Effect of Reiki Therapy on Patient Reported Measures of Well-being
Mitchell S. Drost, 1Jennifer L. St. Sauver, PhD, 2,3Natalie Dyer PhD, 1,4Kavita Prasad, MD FACP
1Division of Epidemiology, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA, 2Connor Whole Health, University Hospitals, Cleveland, OH, USA; 3The Center for Reiki Research, Southfield, MI, USA; 4Zumbro Valley Health Center, Rochester, MN, USA
Background
•More than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (57.8 million people in 2021).
•There is a need for novel therapies to complement standard clinical therapies to improve patient well-being.
•Reiki is a complementary and integrative noninvasive technique in which a trained practitioner places their hands just above or lightly on a patient to facilitate healing.
•Reiki has been shown to improve mental, physical, and emotional health in some patients, but has not been well-studied in patients with mental health disorders.
Objective
To understand the impact of Reiki therapy on positive and negative emotions in individuals with mental health disorders.
Methods
•Patients of Zumbro Valley Health Center between 2021 and 2023 were invited to participate
•Participants completed a forty minute session conducted by master level Reiki practitioners
•Pre and post-treatment surveys assessed level of positive and negative emotions using a 10-point Likert scale
•Paired Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to assess differences in emotions pre-and post- treatment
•Analyses were conducted overall and separately by sex; p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant
Results
•91 patients participated, and most were female (81%; Table 1)
•Major depressive disorder (71%), post-traumatic stress disorder (47%), and generalized anxiety disorder were the most common mental health conditions (43%; Table 1)
•After Reiki therapy, all negative emotions decreased and all positive emotions increased (Figure panels A and B)
•Negative emotions decreased significantly for both males and females, but females had a greater increase of positive emotions than their male counterparts (Figure panels C and D)
Table 1. Characteristics of the study population
| Characteristic Total population | N (%) 91 |
| Age group 18-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 60+ | 18 (19.8) 16 (17.6) 20 (22.0) 23 (25.3) 14 (15.4) |
| Sex Male Female | 17 (18.7) 74 (81.3) |
| Diagnoses Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Bipolar disorder Borderline personality disorder Generalized anxiety disorder Major depressive disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder Substance use disorder Other | 11 (12.1) 13 (14.3) 20 (22.0) 39 (42.9) 65 (71.4) 43 (47.3) 15 (16.5) 16 (17.6) |
Figure: Changes in negative and positive emotions before and after Reiki therapy
Limitations
•Observational study – randomized trial would be needed to exclude placebo effect
•Long-term benefits of Reiki were not studied
•Subject to limitations of survey-based study
Conclusions
•Reiki therapy was associated with significant improvements in emotional wellbeing
•Females may experience greater improvements in symptoms