TT Helps the Whole Being

Questions & Answers About Therapeutic Touch

Previously Unpublished

By Barbara Janelle M.A.

Question: We know that TT is helpful in most cases. Is there any particular illness or condition/situation that we do not find TT to be helpful?

I suspect that the question refers to so-called physical or psychological disorders, and if that is the case, I am dismayed because an illness always is a whole being problem. Physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects are not isolated. As practitioners in a holistic therapy we must speak and work within the framework of wholeness.

Changes in physically measurable things commonly occur with Therapeutic Touch. Pulse, blood pressure, respiration rate, wound healing, immunity cell count, etc. usually shift toward a more normal state. However, things that cannot be mechanically measured such as increased happiness, improved relationships, increased trust in life, problem solving, acceptance of death, etc. also occur with the Therapeutic Touch treatment. We do not predict outcome with Therapeutic Touch; rather we trust the field/being to take the offered work and use it well.

Therapeutic Touch addresses the whole being and supports all aspects of the person; therefore it always assists the receiver. Compassion wedded with centering is a call to greater harmony/healing. That can occur whether the receiver moves toward greater physical health or toward death.

BJ/Summer 2003