Sound Healing for Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Consciousness and Healing Initiative100 enrolled

Overview

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to compare a novel sound healing approach, biofield tuning, to a waitlist control group in a healthy adult population naive to the intervention. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is there a significant reduction in state and trait anxiety as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Index (STAI) with biofield tuning compared to waitlist control? * Are there significant reductions in negative affect, as well as increases in self-compassion, positive affect, and interoceptive awareness in the intervention group? * What are the relationships between changes in anxiety symptoms, negative affect words, and microbiome changes in participants who have undergone this biofield intervention? Participants will be: * Randomized to intervention/control * Recieve 5 sound healing interventions weekly * Asked to complete surveys and audio prompts throughout the intervention * Asked to provide a microbiome sample pre- and post-intervention

There is an increasing rate of anxiety among the US population, without adequate amounts of resources for treatment. Current pharmacological and psychological treatments for generalized anxiety disorder delivered by doctors, nurses, and clinical psychologists are often expensive and not freely available for many who need effective interventions for anxiety. A novel sound healing approach, Biofield Tuning (BT), has suggested potential benefits to those suffering from generalized anxiety. This intervention, while requiring training and certification, allows for holistic health practitioners to treat anxiety as a complementary mind-body therapy for those seeking relief for anxiety. Intervention. BT is a non-invasive, non-medical therapeutic practice developed by Eileen Day McKusick. BT Practitioners use a tuning fork to identify off-the-body sites at which perturbations in the tuning fork sound are detected. Such sites are described by BT practitioners as storing health-related information within the human biofield. Practitioners describe the process of BT as assessing and clearing perturbations in the human biofield to foster healing. Previous Feasibility Study. Our initial cohort study showed that conducting research for this novel sound healing approach online was feasible and suggested clinical benefits for people struggling with moderate to severe generalized anxiety, as noted in our peer-reviewed scientific publication. This RCT is designed to build upon the previous cohort study by comparing this intervention with a control group to further determine the effectiveness of BT compared to treatment as usual.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Be 18 years or older (≥ 18) * Biofield-tuning naive (have never had a session of biofield tuning before) * Speak and understand English at a native level * Have a score ≥10 on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale * Have regular access to a computer * Have experience using a computer * Be comfortable using Zoom and completing data collection activities online and over the phone Exclusion Criteria: * Suffering from any severe psychological, physical, or cognitive disease or impairment. * An active diagnosis or history of suicidality, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, or psychotic disorders. This includes history or current suicidality, suicide ideation, and intent to harm self or others. * Women who are pregnant or nursing. * Having an electronically implanted device, excluding cochlear implants. * Currently seeking treatment for an active cancer. * Currently has an untreated serious illness (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, etc.).

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Anxiety

The main objective is to assess whether virtually-delivered biofield tuning can significantly reduce moderate to high levels of generalized anxiety as measured by the State Trait Anxiety Index (STAI).

Time frame: Baseline, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks

Secondary Outcomes

Anxiety 1-month

We also aim to understand how long BT intervention effects may last with a 1-month follow up as measured by the STAI.

Time frame: 1-month post-intervention

Positive and Negative Affect

as measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Scale-Short Form (PANAS)

Time frame: Baseline, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks, 1-month post-intervention

Interoceptive awareness

as measured by the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2)

Time frame: Baseline, at 5 weeks

mental health recovery

as measured by the Recovery Assessment Scale- Revised (RAS-r). Scores range from 24 to 120. Items are rated from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicate higher levels of recovery.