{"doi":"10.1016/j.jbmt.2022.11.001","title":"A preliminary descriptive report of the longevity of the effects of Swedish Massage therapy for subjects with Generalized Anxiety Disorder","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. INTERPRETATION: 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.","journal":"Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies","year":2022,"id":293400,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.8539,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":320520,"name":"Pamela J. Schettler","orcid":"0000-0002-0700-2119","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":414091,"name":"Erika R. Larson","orcid":"0000-0003-4489-4002","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":978520,"name":"Sherry A. Edwards","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":58339,"name":"Boadie W. Dunlop","orcid":"0000-0002-4653-0483","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":414092,"name":"Jeffrey J. Rakofsky","orcid":"0000-0002-4837-5763","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":320519,"name":"Becky Kinkead","orcid":"0000-0003-0169-6989","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":320522,"name":"Mark Hyman Rapaport","orcid":"0000-0001-8359-987X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":30,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:30:53.818562Z","pmid":"36775516","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}