The power of touch: The effects of havening touch on subjective distress, mood, brain function, and psychological health.

Abstract

Objective: Havening is a psychosensory therapeutic technique that purportedly harnesses the power of touch to stimulate oxytocin release and facilitate adaptive processing of distressing thoughts/memories. Although Havening is used in clinics worldwide, with anecdotal evidence, very few empirical studies exist to support its efficacy or mechanism of action. The present study is the first to investigate the effects of Havening Touch on subjective distress, mood, brain function, and well-being. Method: Participants (n = 24) underwent a single session of Havening, in response to a self-reported distressing event. Mood and resting-state electroencephalography were assessed prior to, and immediately following, the session. Psychological health was assessed at baseline and 2 weeks followup via an online self-report questionnaire. Results: There was a greater reduction in subjective units of distress during sessions that included Havening Touch (H+) than sessions that did not include Havening Touch (H−). Electroencephalography results showed an increase in beta and a reduction in gamma activity in H+. Both groups showed reduction in negative mood states immediately following the session and better psychological health at follow-up. Conclusions: Findings suggest both touch and nontouch components of the intervention have therapeutic potential, and that Havening Touch may accelerate a reduction in distress during a single Havening session. Public Significance StatementWe present an investigation of an innovative psychological therapy known as Havening that incorporates nurturing touch in order to help people recover from traumatic experiences and improve well-being. In addition to asking people how they felt before and after the therapy, we also measured their brain activity. Moreover, psychological health was assessed at baseline and 2 weeks following the therapy. Findings suggest that Havening Touch is an important part of the intervention that facilitates reduction in feelings of distress and changes brain activity.

Augmenting resilience to trauma: A parallel-group controlled trial of a psychosensory intervention

“…As a novel intervention, research on the efficacy of HT is limited. Nonetheless, Sumich et al (2022) investigated the effects of Havening Touch on subjective distress, mood, brain function and well-being. They found a significant reduction in subjective units of distress during sessions that included Havening Touch (H+) than in sessions that did not include Havening Touch (H-).…”

International affect, personality, and embodied brain (APE) network.

“…Nurturing touch and the presence of oxytocin facilitate healing (psychological and physical) and protect against the adverse impact of harm and age-associated decline, in part through regulation of the immune system, and enhancement of discriminative efficiency of the threat-response system (amygdala, hypothalamus). Sumich et al (2022) report on a novel intervention grounded in nurturing touch called havening. They show an acceleration in the reduction of subjective reports of distress and alteration in brain function (i.e., decline in electroencephalographic [EEG] γ power) following an intervention using nurturing touch, compared to a similar intervention without nurturing touch.…”