Therapeutic and physical touch: physiological response to stressful stimuli.

Sixty female college students were exposed to a stressful stimulus and treated by therapeutic or physical touch. Groups were compared on levels of physiological response through electromyographic, skin conductance, and peripheral skin temperature measures. The hypotheses predicted that the therapeutic touch group would remain more relaxed than the physical touch group. None of the hypotheses were confirmed using a one-way analysis of covariance.