Touch is one of the fundamental media for interpersonal communication. Over recent decades, scientific efforts have been devoted to establishing the significance of touch, particularly affective touch, in the treatment and prevention of mental disorders and clarifying the underlying mechanisms of touch and massage therapy. This book contributes to this rapidly expanding area of research and gives new insights on recent clinical and experimental findings. A strong plea is made by the editors for well-designed clinical studies which require very special methodologies. A broad spectrum of various touch therapies are already available at present. Modern treatment and prevention of mental disorders should go beyond the pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches and should make use of the beneficial effects of touch therapies with the additional benefit of a very small risk of adverse outcomes.

Designed to make research on touch understandable to those not specifically involved in tactile research, this book provides broad coverage of the field. It includes material on sensory physiology and psychophysics, thermal sensibility, pain, pattern participation, sensory aids, and tactile perception in blind people. While the volume is important for researchers in the area of touch, it should also prove valuable to a broad audience of experimental and educational psychologists, and health professionals. The book should also be of interest to scientists in perception, cognition, and cognitive science, and can be used as a supplementary reader for courses in sensation and perception.

Should a therapist ever shake hands with a client, or touch a client's hand or shoulder? There are taboos against erotic touch in psychotherapy, for excellent reasons, but what about nonerotic touch? These latter forms of physical contact are not explicitly taboo and they can be powerful forms of communication. Research and clinical experience indicate that they can contribute to positive therapeutic change when used appropriately. What, then, is appropriate use?

The classic edition of Rhythms of Recovery sheds light on rhythm, one of the most important components of our survival and well-being. It governs the patterns of our sleep and respiration and is profoundly tied to our relationships with friends and family. But what happens when these rhythms are disrupted by traumatic events? Can balance be restored, and if so, how? What insights do eastern, natural, and modern western healing traditions have to offer, and how can practitioners put these lessons to use? Is it possible to do this in a way that’s culturally sensitive, multidisciplinary, and grounded in research? Rhythms of Recovery examines and answers these questions and provides clinicians with effective, time-tested tools for alleviating the destabilizing effects of traumatic events. It also explores integrative medicine, East/West medicine, herbal medicine, psychedelic medicine, complex trauma, yoga, and somatic and feminist therapies. For practitioners and students interested in integrating the insights of complementary/alternative medicine and 21st-century science, this deeply appealing book is an ideal guide.

Touch may well be one of the least understood or talked about subjects in the helping professions. A discussion on the importance and ethics of positive, caring, and appropriate touch in professions such as teaching, nursing and counselling is long overdue. Touch in the Helping Professions delivers just that, weaving together scholarly evidence, research and clinical practice from a wide range of perspectives encompassing philosophy, theology, psychology, and anthropology to challenge assumptions about the role of touch in the helping professions. The contributors to the volume focus not only on the overarching roles of gender, age, culture and life experience, but go beyond to encompass canine-assisted therapy, touch deprivation, sacred objects, as well as key ethical considerations. The prevailing lack of dialogue, due to fear of contravening ethical boundaries, has stood in the way of an open and responsible discussion on the use of touch in therapy. Touch in the Helping Professions is a welcome and much needed contribution to the field—a window onto a fundamental need. This book is published in English. - Cet ouvrage offre un ensemble de données probantes et de résultats cliniques à l’appui du toucher dans le développement physique et émotionnel. Il est structuré selon trois axes : la théorie sur le toucher; la pratique du toucher dans un contexte de thérapie, et les questions éthiques. Il aborde la question du rôle du genre, de l’âge, de la culture et de l’expérience de vie, des sujets comme la zoothérapie, la privation sensorielle, des objets sacrés, et des considérations d’ordre éthique. Les approches variées – philosophie, théologie, psychologie, anthropologie – remettent en question les présuppositions, offrent un contexte historico-culturelprofessionnel, et font appel à des données primaires. Les collaborateurs soutiennent que le toucher sain et non sexuel n’est pas suffisamment enseigné dans le cadre de la formation professionnelle. Cette absence de dialogue – engendrée par la crainte de dépasser des bornes éthiques, fait en sorte qu’une discussion ouverte et responsable sur l’utilisation du toucher dans un cadre thérapeutique ne peut avoir lieu, alors même qu’elle contribuerait aux balises théoriques de notre compréhension de cet enjeu fondamental. Ce livre est publié en anglais.

Research on touch and blindness has undergone rapid transformation in recent years, with dramatic developments in technology designed to provide assistance to those who are blind, and advancements in robotics that demand haptic interfaces. Touch and Blindness approaches the study of the topic from the perspectives of psychological methodology and the most sophisticated, state-of-the-art techniques in neuroscience. This book, edited by well-known leaders in the field, is derived from the discussions presented by speakers at a conference held in 2002, and presents current research in the field. The book is arranged in a logical, disciplinary fashion, first discussing touch and blindness from a psychological perspective, followed by an examination from the perspective of neuroscience. Some specific topics include: *processing spatial information from touch and movement; *form, projection, and pictures for the blind; *neural substrate and visual and tactile object representations; and *the role of visual cortex in tactile processing. Touch and Blindness is ideal for researchers in psychology and neuroscience, medicine, and special education.

Why we need a daily dose of touch: an investigation of the effects of touch on our physical and mental well-being. Although the therapeutic benefits of touch have become increasingly clear, American society, claims Tiffany Field, is dangerously touch-deprived. Many schools have “no touch” policies; the isolating effects of Internet-driven work and life can leave us hungry for tactile experience. In this book Field explains why we may need a daily dose of touch. The first sensory input in life comes from the sense of touch while a baby is still in the womb, and touch continues to be the primary means of learning about the world throughout infancy and well into childhood. Touch is critical, too, for adults' physical and mental health. Field describes studies showing that touch therapy can benefit everyone, from premature infants to children with asthma to patients with conditions that range from cancer to eating disorders. This second edition of Touch, revised and updated with the latest research, reports on new studies that show the role of touch in early development, in communication (including the reading of others' emotions), in personal relationships, and even in sports. It describes the physiological and biological effects of touch, including areas of the brain affected by touch, and the effects of massage therapy on prematurity, attentiveness, depression, pain, and immune functions. Touch has been shown to have positive effects on growth, brain waves, breathing, and heart rate, and to decrease stress and anxiety. As Field makes clear, we enforce our society's touch taboo at our peril.