Objective: To calculate the effect of Reiki therapy for pain and anxiety in randomized clinical trials.

Results: After removing duplicates, 49 articles were examined and 12 articles received full review. Seven studies met the inclusion criteria: four articles studied cancer patients; one examined post-surgical patients; and two analyzed community dwelling older adults. Effect sizes were calculated for all studies using Cohen’s d statistic. Effect sizes for within group differences ranged from d=0.24 for decrease in anxiety in women undergoing breast biopsy to d=2.08 for decreased pain in community dwelling adults. The between group differences ranged from d=0.32 for decrease of pain in a Reiki versus rest intervention for cancer patients to d=4.5 for decrease in pain in community dwelling adults.

Objective: At a recent event for The Veterans Mental Health Coalition of NYC, Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs (MOVA) Commissioner Loree Sutton, M.D. shared a presentation on the importance of alternative therapies. She advocated that in recent years the Department of Defense (DoD) has been investing money in alternative therapies such as Reiki. Sutton explained that these alternative therapies are becoming the standard approach for PTSD treatment because of the impact they have on the body and mind. She supported that alternative medicines need to change from being viewed as “alternative” and shift to being viewed as core treatment.

Results: In a recent study conducted by the Military Medicine Journal, researchers examined the effectiveness of Reiki, labeling it as “Healing Touch.” Researchers observed a drop in PTSD symptoms for the intervention group by 14 points (from 54.7 to 40.7) using the PTSD checklist, which is considered to be clinically, as well as statistically, significant.

Objective: A systematic review of randomized placebo-controlled trials (RPCTs) examining Reiki’s effectiveness in treating symptoms of mental health in adults was conducted through a systematic search of PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and ProQuest. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria, and risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane’s Revised ROB 2 assessment tool. This was followed by a grading of recommendations, assessment, development and evaluations (GRADE) assessment.

Results: The evidence to date suggests that Reiki consistently demonstrates a greater therapeutic effect over placebo for some symptoms of mental health. The GRADE level of evidence is high for clinically relevant levels of stress and depression, moderate to high for clinically relevant levels of anxiety, low to moderate for normal levels of stress, and low to moderate for burnout, and low for normal levels of depression and anxiety.