Therapeutic Touch
Searching for Evidence of Physiological Change
DOLORES KRIEGER
ERIK PEPER/SONIA ANCOLI
Therapeutic touch, first described by Krieger in 1975 as an act of
healing or helping that is akin to the ancient practice of laying-on
hands, is proving to be a useful adjunct to orthodox nursing
practices.
It is being taught as an intrinsic part of the master’s curriculum in
nursing at New York University, is the subject of continuing
education courses and workshops at universities throughout the
United States, and has been a part of inservice programs for nurses at
several hospitals in the country.
Basic to therapeutic touch is the concept that the human body
has an excess of energy. The person who administers therapeutic
touch engages in an effort to direct his own excess energies for the use
of the ill person, who can be thought of as being in less than an
optimal energy state.’
This transfer of energy is intentional and is motivated by an
interest in the needs of the patient. The state of consciousness in
which this is done can best be described as meditative; therefore, the
process of therapeutic touch has been termed to be a “healing
meditation.”2 In the process of therapeutic touch, the person playing
the role of the healer becomes quiet and passively “listens” with her
hands as she scans the body of the patient, and gently attunes to his or
her condition. The healer places her hands over the areas of
accumulated tension in the patient’s body and redirects these
energies.
in the process of touching there appears to be a transfer of
energy from healer that helps the patient to repattern his or her
energy level to a state that is comparable to that of the healer. This
appears to be done physiologically by a kind of electron transfer
resonance.3
With therapeutic touch, as with other meditative practices. the
mind is totally focused without effort upon the healing touch; no
other thoughts enter awareness. This process, like any meditation,
requires “attentiveness training,” a mode of thought not usually
Dolores Krieger, R.N., Ph.D., is a professor of nursing, New York
University, N.Y.
Erik Peper, Ph.D., is a professor- at San Fransisco State University,
California.
Sonia Ancoli, has a Ph.D. in psychophysiology from the University of
taught in our educational system.
As therapeutic touch is being used increasingly in nursing
practice, we are directing our attention to physiological effects
therapeutic touch may have on the healer or therapist as well as on
the patient. One such effort was a study done on one of the authors
(Krieger) while she was doing therapeutic touch.
The study was done in the laboratory of Joe Kamiva, Ph.D.. at
the Langley Porter Neuropsvchiatric Institute. UCLA, San
[ransisco. over a two-day period. The final research design
developed out of discussions between the authors, Dr. Kamiva, an(l
his doctoral and postdoctoral students. This interdisciplinary
approach resulted in research design and methodology that made
possible objectively discernible data Ofl subjective healer-healee
interactions.
During the studs’, the group worked as a team, making direct
observations through the window of a testing chamber or inside the
chatiihcr itself, and at the same time tending the sophisticated
technological cquipnlcnt that measured the physiological
parameters and simultaneously printed out the data coming through
the computer. ‘[he technology analysis was done by Peper and
A nco Ii.
lhree patient volunteers from the Pain and Stress Control
Outpatient [)epartment of a hospital in California consented to
participate in this study. Mr. A.. a man in his sixties, had had se~ere
neck and hack pain for several years following the injection of
contrast dye into the spinal canal for mvogra phic stud its. S juice t lien.
he had been unable to walk without the aid of crutches. The second
participant. Ni s. 13., was a 30—year—old woman with a history of
f’ihroid tumors. ‘[he third participant was Mrs. C., a young woman in
her earl~’ twenties who had a history of severe chronic migraine
headaches as well as one reported grand mal seiiure.
Krieger was studied for two consecutive days while she was
attached to electroenccphalographic. electromyographic. and
electro-oculographic leads.
On Day I, baseline data was recorded on Krieger while she was
doing therapeutic touch to a patient, as well as while she was alone.
While alone, she spent part of that time in meditation. No attempt
was made to record from parients on Day 1.
Usually Krieger did therapeutic touch while standing. Data was
collected for both conditions of eyes open and closed, while sittingas
well as standing. The patients either sat or lay in a supine position on
a cot, whichever was more comfortable for them. The testing site was
a neutrally lit, electrically-shielded, sound-deadened acoustical
chamber, large enough to hold two chairs and a cot. On one side of
the chamber was a small observation window.
Different electrode configurations were used ~o explore the
therapeutic touch process. Grass cup electrodes and Grass electrode
paste were used for bipolar EEC patterns. The electro-oculograms
taught in our educational system.
As therapeutic touch is being used increasingly in nursing
practice, we are directing our attention to physiological effects
therapeutic touch may have on the healer or therapist as well as on
the patient. One such effort was a study done on one of the authors
(Krieger) while she was doing therapeutic touch.
The study was done in the laboratory of Joe Kamiva, Ph.D.. at
the Langley Porter Neuropsvchiatric Institute. UCLA, San
[ransisco. over a two-day period. The final research design
developed out of discussions between the authors, Dr. Kamiva, an(l
his doctoral and postdoctoral students. This interdisciplinary
approach resulted in research design and methodology that made
possible objectively discernible data Ofl subjective healer-healee
interactions.
During the studs’, the group worked as a team, making direct
observations through the window of a testing chamber or inside the
chatiihcr itself, and at the same time tending the sophisticated
technological cquipnlcnt that measured the physiological
parameters and simultaneously printed out the data coming through
the computer. ‘[he technology analysis was done by Peper and
A nco Ii.
lhree patient volunteers from the Pain and Stress Control
Outpatient [)epartment of a hospital in California consented to
participate in this study. Mr. A.. a man in his sixties, had had se~ere
neck and hack pain for several years following the injection of
contrast dye into the spinal canal for mvogra phic stud its. S juice t lien.
he had been unable to walk without the aid of crutches. The second
participant. Ni s. 13., was a 30—year—old woman with a history of
f’ihroid tumors. ‘[he third participant was Mrs. C., a young woman in
her earl~’ twenties who had a history of severe chronic migraine
headaches as well as one reported grand mal seiiure.
Krieger was studied for two consecutive days while she was
attached to electroenccphalographic. electromyographic. and
electro-oculographic leads.
On Day I, baseline data was recorded on Krieger while she was
doing therapeutic touch to a patient, as well as while she was alone.
While alone, she spent part of that time in meditation. No attempt
was made to record from parients on Day 1.
Usually Krieger did therapeutic touch while standing. Data was
collected for both conditions of eyes open and closed, while sittingas
well as standing. The patients either sat or lay in a supine position on
a cot, whichever was more comfortable for them. The testing site was
a neutrally lit, electrically-shielded, sound-deadened acoustical
chamber, large enough to hold two chairs and a cot. On one side of
the chamber was a small observation window.
Different electrode configurations were used ~o explore the
therapeutic touch process. Grass cup electrodes and Grass electrode
paste were used for bipolar EEC patterns. The electro-oculograms
(FOG) were recorded with slow or nonpotential skin electrodes
attached to the outer and inner canthi of each eye.
in addition, frontalis electromyographic (F MG) and left palmar
galvanic skin response (GSR) leads were recorded.
The FF6, wrist-to-wrist heart rate (EKG),. palmar GSR, and
temperature from the hands were also monitored for each patient.
The most significant finding in this study was Krieger’s FF6 and
LOG data. In all experimental conditions, her record shows an
unusual amount of fast beta EEG activity. The frontalis muscle
activity (F MG) was also recorded as a control for extraneous beta
activity due to excessive muscle tension. For this reason. Krieger’s
frontalis FMG was compared with her EEG.
The EEC demonstrated that even when the action of the
lrontalis muscle subsided, the rapid rhythmical beta activity
continued. This indicates that the rapid synchronous beta was not an
artifact of muscle action.
Usually Krieger was not actively attending to outside cues. The
LOG records Krieger’s eves open in slight divergence with no
mo~ement; that is. no slow rolling or saecadic movements of the eyes
took place during the time Krieger was doing therapeutic touch. This
indicates that she was in a state of steady concentration. as if gazing
far away at nothing.
During this period, no significant changes were recorded for the
patients’ EEG, EMG. GSR, temperature or heart rate. The records
of all three patients show then in a relaxed state, with a high
abundance of large-amplitude alpha activity in both the eves-open
and the eyes-closed states. Alpha is i’cually present when subjects are
not visually orienting, and this can be construed to indicate
relaxation.
On analyzing the data, it can be considered that the predominant
rapid synchronous beta in Krieger’s EEG represents the
physiological style of therapeutic touch that, as indicated above, can
be considered to be in actuality a healing meditation. When a person
closes his eye gently and is in a calm state of mind, he usually is in an
alpha state. When a person is in a normal state of waking awareness,
he is in a beta state. The significance of the fast, rhythmical beta state
in Krieger was that it indicated a state of deep concentration. The
significance of the patients’ being in an alpha state with their eyes
open is that, aside from study done on Zen Buddhist masters
(priests), the alpha state is usually accomplished in the closed-eyes
state by most people. The patients’ eyes were in the open state, they
did not think they were in an alpha state; when questioned they said
they felt a state of well-being.
Each patient reported relaxing during therapeutic touch, and
the physiological indices indicated that the subjects were indeed
relaxed.
After the study was over, Mr. A. walked out of the laboratory,
down a standard flight of stairs and out into the Street carrying his
crutches somewhat casually Under his arm instead of using them. On
follow-up examination, Ms. B.’s fibroid tumors were no longer
observable, and the severity of Ms. C.’s migraine headaches
diminished.
The improvements in condition may not be related to the
therapeutic touch experience and no claims can be made; however, it
was evident that the experience was important to the patients.
The authors do not claim knowledge of the extent to which the
improvement of the patients was related to therapeutic touch. To
study the healing properties of therapeutic touch, controlled studies
need to be done; this was simply one intensive study done on one
person playing the role of healer with three patients.
One problem in this type of research is that the conditions of
baseline and postbaseline experimental treatment are artificial
boundaries that the experimenter sets up. For the adept nurse-healer
these dichotomies and distinctions may not exist, since Krieger
started attuning to the patient the moment she entered the testing
chamber; therefore, the baseline condition is actually a combined
process of the baseline plus the healing meditation.
That the patients reported feeling better during these sessions
could be explained by “placebo.” Even if therapeutic touch is just
“placebo,” placebo has been noted to help in over 30 percent of
illnesses. Learning to systematically maximize this process through a
healing meditation would, in itself, be a significant contribution to
nursing. The authors believe, however, that therapeutic touch goes
beyond placebo and involves an undefined but learnable method of
human energy balancing.
There is much further study that needs to be done before these
findings can be generalized, &f course. However, the report is
presented to encourage further inquiry of an area of nursing practice
that appears to be of continued interest and use, and to support
continued unbiased investigation in its evaluation by peers. U
References
1. Evans-Wentz, W.Y., ed. Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrine, 2nd ed.
London, Oxford Press, 1968.
2. Peper, F., and Ancoli, S., Two Endpoints of an EEG Continuum of
Meditation. Paper presented at Biofeedback Society of America,
Conference held at Orlando, Florida, March, 1977..
3. Krieger, D. Healing by the laying-on of hands as a facilitator of
bioenergetic change: the response of in-vivo human hemoglobin mt. J.
Psychoenergetic Systems 1:12 1-129, 1976.
reprinted from The Theosophical
Research Journal
