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TOUCH in an Integrative Somatic Therapy Practice (ISTP)™ is an important therapeutic tool in trauma work. We used touch as a resource and reparative process within a therapeutic relationship where touch had been withheld and/or used to violate. However, touch in trauma therapy is often hinged on one word: DON’T! More often than not, we are discouraged from touching our clients for fear of crossing boundaries, transference or countertransference, or allegations of wrongdoing (Older, 1977) and Wilson (1982). 

Research suggests that touch support bonding and reducing experience of pain. Positive physical aspects of touch includes lifting mood in the treatment of depression, reducing anxiety, pain, relief, reduction in muscle tension, decreasing raised blood pressure enhancement of immune function, improving sleep, decreasing symptoms of sexual abuse, reducing aggression in adolescents, and improving weight gain in preterm neonates (Field, 2003; Westlanourd, 1993). 

Touch in a therapeutic relationship requires experiential training, skills applications based on coherent theoretical perspective, and adequate supervision from someone who has had touch training. The challenge for therapists is that most do not have sufficient training in the specifics of touch in therapeutic practice. Additionally, touch in psychotherapy is not generally permitted under many licensing and regulatory bodies.