Author: Francis McGlone1,2, Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg3, Henrik Norholt4, Michael Eggart5,6, Bruno Müller-Oerlinghausen7,8
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Department of Life Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
<sup>2</sup> Department of Neuroscience & Biomedical Engineering, School of Science, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland.
<sup>3</sup> Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skara, Sweden.
<sup>4</sup> SomAffect - The Somatosensory & Affective Neuroscience Group, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
<sup>5</sup> Faculty of Health Sciences, Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane, Neuruppin, Germany.
<sup>6</sup> Faculty of Social Work, Health and Nursing, Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences, Weingarten, Germany.
<sup>7</sup> Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane, Neuruppin, Germany.
<sup>8</sup> Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Conference/Journal: Front Psychiatry
Date published: 2024 May 22
Other:
Volume ID: 15 , Pages: 1390673 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1390673. , Word Count: 238
Interpersonal touch represents the primal sensory experience between humans, fostering social bonding from the cradle to the death bed. In recent decades "affective touch" has been intensely studied, stimulated by the discovery of a population of mechanosensitive unmyelinated C-tactile afferents in mammalian skin. A lack of touch in childhood is associated with negative consequences for psychosocial and physical health and the benefits of professional touch techniques in the prevention and treatment of various diseases have been shown over and over again in clinical studies. However, its application in mainstream clinical applications remains limited. To bridge the gap between recent discoveries in touch research and clinical medicine, we propose the establishment of a new discipline: 'Touch Medicine'. Here, we unfold the potential of Touch Medicine by focusing on the treatment of depression, which in our view is primarily a disorder of the lived body. Controlled studies and systematic reviews have demonstrated the antidepressant, anxiolytic and analgesic effects of specific massage techniques. Underlying mechanisms of action are currently under investigation, ranging from interoceptive, endocrinological, to stress-related or psychological underpinnings. Touch Medicine represents a novel interdisciplinary field connected to various medical specialities such as neonatology, pediatrics, pain medicine, neurology, psychiatry, and geriatrics - but also clinical psychology and psychosomatic medicine might benefit from the integration of these findings into their daily practice.
Keywords: CT afferents; affective touch; depression; interoception; massage therapy; oxytocin; stress regulation; touch medicine.
PMID: 38881553 PMCID: PMC11177324 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1390673