Biobehavioral effects of therapeutic touch

Purpose: To document immediate and short-term biobehavioral effects of ther apeutic touch (TT), estimate the magnitude of TT effects, and compare TT ef fects to placebo responses. Design: A repeated measures, pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. TT and mimic TT were administered using standardized protocols to 11 adults i n a controlled setting. Methods: Four physiological (total pulse amplitude, blood pressure, pulse, temperature) and three subjective (stress, self-assessment of health, time perception) variables were evaluated over 24 hours. Findings: Total pulse amplitude and time perception decreased significantly immediately after TT intervention, indicating vasoconstriction and time pa ssing "faster," with large and medium effect sixes significantly greater th an were placebo responses. Vasodilation, a relaxation response, was expecte d instead of vasoconstriction. Conclusions: TT may have adverse and positive outcomes.