The Importance of Safe Touch In the Healing Process (Part 2 of 3)
© Pamela Perez
The Physiology of Touch
It is important that we have at least a basic understanding of the physiology of touch. In this way, we may be able to understand why touch is so essential to our survival, and why safe touch can aid in the healing process.
First, touch is the primary process by which we gather information about our world. Think about this for a moment. When we see something new and unfamiliar, what are we tempted to do? Why, touch it, of course!
Yes, we know babies explore the world by doing this, but how often have you noticed signs at museums or exhibits telling the rest of us not to touch? When we see something beautiful that we admire, we want to touch it. When we notice a fabric that looks especially soft or comfortable for wearing, we want to touch that also. Seeing is believing, they say, but touching is even better (just to be sure)!
According to Hunter and Struve (1998), adults also use touch to "corroborate information that is gathered by our other senses." We all like to make sure that what we hear, smell, see, or taste is just that, and we are likely "to substantiate" that which we doubt by the use of touch. While touch is more dominant in young children, Hunter and Struve tell us, and vision becomes more dominant as we age, they do point out in their book, The Ethical Use of Touch in Psychotherapy, the following significant factor regarding survivors of childhood trauma: This distinguishing factor becomes significant in working with adult survivors of childhood trauma or people who suffered abuses that involved violations of touch, because the ages at which that trauma occurred may determine the degree to which memories have been stored predominantly through a visual or tactile modality. Interpreting presenting symptomatology and implementing intervention strategies may more appropriately focus on visual or tactile modalities, depending on the age that a touch-related trauma occurred.
Remember that the phrase "tactile modality" simply refers to the sense of touch. This can provide a powerful clue in reaching those survivors who struggle with those particular areas of need. Several studies mentioned in an article by Zur & Nordmarken, researchers (Krieger, 1975; Knable, 1981; Katcher, 1974) found that the physiological responses to touch were significant changes in hemoglobin values after patients on medical units were touched by health care staff. Other identifiable changes were in blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate, simply as a result of hand holding by nurses. According to Jennifer Wurges (2001), the reported changes (in Krieger's hemoglobin values, for example) were due to the effects on the autonomic nervous system. (For those of you who need a quick reminder, the ANS plays an important role in maintaining the body's internal state regular and steady - it maintains things we aren't always aware of, such as heart rate and blood pressure. After trauma, it seeks to return the body to homeostasis, or balance.)
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