Psychosensory therapy is a form of therapeutic treatment that uses sensory stimuli (i.e., touch, sight, sound, taste, smell) to affect psychological and emotional health.
[1] In addition, psychosensory therapy is a group of therapeutic techniques that involves applying sensory inputs to treat various behaviors, mood, thoughts, symptoms, and pain.
[3][4] Some important figures in psychosensory therapy include chiropractor George Goodheart, psychiatrist John Diamond, clinical psychologist Roger Callahan, and Ronald Ruden.
The origin of psychosensory therapy is rooted in applied kinesiology, traditional Chinese medicine, and the field of energy psychology.
[4] Goodheart also developed the technique “tapping” which he found helped his patients feel relief from trauma and stress, and is currently used today.
[4] According to Mollon, around the same time, John Diamond, a psychiatrist, joined Goodheart's team and began exploring the implications to psychological disorders and emotional conditions.
[4] According to Mollon,[4] one day in 1979, Callahan performed a muscle test (as Goodheart and Diamond did) and found his client to have a problem in her stomach meridian, so he asked her to tap on the other side of the meridian (her second toe or under the eye), and within a few seconds his client reported the anxiety in her stomach was gone and she ran to the swimming pool with her phobia never returning.
[7] These techniques involve activating specific acupuncture points, which then alleviate negative emotions that are associated with the psychological problems.
[7] Psychosensory therapy can be defined as a form of therapeutic treatment that uses sensory input (i.e. touch, sight, sound, taste, smell) to alter our thoughts, mood, and behavior.
For instance, one may feel joy when listening to music, hunger when passing a restaurant, and comfort and warmth when massaged.
[11] This form of touch therapy breaks down tissue tensions, and restores normal lengths to the tendons, thus reducing stress.
Extensive research has demonstrated that the lack of sunlight can produce disorders such as depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation and intent.
[10] Early forms of music such as communal chanting was often used in religious settings in order to evoke a feeling of safety and unity within the community.
Some researchers consensually agree that music's soothing effect is due to inhibiting other sensory input (taste, sight, etc.
[16] Smell impulses are faster than other sensory stimuli such as visual and auditory processing, and thus has a powerful effect on one's emotional state.
[16] Aromatherapy, is a smell technique that uses essential oils, extracted from plants for the treatment of physical and emotional health.
Ruden[2] claimed that some psychosensory therapy techniques need continuing maintenance, while others can facilitate permanent change.
[5] This technique utilizes sensory inputs, including physical touching between the therapist and patient, to create a safe space for de-encoding traumatic memories.
[20] According to Ruden, touch facilitates an increase in calming chemicals like serotonin, which deactivates specific receptors in the memory bank.
Consequently, successful havening can result in permanent change as amygdala-activated emotional responses to the traumatic memory are removed.