A preliminary descriptive report of the longevity of the effects of Swedish Massage therapy for subjects with Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a prevalent and costly disorder, and many patients may prefer non-traditional treatment. A proof-of-concept study demonstrated the efficacy of Swedish Massage Therapy (SMT) as a monotherapy for treatment of GAD. Subjects were followed-up 6-12 months after study completion to evaluate post-treatment outcome. Subjects were enrolled into a randomized, single-masked clinical trial between March of 2012 and May of 2013. Forty-seven untreated subjects with DSM-IV diagnosis of GAD were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of twice-a-week light touch (LT) followed by 6 weeks of twice-a-week SMT, or 12 weeks of twice-a-week SMT. The primary outcome measure was reduction in Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) scores after six weeks of SMT versus LT. Qualifying participants received a follow-up survey to investigate whether the benefits of SMT for GAD were sustained. 28 of 40 subjects completed at least 12 sessions of SMT and were sent the follow-up survey. Of the 19 subjects with follow-up, nine (47%) reported no return of GAD symptoms up to 1 year after study completion. There were no differences between those randomized to 12 weeks SMT and those receiving 6 weeks LT followed by 6 weeks SMT. Of those reporting a return of some symptoms, 50% associated symptom return with a stressful life event. In this first monotherapy trial of SMT for the treatment of GAD, follow-up results suggest that the beneficial effects of SMT may last up to 1 year after end of treatment.

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Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest Dr. Rapaport has provided consulting services to PAX, Inc (unpaid) and has been funded by the NIH. Dr. Schettler works part-time both as Senior Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; as well as Principal Statistician in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Schettler has been funded by the NIH. She has no other direct or indirect affiliations or financial interests in connection with the contents of this paper. Ms. Larson is an employee of the Atlanta School of Massage. Dr. Dunlop has research support from Acadia, Compass Pathways, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Janssen, National Institute of Mental Health, Sage Therapeutics, and Takeda. He has served on the scientific advisory board of Greenwich Biosciences, Myriad Neuroscience, and Otsuka, and as a consultant to Aptinyx and Sophren Therapeutics. Dr. Rakofsky has received research funding from Takeda, AstraZeneca and Novartis. Dr. Kinkead has received research funding from NIH, PCORI and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest.