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. 2018 Jan;16(1):24-31.
doi: 10.1176/appi.focus.20170043. Epub 2018 Jan 24.

Massage Therapy for Psychiatric Disorders

Mark Hyman Rapaport  1 , Pamela J Schettler  1 , Erika R Larson  1 , Dedric Carroll  1 , Margaret Sharenko  1 , James Nettles  1 , Becky Kinkead  1
Affiliations

Massage Therapy for Psychiatric Disorders

Mark Hyman Rapaport et al. Focus (Am Psychiatr Publ). 2018 Jan.

Abstract

This article reviews the current state of knowledge of the role of massage therapy in the treatment of common psychiatric disorders and symptoms. It briefly discusses the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and the popularity of complementary and integrative treatments in the general population. The authors touch on the growing literature describing the biology and neurobiology of massage therapy. The impact of massage as both a therapy for major psychiatric disorders and a treatment for psychiatric symptoms is reviewed, and how massage therapists conceptualize and treat their patients with psychiatric complaints is discussed. If psychiatrists are going to partner with massage therapists, they need to understand how massage therapists' perspectives differ from those of traditional practitioners of allopathic medicine. A model of how psychiatrists and other mental health professionals can work with massage therapists to care for patients is proposed, followed by a summary of the article's key points.

Keywords: anxiety; complementary and integrative medicine; depression.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Schettler reports being a statistical analysis consultant to LivaNova. Dr. Nettles reports participation in the Novartis Employees Retirement Fund, being a consultant to Wolf Greenfield—Boston Drug Discovery IP, and serving as an expert witness. Dr. Rapaport, Ms. Larson, Mr. Carroll, Ms. Sharenko, and Dr. Kinkead report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

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