A standardised biofield therapy developed in the 1980s by nurse Janet Mentgen, now widely integrated into hospital settings. Practitioners use light or near-body touch in specific sequences with the aim of supporting autonomic regulation and symptom relief.
Healing Touch was developed in the 1980s by nurse Janet Mentgen and is now one of the most-integrated biofield therapies in US hospital settings. The protocol uses light contact or near-body hand positions in specific sequences (Chakra Connection, Mind Clearing, Magnetic Clearing, etc.) that practitioners learn through structured training.
Healing Touch sits in the same evidence cluster as Reiki and Therapeutic Touch. The 2025 JICM scoping review of biofield therapies covered Healing Touch as one of the primary modalities. Effect sizes for pain reduction, anxiety, and quality of life are moderate, with low-to-very-low evidence quality ratings due to small samples and methodological inconsistency.
Hospital adoption pattern: Cleveland Clinic, OHSU, Yale, MD Anderson, and Memorial Sloan Kettering all integrate Healing Touch through their integrative medicine programmes. Common clinical contexts: oncology supportive care, pre-operative anxiety reduction, post-surgical recovery, palliative care.
Healing Touch differs from Reiki in standardisation level and credentialing. Healing Touch International provides a structured 5-level certification pathway with ongoing continuing-education requirements. The protocol library is more extensive and more codified than Reiki, which makes it easier to integrate into clinical settings with documentation requirements.
Mechanism is the same as other biofield modalities: autonomic regulation through structured contact, slowed pace, and focused practitioner attention.
A 2025 scoping review covered 353 biofield therapy studies, including 255 randomised controlled trials. The honest answer is more interesting than yes or no. Effects are real, moderate, and smaller than first-line treatment for most conditions.
EFT tapping has 56 randomised controlled trials with moderate-to-large effect sizes for anxiety. Reiki shows significant impact on anxiety in a 2024 meta-analysis covering 824 patients across 13 studies.
Glossary31 terms covering modalities, mechanisms, and conditions