Main description:

In the helping professions, touch seems to be one of the least understood or talked about subjects. Yet we know that touch is incredibly powerful in counselling, psychotherapy, marriage and family therapy, spiritual care, palliative care, teaching, nursing, and medicine. This book weaves together scholarly evidence, research, and clinical practice pointing to the importance of touch in human physical and emotional development. It is structured along three axes: the theory of touch, the practice of touch in therapy, and the ethics of touch. It discusses the roles of gender, age, culture and life experience, as well as subjects such as canineassisted therapy, touch deprivation, sacred objects, as well as key ethical considerations. The varied perspectives-philosophy, theology, psychology, anthropology-challenge assumptions about the role of touch in the helping professions. They provide historical-cultural-professional context and draw from a range of source material. The book emphasizes that healthy, non-sexual touch is not taught enough as part of professional training and oversight.
The lack of dialogue, due to fear of contravening ethical boundaries, is denying an open and responsible discussion on the use of touch in therapy, adding to the theoretical basis of our understanding of this fundamental need.

Contents:

Acknowledgements Contributors Introduction: Exploring Touch Thomas St. James O'Connor Section 1: The Theory of Touch Chapter 1 - Healing and the Forbidden Touch: A Reflection on Selected Scripture Stories Karlijn Demasure Chapter 2 - Thinking about Touch Richard Feist Chapter 3 - Contributions of Sensory Anthropology and Durand's Anthropology to the Symbolic Study of Touch and the Understanding of Boundaries in Psychotherapy Christian Bellehumeur & Jane Chambers Chapter 4 - Touch Deprivation and Counselling as Healing Touch Isaac Davis, Martin Rovers & Cassandra Petrella. Section 2: The Practice of Touch in Psychotherapy Chapter 5 - The Intervention of Touch in Psychotherapy and Trauma Treatment Patricia Berendsen Chapter 6 - A Puppy's Touch: Destressing with Dogs in a University Environment Kristine Lund Chapter 7 - Inter-Partner Touch in Couple Counselling: Theory and Emerging Practice Cassandra Petrella & Martin Rovers Chapter 8 - The Practice of the Laying on of Hands in Islamic Spiritual Care Nazila Isgandarova Chapter 9 - An Angel in my Pocket: Touch, Sacred Objects and Spiritual Coping Linda Mayorga Miller Chapter 10 - Touched(ed) in Palliative Care Nursing: Moving with/in an Uncertain Practice Lacie White & Christine McPherson Chapter 11 - Touch in Supervision Cynthia Bilodeau Section 3: The Ethics of Touch and Conclusion Chapter 12 - The Ethics of Therapeutic Touch Marilyn Guindon, Reesa Packard & Natalie Charron Chapter 13 - Conclusion: Issues of Touch: An Overall View and Integration Martin Rovers, Judith Malette & Manal Guirguis-Younger Index