|
Therapeutic touch is a method in which the hands are used to "direct human
energies to help or heal someone who is ill."
Proponents claim that the patient's "energy field" can be detected and
intentionally manipulated by the therapist. They theorize that healing
results from a transfer of "excess energy" from healer to patient. Their
reports claim that TT is effective against scores of diseases and
conditions.
Therapeutic Touch was conceived in the early 1970s by Dolores Krieger,
Ph.D., R.N., a faculty member at New York University's Division of
Nursing.
The "human energy field" TT theorists postulate resembles the "magnetic
fluid" or "magnetic force" hypothesized during the 18th century by Anton
Mesmer and his followers.
Mesmerism held that illnesses are caused by
obstacles to the free flow of this fluid and that skilled healers ("sensitives")
could remove these obstacles by making passes with their hands. Some
aspects of mesmerism were revived in the nineteenth century by Theosophy,
an occult religion that incorporated Eastern metaphysical concepts and
underlies many current "New Age" ideas.
Dora Kunz, who is considered TT's co- developer, was president of the
Theosophical Society of America from 1975 to 1987. She collaborated with
Krieger on the early TT studies and claims to be a fifth-generation
"sensitive" and a "gifted healer."
Today's proponents state that more than 100,000 people worldwide have been
trained in TT technique, including at least 43,000 health care
professionals, and that about half of those trained actually practice it.
TT generally involves four steps:
"centering," a
meditative process said to align the healer with the patent's energy
level,
"assessment," said
to be performed by using one's hands to detect forces emanating from the
patient,
"unruffling the
field," said to involve sweeping "stagnant energy" downward to prepare
for energy transfer, and
transfer of
"energy" from practitioner to patient. "Non-contact therapeutic touch"
is done the same way, except that the "healer's" hands are held a few
inches away from the body. TT is sometimes used together with other
styles of massage.
|
