Potential benefits of ‘touch medicine’ on mental health showed in new study

Using touch in healthcare settings could provide medical benefits by reducing pain and lifting mood, new research suggests. 

In a new paper published in Frontiers Psychiatry, researchers reviewed the potential of ‘touch medicine’ for the treatment of depression, connecting the findings to recent advances in clinical medicine. 

Scientists originally thought that touch stimuli were only transmitted to the central nervous system by fast-conducting myelinated nerves – nerves that have an insulating layer around them – which register tactile sensations very quickly.  

However, in the past 30 years research by neuroscientists in the UK and Sweden has discovered another population of touch-sensitive nerves in the skin of the body that transmit caressing types of touch via slowly conducting unmyelinated nerves, called C-tactile afferents (CTs).  

Unlike the fast-touch nerves, CTs deliver an affective or emotional property of touch providing a neurobiological ‘reward’ mechanism similar to the pleasure we experience from a caress or a cuddle.  

Stimulation of CTs lowers heart rate and cortisol levels – the hormone responsible for stress – regulates the immune system, while releasing feel-good hormones, oxytocin and endogenous opioids, which all play a role in lowering stress, regulating mood, and relieving pain. 

Research shows that CTs respond best to a slow, gentle touch delivered at skin temperature, with more of these nerves found in body parts we can’t reach ourselves – such has the upper shoulders and back.  

The new research calls for a new interdisciplinary field to further investigate the benefits of touch across medical disciplines, from birth to the end-of-life, including neonatology, paediatrics, pain medicine, neurology, psychiatry, and geriatrics. 

Francis McGlone, Visiting Professor in Neuroscience at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “The ‘rewards’ of touch are hardwired into our neurobiology and play a significant role in medicine across a range of areas. Studies in patients with mental health conditions show a decrease of depressive mood without the risk of the often-adverse side effects of drugs. 

“Medical practice in the 21st century does not traditionally involve touch, but there is a growing body of evidence-based neuroscience research indicating that, in certain contexts and obviously with patient consent, it can offer real benefits to patients, from pre-term babies - for whom touch is an important aspect of their brain development - to end-of-life care. 

“We now need further clinical studies and to test ‘Touch Medicine’ protocols on a larger scale, as well as the integration of existing empirical findings in various medical disciplines into national and international guidelines.” 

The paper was co-authored by Dr Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg, Dr Henrik Norholt, Michael Eggart, and Dr Bruno Müller-Oerlinghausen.