We use neuroimaging and behavioral approaches to understand the effects of mind-body therapies on neural processes underlying touch perception and bodily feelings.
Our investigations focus specifically on healing in relation to touch perception and the encoding of touch in early sensory cortices. Based on our review of mechanistic and clinical studies, we have set out three tiers of clinically relevant sensory cortical outcomes that will help us probe the interface of touch and healing (with tier 2 being the most developed to date)
photo by Jake Ketcheson http://www.patternsolutions.net
Tier 1. Somatic interventions include some forms of massage and touch healing to be studied in relation to somatosensory cortical plasticity.
Tier 2. Attentional interventions include mindfulness-based-stress-reduction and Tai Chi. We are investigating whether these and other somatically oriented mind-body therapies teach practitioners to regulate ongoing somatosensory cortical dynamic states in a way that protects against chronic pain and other conditions. For this study, we are in the midst of carrying out a clinical trial examining the effects of mindfulness on cortical dynamics in 30 healthy subjects. We are also evaluating whether measures of cortical dynamics are related to rumination and other negative cognitive styles commonly seen in people with chronic pain and depression.
Tier 3, Cognitive-Affective-Emotional interventions including a positive patient practitioner interaction. Studies will look at how the patient-practitioner encounter might change a more subtle aspect of the experience of touch in a clinical encounter.
The broad goal of our work on touch and healing is to help us rethink the old dichotomy of "mind" and "body" in order to show that in a range of CAM therapies "touch" functions along a gradient that includes
heavy touch
light touch
implicit or near touch administered by a healer
It also includes:
touch imagery
meditative attentional training to touch and internal body sensations
relational work implicitly or explicitly modulating patients' perception of touch
This multidimensional approach to touch has important implications for understanding healing that go far beyond the domains of meditation, touch healing and mind-body medicine
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