Power of love really does heal

I READ a wonderful piece of research this week about the power of human touch. A study at the University of Colorado found that holding hands to comfort a loved one can actually reduce their pain.

I’ve seen this so many times, when the husband or wife of a patient in distress reaches out and holds their hand and, as if by magic, in a few minutes they become settled.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised: touch, after all, symbolises safety and love.

The value of touch was first demonstrated by experiments on rhesus monkeys in the Fifties.

Harry Harlow, a U.S. psychologist, found that given a choice between a surrogate ‘mother’ made of wire mesh that had a ready supply of milk, or a warm, soft mother but no food, monkeys chose the comfort over food. Those not given a soft surrogate mother froze in fear and cried, crouched down or sucked their thumbs.

Harlow’s conclusion, that love and support are fundamental, has been supported by countless further scientific studies.

Personally I find this all incredibly comforting: it really speaks of the power of love.

Whenever I hear the phrase ‘radical plan’ in relation to the nhS, my heart sinks. But the latest ‘radical plan’, for 999, is quite good. At the moment, call handlers have 60 seconds to gather information before putting the caller through to the ambulance service. But this is to be increased to four minutes, so handlers will be able to get more information. A simple but smart change — one that could help weed out calls where the ambulance is treated as a taxi service, from real emergencies.