Objective: Johrei has been shown to decrease exam stress responses but its immediate effects have not been assessed.
Design: In a randomised, blinded, counter-balanced design, 33 medical students were asked to calculate mental arithmetic in the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT), which served as an acute stressor prior to two conditions, 10 min of Johrei or a control resting condition involving 10 min without Johrei in a cross-over trial; after each, saliva was collected and mood tested.
Setting: University EEG laboratory.
Intervention: Johrei, a non-touch healing method.
Main outcome measures: Profile of mood states (POMS-Bi); state anxiety (STAI); salivary variables: cortisol, DHEA, IgA.
Results: Mood scores on 5/6 of the POMS-Bi subscales were slightly but significantly more positive in the Johrei condition. State anxiety was similarly decreased. IgA levels were unchanged but cortisol levels were found to be slightly but non-significantly lower after Johrei than after the control condition and DHEA levels slightly but non-significantly raised, with a negative correlation between cortisol and DHEA levels.
Conclusions: This study gives some indication that Johrei can reduce negative mood and increase positive mood states after the acute effects of a laboratory stressor in comparison to a resting control condition.