6. St. Petersburg-USA Orphanage Research Team. The effects of early social-emotional and relationship experience on the development of young orphanage children. The St. Petersburg-USA Orphanage Research Team. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev. 2008;73(3):vii-viii, 1-262, 294-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5834.2008.00483.x. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702123/
7. Jump VK, Fargo JD, Akers JF. Impact of massage therapy on health outcomes among orphaned infants in Ecuador: results of a randomized clinical trial. Fam Community Health. 2006 Oct-Dec;29(4):314-9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16980806
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Psychology & Massage: Why Does It Matter?
Massage therapy affects more than just your muscles, connective tissues, and nervous system. It has significant psychological effects that can help explain how and/or why some people respond to touch in a certain way. Psychologist and massage researcher Christopher Moyer, PhD, wrote and published a paper in 2008 that discusses potential research in this realm of massage therapy. The full paper was published in The International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork in 2008.
While there is currently a dearth of such research that Moyer addresses in the paper, it is worth re-examining some of his proposals of future affective massage therapy (AMT) research.
Parallels with Psychotherapy: Because the study designs of psychotherapy are structurally similar to massage therapy (MT), it is very possible that understanding AMT "could be advanced by research designs and foci that are informed by psychotherapy research."
Parallels with Primate Social Grooming: Primate grooming behavior has been well-documented for decades, and social grooming has effects of the animals' nervous and endocrine systems. AMT research "could potentially profit from a careful examination of the substantial scientific literature on animal grooming." Some of these research studies are documented by neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky from Stanford.
Endocrine System Changes: If the correlation between MT and stress hormone levels are weak based on current research evidence, then why does MT have significant positive effects on anxiety and depression?
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