly different from chance. They were right 44% of the time, slightly worse than chance.^[15][16][9] Upon publishing the results, JAMA editor George D. Lundberg, M.D, recommended that patients and insurance companies alike refuse to pay for TT or at least question whether or not payment is appropriate "...until or unless additional honest experimentation demonstrates an actual effect." Dr. Lundberg also commented that TT practitioners are ethically obligated to share the results of this study with patients.^[9]

See also

• Facilitated communication
• Reiki

References

1. ↑
2. ↑ ^{a b}
3. ↑ ,
4. ↑ Therapeutic Touch Study Data
5. ↑
6. ↑
7. ↑
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Junkfood Science Special: Trusting nurses with our lives by Sandy Szwarc, BSN, RN, CCP. July 6, 2007.
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Why Therapeutic Touch Should Be Considered Quackery by Stephen Barrett, M.D.
10. ↑ Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt00332)
11. ↑
12. ↑
13. ↑ Description of Healing Modalities, American Holistic Nurses Association.
14. ↑ A Scientific test of TT done by PhACT Date: 14 November 96 by Bob Glickman, R.N.
15. ↑
16. ↑

External links

• ''Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine'' on Therapeutic Touch
• The Touch of Life: An Analysis of Therapeutic Touch - by Steven Novella
• translation of some French research into Therapeutic Touch
• A critical evaluation of the theory and practice of therapeutic touch
• Experimental Protocol: Therapeutic Touch
• Therapeutic Touch at the Skeptic's Dictionary
• Denison, Barbara L., Consumer access to complementary therapies such as Therapeutic Touch (TT), Kansas Nurse, March 2001

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