Gentle Touch: Humanity’s Quick Fix For A Fuzzy Feeling

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but gentle touch seems to be worth innumerable.

Whether it is administered through the form of a pat on the back, a reassuring hand on the shoulder, or a warm caress on the arm, gentle touch has been proven to bestow notable benefits to not only the individual being touched, but the individual initiating the touch as well. This article will primarily explore its psychological benefits, although existing literature suggests it may have physiological benefits too, particularly regarding infant mortality.

In 2012, Inder’s team conducted a pilot study of what is known as the M technique, on infants born nearly three months early, to observe their responses to just five to ten minutes of this technique’s gentle, stroking massage. Overall, the babies responded in ways that indicated this simple intervention had benefits: the babies’ heart and respiratory rates decreased. But these benefits extend to other demographics too!

Previous studies on healing by gentle touch in clients with various illnesses indicated substantial improvements in psychological well-being, suggesting that this form of treatment might be helpful for people with impaired quality of mental health. One particular study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of healing by gentle touch in subjects with self-reported impairments in their psychological well-being or mental health. 147 clients who identified themselves as having psychological problems received 4 treatment sessions. Pre- to post-treatment changes in psychological and physical functioning were assessed by self-completed questionnaires which included visual analogue scales and the EuroQoL. Participants recorded reductions in stress, anxiety and depression scores and increases in relaxation and ability to cope scores.

The study found that improvements were greatest in those who initially suffered from the most severe symptoms. Thus, this open study provides strong circumstantial evidence that healing by gentle touch is safe and effective in improving psychological well-being in participants with self-reported psychological problems, and it also safely complements standard medical treatment.

On top of these healing properties, neuropsychologist Mariana von Mohr from University College London (UCL) has also found that “mere slow, gentle stroking by a stranger can reduce feelings of social exclusion after social rejection.” Her study follows recent findings that affective social touch, and particularly gentle stroking of the skin, may be coded by a special physiological system linking the skin to the brain. Only three other studies have directly examined the buffering effects of social support on ostracism through the presence of friends, teddy bears, and supportive text messages; this is the first to investigate social touch.

In this study, 84 healthy women were deceived into believing that they were playing a computerised ball-tossing game with two other participants to measure their mental visualisation skills. In reality, the other players were computer-generated. After throwing and catching the ball several times, they answered a questionnaire that included questions about needs often threatened by ostracism, including the feelings of belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence and control. When the participants resumed the game after a 10 minute break, the other ‘players’ unexpectedly stopped throwing balls at them after a couple of ball-tosses, causing them to feel socially excluded. The participants were then blindfolded and their left forearms were touched with a soft-bristled brush with either slow or fast speed. Next, they completed the same questionnaire and the results were compared and controlled against a baseline.

The study discovered that those who were touched at a slow speed experienced lower feelings of negativity and social exclusion induced by the game, compared to those who received a fast, ‘neutral’ touch, even though general mood remained the same between touch conditions. Nonetheless, neither touch was sufficient to totally eliminate the negative effects of being ostracised.

Dr Katerina Fotopoulou from the Clinical, Education and Health Psychology department of UCL explains their findings this way: “Mammals have a well-recognised need for closeness and attachment, it wasn’t a big surprise that social support reduced the emotional pain of being excluded in social interactions. What is interesting however, is that social support was optimally conveyed only by a simple, yet specific instance of touch. No words, or pictures were necessary, at least in the short-term. This finding builds on evidence that the same kind of touch can have unique effects on physical pain and it can have implications for the role of touch in various mental and physical care settings.”

In conclusion, gentle touch can provide a number of surprising benefits, from having a healing potential significant enough to be implemented in intervention strategies for psychological issues, to even alleviating the negative emotions induced by ostracisation.

Gentle touch triumphs all, science implores.

Reference List

Harvard Medical Magazine. (n.d.). Soft Touch. [online] Available at: https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/soft-touch. 

Psychology Today. (2016). With a Gentle Touch. [online] Available at: http://psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/media-spotlight/201603/with-a-gentle-touch  [Accessed 14 Apr. 2025]. 

UCL (2017). Gentle touch soothes the pain of social rejection. [online] UCL News. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2017/oct/gentle-touch-soothes-pain-social-rejection [Accessed 14 Apr. 2025]. 

Weze, C., Leathard, H.L., Grange, J., Tiplady, P. and Stevens, G. (2007). Healing by Gentle Touch Ameliorates Stress and Other Symptoms in People Suffering with Mental Health Disorders or Psychological Stress. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, [online] 4(1), pp.115–123. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/nel052. 

Weze, C., Leathard, H.L., Grange, J., Tiplady, P. and Stevens, G. (2007). Healing by Gentle Touch Ameliorates Stress and Other Symptoms in People Suffering with Mental Health Disorders or Psychological Stress. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, [online] 4(1), pp.115–123. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/nel052.