The Power of Touch

A terminal illness diagnosis knocks the stuffing out of you and your loved ones, and can turn the world of your emotional, psychological and social lives upside down.  There are many studies and reports emerging about how the power of touch can have a positively beneficial impact as part of a therapeutic strategy to help support patients with terminal diagnoses as well as helping to support those caring for them.  As a complementary therapist myself working in Hospice with both in- and outpatients, I see how therapeutic touch helps individuals on a physical and emotional level.

The Power of Touch Breaks Down Barriers

Whether you are the patient or the care-giver, the power of touch breaks down barriers of wealth, societal position, political leaning, religious belief, how close or far away you are from “the nuclear family”.  I meet so many different people from varied backgrounds and belief and value systems, but they all, towards the end merge into a similar human being.  And that human being is someone who desperately and passionately wants their loved ones to know how deep and never-ending their love is for them.  Plain and simple.

How the Power of Touch can Help

People with a terminal illness may fear death, face rejection or isolation from their friends, co-workers, family members and experience anxiety about what their future holds for them.  Thankfully, complementary therapies are being used more and more frequently alongside traditional allopathic medicine to support patients and their carers.

Complementary therapies can help people to:

• cope more effectively with anxiety (prolonged stress and anxiety affect sleep patterns and compromise the immune system);
• better manage pain (a heightened sense of well-being can help to positively affect the perception of pain);
• feel more positive and more able to cope with the future;
• have higher energy levels;
• improve general health and sense of well-being.

The Power of Touch and Emotional Support

Often when people are living with a terminal illness, especially if they have little familial support, the only times they come into physical contact with other human beings is when they are being given a pill, injected with medicine, washed or fed.  The power of touch is immensely powerful on an emotional level. Many patients find the “skin on skin” touch that a therapist is willing to offer to be powerfully comforting, especially as they are able to share their stories and concerns during the therapeutic session if they want to.

As someone who has lost family and friends, young and old, over the years, I can understand how relieving it is to be able to talk to someone who is unbiased and can get a grasp on what you are going through, even if it’s just an “I’ve been through that too” kind of conversation.

One of the many things I love about working in Hospice is the fact that we not only support the person with the illness, but also their main care-givers on an emotional and physical level. Sometimes I meet carers or family members whose only hour of respite is while they are receiving treatment from me or one of our other complementary therapists.

Therapeutic Touch Offers Peace

During the latter stages of a terminal illness something as simple as having a hand or foot held in a therapeutic way offers a huge amount of support.  I have witnessed occasions where therapeutic touch has sufficiently calmed down an agitated patient during their final hours that they are able to drift towards death with a sense of peace and tranquility.  This has powerful implications not only for the patient, but can also positively impact the experience the loved ones take of the final hours.

I Wish I Had Known Then What I Know Now

I wish I had my qualifications and confidence to help “touch” my father while he was deteriorating from multiple myeloma that he battled with for 10 years, despite his 3 year “anticipated” survival.  Although we talked a lot and were very open with each other, I really wish I could have taken him in my hands and helped him on a physical and emotional level as I do with many of my patients.

My Dad was very stoic and lived his latter years with a huge amount of dignity.  I was always afraid of crying in front of him, because I was worried it would make him cry too, but I’ve realised since that tears are not the enemy.  Not saying what you need to say can be.  Somehow, the power of touch enables people to open up. There is something raw and primeval about therapeutic touch which has a powerfully beneficial impact on those suffering with the disease and those who are willing to give their right arm (or their own lives) for their loved ones not to have to suffer in such a way.

The Power of Touch and HIV/AIDS

Touch is even more powerful for individuals with an HIV/AIDS diagnosis and helps to remove some of the stigma associated with the virus.  HIV is now a manageable chronic disease and requires that patients have access to care that enables them to live and function within their community.  We are moving more towards an age of offering not only methods to help people living with HIV/AIDS with treatment and care, but also to enable them to cope better and be more independent in managing their own lives and health.¹

Touch Therapies for Terminal Illness

In the Hospice where I work, we offer reflexology, therapeutic massage and Reiki as touch therapies.  I mention Reiki even though, in general, the hands rest just above the body, rather than resting on it.  Some patients derive enormous comfort and relaxation from a Reiki treatment, in the same way as they do from a traditional “touching” therapy.

I wish I could include a free jar of whatever it is that makes the power of touch so powerfully grounding to give out to all of you who read this article.  On a physical level, the power of touch can help to diagnose and relieve physical tensions.  But it is on the emotional level that the power of touch works its magic.

The Power of Touch Amazes Me Still

As a practitioner of massage therapies for over a decade now, I am still amazed at the results of therapeutic touch to such an extent that when I receive feedback from patients and their carers, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.  Until I worked for Hospice, I had no experience of just how deeply therapeutic touch could enhance a person’s life or end of life.

Would you be willing to share your stories of how therapeutic touch has affected your life? I would love to hear them if so.  You can leave a comment below or click here to access my contact page.

And thank you for taking the time to read this article through to the end.  I hope it has helped you in some small way.  And remember, if you or a loved one are facing an illness or terminal diagnosis, the power of touch can be enormously comforting, so be brave and hold your loved one or ask to be held.  It really does help.

References:

1. Lorenc A, Barnasee, R; Robinson N.  Complementary therapy provision in a London community clinic for people living with HIV/AIDS: A Case Study.  Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 2014;20:65-69

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