Melodie Olson

Therapeutic Touch and Post-Hurricane Hugo Stress

This repeated-session design sought to answer questions about the effectiveness of therapeutic touch in reduction of stress for 23 individuals following a natural disaster. In addition, methodological issues related to the average length of time for a therapeutic touch treatment and a method of documenting the nonverbal interaction between subject and toucher were investigated. Findings indicate that stressed people report themselves to be less stressed following therapeutic touch (p = .05). Time of therapeutic touch intervention varied significantly between the touchers, with a range of 6.8 to 20 minutes. Qualitative data examining the interaction of toucher and subject raised a number of questions that require further study.

The Experience of Therapeutic Touch for Novice Recipients

This study explored the experience of receiving Therapeutic Touch (TT)from the point of view of recipients with no prior experience with TT. Eleven female graduate students who were part of a larger study were interviewed after the second of two TT sessions and statements from the transcripts were analyzed for words, phrases, or sentences that fell into one of five categories: (a) relaxation, (b) physical sensations, (c) cognitive activity, (d) emotional (feelings), and (e) spiritual/transcendent. All participants reported feeling relaxed and had physical sensations and cognitive activity during the TT sessions, and most of the statements fit into these categories. Fewer statements reflected emotional or spiritual experiences and not all participants had these experiences. The sensations associated with TT may occur developmentally. Initially, physical and cognitive experiences are identified. The deeper, meaningful sensations may occur after an individual has more experience with the intervention.

The Incidence of Out-Of-Body Experiences in Hospitalized Patients

The author studied out-of-body experiences (OBEs), cultural differences in reporting those OBEs, and associations between OBEs and frequency of dream recall in 100 white and 100 black adults hospitalized in a university medical center. Of the 200 subjects interviewed, 31 reported having had an OBE, six during the current hospitalization. White patients reported OBEs significantly more often than did black patients, possibly because of methodological problems in the interview techniques. Chi-squared tests showed significant positive associations between frequency of dream recall and incidence of OBEs, and between vivid dreams and incidence of OBEs.

Scientific vs. anecdotal near-death studies

Letter from Melvin M. Morse to the editor discussing the role of scientific research in a field that has largely relied on anecdotal near-death studies for data.