Effect of Reiki Therapy on Pain, Depression, and Quality of Life in Hospitalized Cancer Survivors: A Pilot Study



Cancer is an accidental diagnosis, may require multidisciplinary care, and is expected to have an incidence of 29.5 million by 2040. Cancer survivors often cope well with their life after completing their treatment. However, they still may continue to have other issues like pain, depression, negative mood, and anxiety, eventually affecting their quality of life. Non-invasive treatments such as Therapeutic Touch, Healing Touch, and Reiki therapy can help with these symptoms. Reiki is a type of vibrational energy therapy that is said to help the body heal itself by balancing and strengthening the bio-field.



In this study, hands-on Reiki therapy was administered for seven consecutive days, and pre-and post-interventions scores on Brief Pain Inventory – Short Form (BPI-SF), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – General (FACT-G) were compared.



The post-intervention scores on BPI (p<0.0001), HADS (p<0.0001), and FACT-G (p<0.0001) were found to be significant.



Pain and depression was found to reduce after the intervention, whereas the quality of life was improved, which may be due to the beneficial effects of Reiki on these concerns faced by the patients.
