Origins of Alternative Medicine
An Interview about the Emergence of Alternative Med. with a Practitioner of:
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Therapeutic touch is a new-age, energy-healing system that is gaining prominence in American medical facilities and hospitals due to its astounding ability to heal people by the manipulation of energy fields, emotions and feelings. The therapy is based on the belief that the therapist has the capacity to affect the patient's level of pain without prescribing any drugs or even touching the patient physically. |
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| This nonpharmacological therapy has no side effects and can be used to decrease subjects' perception of pain as either a one time experience or as a series of days intervention. Therapeutic touch was developed by Dolores Krieger, Ph.D., R.N., Professor Emeritus at New York University, and Dora Kunz, a healer. Therapeutic touch takes many of its tenets from visualization, laying on of hands, and aura therapy, three well respected healing practices. The name therapeutic "touch" is really a misnomer because there is generally no physical contact in therapeutic touch, except in dire circumstances, such as severe trauma and pain. It is not necessary for the therapist to absorb a patient's energy vibes by physically touching him or her; the therapist can feel them merely by placing the hands over a portion of the patient's body. Therapeutic touch works on the premise that one person's energy fields can sense, interact with, and alter another's energy fields. The therapist can tell where a person's energy centers are located, what, if anything, is wrong with him or her, and, quite possibly, why he or she is suppressing pent-up emotions or displaying some semblance of outward expression. This expression is felt by the therapist, and he will feel a strange sensation when he places his hands over the area of the patient that has been affected adversely. The energy imbalance that overcomes the patient is usually due to environmental stimuli or from an inner conflict within. Therapeutic touch has physiological and psychological effects which help the patient return to energy balance and homeostasis. | ||
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A therapeutic touch session, which often lasts about twenty to twenty-five minutes, is generally very quiet, with little talking and little physical movement. When the session commences, the practitioner concentrates very hard on the task at hand and asks the patient to lie still and focus on having a good, positive energy flow. The practitioner then places his or her hands a few inches away from the patient and, with rhythmic and slow-hand motions, determines where the blockages in the patient's energy field lie. The practitioner's job then becomes to replenish the energy flow where necessary, release any congestion, and remove any obstructions that may exist. The patient remains in a relaxed, comfortable state throughout the experience. He or she may experience a discharge of suppressed emotions (not in the form of a catharsis; this discharge is very subtle), past life regressions, and/or a gentle sense of elation and well-being. The aspect of therapeutic touch that is helping gain popularity is that it can be performed by a patient on himself or herself. This self-healing facet of therapeutic touch makes it very affordable. |
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Common cures:
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Since therapeutic touch is a form of bodywork, all hands-on therapies are similar and may be used by therapeutic touch (i.e. massage therapy). Therapeutic touch abides by the energy laws found in gemstone/chakra therapy: a belief in the seven chakras of the body and the ongoing flow of energy from one energy center to another. |
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Modern medicine's perspective: Therapeutic touch has been taught in more than eighy American colleges and in sixty-eight countries. It is now commonly practiced and taught in Lamaze pregancy classes. This technique has been taught to more than 37,000 nurses, doctors, and health practitioners, so clearly it is making some headway infiltrating into modern medicine. |
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| Links & Resources: | ||
| Nurse Healers-Professional Associates, Inc. 175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2755 New York City, New York 10010 (212) 886-3776 | ||
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Pumpkin Hollow Farm Box 135, RR1 Craryville, New York 12521 (518) 325-3583 |
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| Orcas Island Foundation Box 86, Route 1 East Sound, Washington 98245 (206) 376-4526 | ||
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Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program University of Massachusetts Medical Center 55 Lake Avenue, North Worcester, Massachusetts 01655 (508) 856-2656 |
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| The Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning 3100 North Hillside Avenue Wichita, Kansas 67219-3904 (316) 682-3100 | ||
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| Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide; Compiled by the Burton Goldberg Group; Future Medicine Publishing, Inc.; Puyallup, Washington; copyright 1994. | ||
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Therapeutic Touch Document List http://www.parascope.com:80/articles/1196/touch2.htm Read articles, proposals, and research studies in the field of therapeutic touch at this website. |
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http://www.angelfire.com/on/therapeutictouch/Therapeutic Touch: One Stop on the Journey...Marlene Puff Therapeutic Touch Information |
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