Reiki for PTSD

Reiki can be integrated into an individual’s therapy plan as a way to alleviate the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a complex condition many people will have to deal with sometime in their life, either through direct experience or the experience of a loved one. Public awareness of PTSD is on the rise and there are many resources now available.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Defined

PTSD is defined by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as follows:

The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present:

1. The person experienced, witnessed or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, to a threat to the physical integrity of self or others.

2. The person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror (note in children this may be expressed by disorganized or agitated behavior)

• The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of function.

• The symptoms usually develop shortly after the event but may take years
• Symptoms are present for at least one month.
• It is considered an anxiety disorder.

Symptoms and Causes of PTSD

The most common symptoms of PTSD as described by people with its diagnosis are:

• Re-experiencing the trauma through flashbacks; nightmares; obsessive thoughts (they can see, hear, smell, taste things that seem real)

• Insomnia; nightmares
• Intrusive thoughts – thoughts that are unwanted, feel uncontrollable, and often pertain to disturbing or distressing themes

• Concentration problems
• Numbness; depression
• Feelings of estrangement from others; feeling or wanting to be alone
• Hypervigilance – always being on alert; always ready to fight or do battle
• Sudden startling
• Irritability; anger; panic
• Shame; guilt (survivors’ guilt)
• Avoidance of situations, people/objects that remind them of event
• Increased anxiety in general

It is important to remember that not everyone who experiences a traumatic event gets PTSD. Some of the many causes or risk factors for PTSD are:

• Serious accident, injury; mutilation
• Rape
• Physical, emotional or sexual abuse
• Betrayal by a loved one
• Wars/Attacks/Bombings
• Community violence (shootings/bullying)
• Loss of family members, friends, community, property, possessions, home
• Loss of job
• Natural disasters – tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, flood

How Reiki Can Help

Our bodies have three responses to stress: Fight, Flight or Freeze. When we perceive a threat, stress hormones are released to activate the body’s protective mechanisms. Any function of the body that is not needed for immediate survival either slows or shuts down. During the fight or flight response, emotions are often buried and stored in the body as cellular memory. Repeated exposure to stress or a stress response can have a damaging impact on one’s health. Reiki works on four levels; mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual, to clear out blockages and promote relaxation. As a result, those trapped or buried emotions and trauma can be gently released. Reiki can also reacclimate the body to physical touch that is nurturing and therapeutic.

It is important to remember that we can never predict an individual’s outcome or response to Reiki therapy. The Reiki energy will always direct itself to what each individual needs most in that moment.

Reiki for Veterans

The option of Reiki is growing in its consideration for military medicine as a treatment for PTSD. In a recent study conducted by the Military Medicine Journal, researchers examined the effectiveness of Reiki. Using the moniker “Healing Touch,” researchers observed that Reiki produced a drop in PTSD symptoms for the intervention group by 14 points (from 54.7 to 40.7) using the PTSD checklist, which is considered clinically and statistically significant.