Touch and the treatment of depression- A critical literature review.
Item
- Title
- Touch and the treatment of depression- A critical literature review.
- Author(s)
- Verlinden, L
- Abstract
- Title: Touch and the Treatment of Depression – A critical literature review Introduction: Depression’s prevalence and its increasing incidence worldwide reflect the need for this condition to be better understood so it can be appropriately managed. This literature will tackle depression’s physiology, immunology, neurology and psychology, together with the effects of touch on these diverse aspects. The purpose of this research is twofold: To critically evaluate the current state of knowledge regarding the relationship between touch and depression, and To explore the osteopathic relevance of such a topic with a view of making informed choices in the management of patients with depression. Method: Research keywords: “DEPRESSIONâ€, “TOUCHâ€, “STRESSâ€, “MASSAGE THERAPYâ€, “OSTEOPATHYâ€, “PHYSIOLOGYâ€, “IMMUNITYâ€, “NEUROLOGYâ€, “PSYCHOLOGYâ€In addition to the research key words, further articles were found directly from references in journal articles and books where deemed to be relevant. Databases used:CINAHL, COCHRANE LIBRARY, PUBMED, SCIENCE DIRECT, JAOA Search engine: GOOGLE SCHOLAR Inclusion factors: Published research articles English and French language Human subjects Exclusion factors: Unpublished research articles Non English and non French language Non human animalsThis review extends back to 1912 for background literature. Results:Touch seems to influence human physiology, immunology, neurology and psychology, and given that depression negatively impacts these diverse domains, a bidirectional relationship between touch and depression is arousing researchers’ interest. Indeed if both touch and depression can respectively affect one’s physical and mental health, the underlying mechanisms of touch’s effects on depression symptomatology represent an interesting realm of investigation. Discussion: Evidence-based medicine, whilst providing a large knowledge base, is not without limitations. Depression oriented research is widely based upon subjective ratings. There is a dominance of low validity types of studies (narrative reviews) over high validity types of studies (randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews) within research evaluating the effectiveness of touch in the treatment of depression. The existence of potential publication bias has to be taken into consideration. Conclusion: Although researchers manifest a growing interest regarding the relationship between touch and depression, a lot remains to be uncovered. An awareness of the issues and research findings should make primary healthcare professionals more sensitive and lead to an improvement in the clinical management of patients with depression.
- presented at
- European School of Osteopathy
- Date Accepted
- 2014
- Date Submitted
- 20.1.2015 16:43:40
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 15535
- Inst-Identifier
- 1229
- Keywords
- Touch, Depression
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
Verlinden, L, “Touch and the treatment of depression- A critical literature review.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 5, 2025, https://www.osteopathicresearch.org/s/orw/item/629