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Touch for therapeutic communication
Conclusion about therapeutic touch
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Energy Healing Therapy is the channeling of healing energy through the hands of a practitioner into the client’s body to restore a normal energy balance and therefore, health. (Nahin, 2009) Energy healing therapy has been used to treat a wide variety of aliments and health problems, and is often used in conjunction with other alternative and conventional medical treatments. Such treatments that use energy healing techniques are Therapeutic Touch, Polarity Therapy and Reiki; Qigong, Breema and Yoga; Aromatherapy and Electromagnetic Therapies. Each one expands on positive and negative energy patterns emitted from a client’s body (their aura).
Historic Origin
Energy healing therapy has been around since the 17th century. (Longhran 2000) Reiki is the oldest of the energy healing therapies which was developed in Japan. It was brought to the United States in 1937. (Stein, 1995) Most of the energy therapies were developed in the 1900’s. As a practitioner uses techniques on their client’s some changes are made to develop their own techniques depending on what is in the best interest for the client. (Longhran, 2000)
Reasons for Use
Energy healing therapy has been used in various cultures for religious ceremonies and medical purposes. It can be used for anything from stress reduction, anxiety, depression and fatigue, relief from cold or flu, and pain management, to minimizing the side effects from medical treatments or symptoms of chronic illnesses. Some seek energy therapy to maintain balance of mind, body and spirit. Also according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can also be relieved. Practitioners believe that most of these issues are re...
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...ner growth. New York: Marlowe & Company
Good, R. Diagnosis Review Committee Report. International Journal of Nursing Terminologies and Classifications 15.2 (2004): 59+. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 6 Feb 2011
Longhran, JK., & Bull, R. (2000). Aromatherapy & subtle energy techniques. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd
Nahin, RL., Barnes PM., Stussman BJ., Bloom B. (2009). Costs of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and frequency of visits to CAM practitioners: United States, 2007. National Health Statistics Reports,no.18. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2009
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. National Institutes of Health, February 4, 2011. Web. 6 Feb 2011.
Stein, D. (1995). Essential reiki: a complete guide to an
ancient healing art. Berkeley: Crossing Press
Ross defines and differentiates between the terms healing and curing. She recognizes the fact that healing and curing are very intertwined and it can be hard to distinguish between the two terms. There are differences between the definitions in scholarly and general settings. She references an ethnographic study of healing versus curing conducted by anthropologists Andrew Strathern and Pamela Stewart in 1999 with native groups in New Guinea. The results of the study looked at how energy used by the different types of tribal healers to either cure or heal a patient. Eastern medicine focuses on how energy interacts with the healing process in connection within the mind. Whereas Western medicine is focused on the mind and the body separately. The practice is considered a holistic approach to finding cures. According to Ross (2013), healing is more a therapeutic process targeting the whole body and specific illness including emotional, mental, and social aspects in the treatment. The act of curing is a pragmatic approach that focuses on removing the problem all together. The life experiences of a person playing into how well certain treatments will heal or cure what is ailing them. These aspects can not be defined with textbook definitions. The interaction that the healing process has with energy is a variable in the success rate. Uncontrolled emotions can have a greater impact on the inside the body than a person can realize. The exploration of energy interaction within the body can be used for greater analysis of health care systems. (21-22). Are Western healthcare facilities purposely “curing” patients just so that they return are few years later? Is Western Medicine built upon a negative feedback loop? The terminolo...
Therapeutic touch was developed by Dolores Krieger and Dora Kunz in the 1970s as a non-invasive nursing intervention (Kelly et al. 2004). Jackson and Keegan (2009, p.614) defined therapeutic touch as “a specific technique of centring intention used while the practitioner moves the hands through a recipient’s energy field for the purpose of assessing and treating energy field imbalance.” The original theory of the technique proposed by nursing theorist Rogers (1970) is that individuals as a unified whole have their own permeable energy fields that extend from the skin surface and flow evenly when they are healthy. The energy field of the ill physical body is disrupted, misaligned, obstructed or “out of tune” (Huff et al. 2006). TT has the potential to re-pattern, reorganize and restore the individual’s imbalanced energy fields through the open system extending from the surface of the body interacting with the environment constantly (Krieger, 1979). The earliest studies of healing touch were carried out in the 1950s and 1960s: biochemist Bernard Grad (1965) collaborated with famous healer Oskar Estebany to demonstrate the significantly accelerated healing effects of therapeutic touch on wounded mice and damaged barley seeds. The central aim of healing therapies is to relax and calm patients in order to activate patients’ natural healing ability, and it does not include any religious activity (Lorenc et al. 2010).
Ackley, B. & Ladwig, G. (2010) Nursing diagnosis handbook:an evidence based guide to planning care. Maryland Heights, MO: Mosbey.
The roots of the practice of acupuncture can be traced back to about 2000 years in Chinese medicine where it was used as a major traditional healing method (Cherry & Jacob, 2017). It is classified as an alternative medical system that involves the use of imperceptible networks/channels all through the body. Along with acupuncture, other forms of alternative medical systems include Ayurveda, homeopathy, naturopathy, and traditional Chinese medicine. These networks are referred to as meridians, by which energy streams through the body (Cherry & Jacob, 2017). The energy is referred to as Qi (pronounced “chee”). It is believed in traditional Chinese culture that Qi holds a dynamic life force, and when there an imbalance of this energy; illness as well as symptoms cultivates.
Derived from several ancient healing practices, therapeutic touch is based on the theory of human energy fields - every person has an energy field that surrounds the entire body. During therapeutic touch treatment, practitioners use their hands, without actually touching the person, to re-establish a healthy energy flow. Therapeutic touch seeks to restore balance within the body while also stimulating the patient's own healing response. The practice of therapeutic touch is used worldwide in thousands of hospitals, clinics, and private practices. It is an easily learned, successful complement to other healing programs.
Throughout time, mankind has persistently been seeking ways to maintain their health and to cure those that had not been so fortunate in that task. Just about everything has been experimented with as a cure for some type of illness; whether physical, spiritual or mental. There has always been evidence of spiritual healing and it will continue to be an important part of any healing process, large or small.
Joos S.,(2008). The role of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Germany - a focus group study of GPs. BMC Health Services Research,8,127–140.Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2442431/
For many centuries, humanity has been on an eternal quest for cures and treatments for many chronic conditions. At the present time, conventional medicine is mostly performed by doctors and other health care professionals, with the extensive use of pharmaceutical drugs, surgery or radiation treatments for disease treatment. Conversely, even though not as popular, complementary and alternative medicine and treatment options are slowly gaining popularity and becoming an addition to traditional medicine.
Keeping one’s energy field in balance helps stabilize emotional and physical health between counseling sessions. Healing Touch also offers specific techniques for trauma release, pain relief, deep clearing of the energetic residues of trauma, rebalancing the field, and making transitions such as returning to a normalized healthy life. As issues are brought up in therapy sessions, the energy work in separate sessions can clear and re-balance the energy field. The release of emotions during an energy healing session may include crying, laughter, anger, and/or physical movements. Healing Touch techniques such as Magnetic Clearing can help release the effects of trauma even if an individual is unable to talk about his or her feelings.
St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Ackley, B.J., Ladwig, G.B., & Flynn Makic, M. (2017). Nursing diagnosis handbook (11th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier University.
Most of the time when going to the doctor’s office they will prescribe a prescription drug to the patient to help manage their pain. This pain can be described as a “sensation of physical or mental suffering or hurt that usually causes distress or agony to the one experiencing it.” (Taylor, Lillis, LeMone, and Lynn, 2011) However, there are some instances where medication may not be enough for some patients; they may require more relief than what a prescription drug can offer. This is why many patients may benefit from complementary and alternative therapies (CAT). These types of interventions are “complementary therapies (they can be used with traditional medical interventions and thus complement them).” (Taylor et al., 2011)
Inc. Websites -.. http://www.ajc.com/health/altmed/shared/health/alt_medicine/ConsModalities/MindBody. http://www.healthyroads.com/myhealth/content/mindbody/articles/art_MindBodyTherapyOverviewOfHealingMethods.asp? Journals: The Journal of the American Latorre, M. (2000). The 'Secondary'. A Holistic View of Psychotherapy: Connecting Mind, Body, and Spirit.
Spark Ralph, S. & Taylor, C. M. (2011). Nursing diagnosis reference manual (8th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
According to Sandra Augustyn Lawton in Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Teens, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) can be defined as “a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine” (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Although complementary and alternative medicines are often interpreted as the same thing, complementary methods are used in coordination with conventional methods and alternative methods are used in place of conventional methods of medicine (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Another method used is integrative medicine, which uses conventional medicine and CAM together because there is proven scientific evidence to support that the treatment plan is safe and effective (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Complementary and alternative medicines are used throughout the world in many different countries, some more specifically than others.
Gordon, M. (2007). Manual of nursing diagnosis: including all diagnostic categories approved by the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (11th ed.). Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett.