While we’ve yet to see a conclusive study by medical experts on the effects of energy healing on people who suffer from depression and anxiety, there have been reports of patients recording improvements in their mental health after going through energy healing therapies such as reiki.
According to family medicine doctor and energy healer Ann Marie Chiasson, depression takes place when there is a disconnect between the energy body and the physical body. Through energy healing, she tries to close this gap by “grounding” a person’s energy.
Meanwhile, anxiety happens when there is a disorganization of the vital energy that runs in our body, which could cause a big part of the energy to shoot up into the heart chakra and lead to heart palpitations or an anxiety attack, a Dr Katharina Johnson said. The right and left parts of the brain could also become unbalanced as a result of this.
A 2004 study done by scholar Adina Goldman Shore, for example, showed patients being treated for mild depression and stress over a period of six months to a year having immediate to long-term improvements in depression, stress and feeling of hopelessness after receiving reiki therapy.
Reiki therapies have also been used to help cancer-stricken patients deal with their illness better. A 1998 study by scholars Linda J Dressing and Sangeeta Singg showed that patients suffer from anxiety and depression due to their difficult-to-treat chronic pain, but reiki therapy was able to provide significant pain relief, reduce anxiety and depression, while also improving sleep quality and general relaxation. What’s also interesting is that the study showed a more significant improvement among men than women.