January 29, 2011

Reiki was recently shown to help calm anxious patients in a study of men with prostate cancer who were preparing to undergo radiotherapy. Conducted by researchers from the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center in Boston, Massachusetts and published in the January 1, 2011 issue of Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society, the study documented results of both reiki and relaxation response therapy (RRT).

Reiki is a form of energy work (chi gong) that uses a gentle touch, or no touch to restore balance to the body and help the body heal itself. The relaxation response typically involves meditative work and verbal guidance from a therapist to restructure perceptions.

Over eight weeks, the study measured the levels of anxiety, emotional well-being and quality of life in 54 men with prostate cancer as they prepared to undergo radiotherapy. The men were randomly divided into three groups of eighteen. One group received RRT once per week, and the second group received two reiki sessions per week. The remaining 18 were kept on wait-list control and received no therapy.

According to the researchers, among other conclusions of the study, reiki therapy had a positive effect in anxious patients. Anxiety was measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), with scores of 42 or above being classified as “anxious”. For a subgroup of men who were anxious from the start within the larger reiki group, average STAI scores dropped from 49 to 40 over the course of the study.

The researchers stated that, "increasing evidence supports the interconnectedness of mind and body and suggests important benefits of mind/body interventions in reducing the harmful effects of stress."

The study is very narrow in scope, and although overall results of reiki versus the control group were not statistically significant, the researchers concluded that the findings "underscore the need for larger, well-designed clinical studies that define the appropriate role of complementary therapies in men with prostate cancer undergoing active conventional treatment."

Study: Beard C. et al., “Effects of complementary therapies on clinical outcomes in patients being treated with radiation therapy for prostate cancer” Cancer. 2011 Jan 1;117(1):96-102.

Dave Gorczynski is president of SPARK, a non-profit organization that has provided free energy work sessions and workshops across New York City since 2002. He writes a regular column about energy work and meditation for the Compact News in New York City's Chinatown. E-mail him at dave@sparkenergy.org.