Reference:
Rosada, R. M., Rubik, B., Mainguy, B., Plummer, J., & Mehl-Madrona, L. (2005). Reiki reduces burnout among community mental health clinicians. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 13(4), 376-82.
Background:
Clinicians working in community mental health clinics are at high risk for burnout. Burnout is a problem involving emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Reiki is a holistic biofield energy therapy beneficial for reducing stress.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to determine if 30 minutes of healing touch could reduce burnout in community mental health clinicians.
Methods:
We utilized a crossover design to explore the efficacy of Reiki versus sham Reiki, a pseudo treatment designed to mimic true Reiki, as a means to reduce symptoms of burnout.
Subjects were randomized to whether they started with Reiki or sham. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) and the Measure Your Medical Outcome Profile Version 2 (MYMOP-2) were used as outcome measures. Multilevel modeling was used to represent the relations among variables.
Results:
Reiki was statistically significantly better than sham Reiki in reducing burnout among community mental health clinicians (p=0.011).
Reiki was significant in reducing depersonalization (p<0.001), but only among single people. Reiki reduced the primary symptom on the MYMOP also only among single people (p=0.03).
Conclusions:
The effects of Reiki were differentiated from sham Reiki. Reiki could be helpful in community mental health settings for the mental health of the practitioners.